Miles of Gratitude

Thank you to everyone who made marathon day magical

I’m feeling especially grateful.

I ran the New York City Marathon yesterday. From start to finish, I thought about all the people who had worked so hard to make the race not only possible but magnificent.

When you think about what it takes to pull off an event like this — moving tens of thousands of runners safely through all five boroughs of New York — it really does blow your mind. It’s hard enough in normal times, but during a pandemic? The words I kept coming back to were commitment and courage.

These days, as Covid persists, it’s understandable that people would want to sit this one out.

Not every cab driver would be willing to pick up a runner in Manhattan at 5 a.m. to drive her to the bus that would take her to the start in Staten Island. Not every bus driver would be willing to get up in the middle of the night to take a busload of runners on an hour-long drive that begins before sunrise. Not every runner would be willing to board that bus.

So I’d like to thank my cab driver and my bus driver and all the runners on my bus — and those who were aboard every bus, ferry, and car — for having the courage and commitment to come out and be a part of the greatest New York day of the year.