The Things I Cannot Change

Good Evening All.

As many of you heard this afternoon, the New York City Marathon was canceled.  I've got quite a few thoughts going through my head.

First of all, this past week New York City and New Jersey got walloped by a hurricane, and nearly everyone I know was or still is without power as a result.  Some had their homes flooded, and at least one friend of mine lost absolutely everything.  I could have bet money on the marathon being canceled, I was preparing to just accept it, and move on.

Instead, Mayor Bloomberg shocked everyone by announcing that the marathon was still going to happen.  I tried to re-focus, knowing that now my 20 weeks of training would result in hopefully a triumph, and possibly a PR (I still haven't beat 4 hours in NYC, darn it).  So off I went to the expo, got my bib, and I was good to go!

And then this morning, the New York Post published an article about how the marathon was using three electric generators -- enough to power 400 homes in Staten Island, those left standing anyway, that no longer had power.  Also, there were stories of hurricane victims rendered homeless who were being displaced from the hotels that initially offered them shelter because they had to make room for all the marathoners who made reservations.

So in response to all the controversy, the marathon has been canceled.  It felt nice to get my hopes up, but not to have the rug pulled out from under me and all the thousands of other runners.  In my humble opinion, the Mayor should have just canceled it two days ago and been done with it.  Or better yet, maybe just postpone it a week or two, so everyone could have walked away with something decided in their favor.

That being said, this is one of those things that is beyond my control.  I did train for this marathon, and I'd do it again with no problem, but it's just not to be this year.  Overall, I don't have that much of a reason to be upset.

Unlike the people I mentioned above, I was extremely fortunate to have not lost power, or my home.  Given the disaster that just happened, New Yorkers need to recover completely before they can celebrate something fun and encouraging.  There are far too many people who need shelter and recovery before we can cheer again.

This hurricane, in and of itself, taught me more lessons about things we cannot change.  I was fully expecting that whole mess to blow out to sea and pass us by because I didn't want to live in fear of anything.  Since I didn't, I simply had to adapt.  I couldn't get into work because they shut down the trains, so I did what little I could do with my phone and my computer.  I couldn't deal with the insane traffic going into work on Wednesday on the Q60 bus, so I just got out and walked my now-favorite bridge into Manhattan.

So now, all the training and no marathon?  And several days lost from work?  Well, I'll just have to:

(1) Do another nice LOOOOONG run -- not saying it'll be 26.2, but I'll go pretty darn long anyway.
(2) Find out who out there in Nassau and Suffolk needs a little extra help, now that the LIRR is running.
(3) Donate to relief funds, and to those I know who need the most help.
(4) Go to the office and try to make up whatever I didn't get to this week.

So be it.  No point in being upset over this, really.  I've run marathons before, and I'll continue to do so.  I'm pretty sure the next one I run will remain on the calendar, so I'll just set a new date.

Once again, big thanks to everyone who faithfully encouraged my training through MapMyRun, I've appreciated it all.