Liberty 2004

In running familiarity will never breed contempt. In fact it can do quite the opposite for me. It often enhances the experience especially in the longer races.

Since I tend to compete in most of the same races year after year, there are definitely a large amount of familiar faces at each event. On any given race it is difficult to say which familiar or new face, I may be competing with near the finish or run with during the race.

In a small local race, there is a good chance I will know nearly a third of the runners finishing closely ahead of or behind me but that diminishes greatly in the larger competitions which are usually more than a few miles away.

On a percentage basis I hardly knew anyone at last year’s Philadelphia Marathon but being able to cheer on the two runners from my Saturday running group and a seeing a couple of other people I knew definitely helped me get through the last six miles.
A marathon is such a grueling struggle that during those four hours I have struck up conversations with numerous strangers whose names and faces often leave me soon after the race is over, sort of a mind flush.

At this year’s Liberty half marathon, which fits the description of a long race that drew in many people from around the New York area, my experience was greatly enhanced by experience during and after the race with Raritan Valley competitors.

Early in the race, I passed Ray Petit, who had written online that he was attempting the race even though he wasn’t ready for it. I told him to hang in there, that he had run a lot further than this. The course is such that you see runners ahead of you and behind you at several venues. I yelled encouragement to Doug, Roger, Jorge, Thin Man and the Rockers among others. When I finished, I saw Carl Rocker, who despite running a time I could only dream about was only somewhat satisfied. I reminded him of my recent “Relativity” story. Gene, on the other hand seemed pretty happy, and when I told him my time we had a “relativity” chuckle.

Perhaps the best moment of the race for me was being able to talk to Chris Lehman after the race. In a normal setting, Chris would have been long finished and cooled off by the time I sauntered in but as most of you are aware Chris has had a mystery illness that no doctor has been able to correctly diagnose

Since I am not that active a member of the club, I get much of my news from the Yahoo Newsgroup and I had just found out about Chris’ plight a couple of days before. It meant a lot to me to be able to tell Chris personally about how concerned I am and how much I am hoping he gets back racing quickly.

It may sound corny but we are all one big family, who share the commonality of health and friendly competition, no matter how well we know each other.