nyc marathon

today was the nyc marathon. the picture above is of the first three women at mile 24. the one in the middle won... pretty cool that all the "normal" people get to run the same course, at the same time, as the world's best.

i had signed up to run this year (but then i would not have been able to take the picture...) the other reason i canceled my registration was because i knew i would not have been able to keep up with the training. my big brother, being in a similar situation (not having kept up with the training/trained at all) was determined to run - completing his 15th marathon; 7th in nyc.

i had arranged to jump in and run a couple of miles with him as a symbolic way of showing support. despite the fact that he had completed 23 miles by the time i joined him, i had trouble keeping up. ten minutes in, i felt like i couldn't keep going. running is a hard thing to do if your body is not in condition to do it - hard to trick it into believing it is. but the mind is a powerful thing. i found i could infact keep running because at the point that i wanted to stop, my brother broke his silence of several concentrated minutes to say "stay with me" - so i did.

because of my love of anaolgies, i have always enjoyed the ways in which i can relate running a marathon to other parts of my life - today it reminded me that sometimes we find inspiration/strength/support from others when we are unable to find it within ourselves.