HOW A CITY REBUILDS ITSELF
Due to the hurricane and its aftermath, the city cancelled two big perennial fall events: the Village Halloween Parade and the ING NYC Marathon. The latter was a late decision, and it was definitely the right one. I definitely understood the sentiment that the marathon officials and Mayor Bloomberg had for wanting to keep the event as scheduled. There's certainly something to be said for building solidarity during times when a city's resilience is truly being tested. But there's no doubt that the marathon would've been too much of a distraction from the recovery efforts.
This morning I took my daughter to Central Park, which reopened yesterday after a massive cleanup and maintenance effort. There were no massive crowds. No ING sponsorship banners. No finish line. But I was amazed by what I saw. Thousands upon thousands of runners were storming through the lower loop, many of them wearing their marathon numbers and were running with their supporters. And there were dozens of people in any given area of the loop on hand to cheer on this massive melange of marathoners and weekend warriors. New York didn't need a marathon to build solidarity today. They just need a little heart and some pavement.
This morning I took my daughter to Central Park, which reopened yesterday after a massive cleanup and maintenance effort. There were no massive crowds. No ING sponsorship banners. No finish line. But I was amazed by what I saw. Thousands upon thousands of runners were storming through the lower loop, many of them wearing their marathon numbers and were running with their supporters. And there were dozens of people in any given area of the loop on hand to cheer on this massive melange of marathoners and weekend warriors. New York didn't need a marathon to build solidarity today. They just need a little heart and some pavement.
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| No marathon. No finish line. Because New York isn't finished. |
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