Sunday, November 1, 2009

An American wins the New York City Marathon!

Here are a just few pictures from today's New York City Marathon. Meb Keflezighi became the first American to win the New York City Marathon since Alberto Salazar in 1982. And the Americans did very well overall this year, taking six of the top ten men's places, and four of the top ten women's places.

Robert Cheruiyot and Meb Keflezighi on Fifth Avenue in Spanish Harlem, just before mile 23. Cheruiyot is still ahead, but Meb is right behind him! (You can enlarge any of these photos by clicking on them.)

Ryan Hall is in fifth place here, but he finished fourth. (I put this photo in just for you, Susan!)

The lead women, including Paula Radcliffe, Christelle Daunay, Ludmilla Petrova, and eventual winner Derartu Tulu. (Paula Radcliffe sustained an injury during the race.)

A couple of our own local heroes. Bob and his friend David engaged in a bit of banditry by jumping in for four miles with their friend Roberto.

This was the first time in ten years that Bob hasn't run in the marathon, so although he got to see the lead runners for once, we could tell he missed it. I think he and David are already making their training plans for next year!

And just for fun, here's Mayor Mike Bloomberg's limousine. Bloomberg is behind the second windshield, so you can't really see him. A bit of campaigning, perhaps? The mayoral election is Tuesday.

6 comments:

beth said...

Wasn't it exciting! We could only watch on television, but we were so thrilled to see Meb win it! My husband used to be a marathoner - til knee surgery in both knees ended his marathon career. Still, we follow what's going on in running in the US and Coty always knows who's who. How thrilling it must be to run the NYC marathon or watch it in person! Thanks for your photos.

And hi to Susan...I miss you online!

debbie bailey said...

This is off the subject, but does Susan have a new blog yet? I've missed her so much!

Anonymous said...

Well, Laura, thanks for thinking of me since you *know* how into all of this kind of thing I can get! :-) (I'm wondering where was Kara Goucher-- is she still marathoning? is she injured? did she return to shorter distances? or maybe she just didn't run this one) I'll bet Bob was half-tortured watching the marathon from the sidelines for the first time, especially with a friend participating (but at least he got to jump in for awhile!).

Sounds like so much fun, Laura, as always. Did you miss the pre-race and race food (and other) rituals?

Hello to Beth and Debbie! It's really nice to be missed. I miss you both, too. I've stopped by your blogs, but haven't commented yet. :-)

Susan

Gumbo Lily said...

Cool! I secretly hoped that you would announce that BOB WON!!!! Fun photos.

Jody

Unknown said...

I would like to jump in and say a big hello and congrats on the wee one to Susan. :-) Ours should arrive around Thanksgiving. Thank you to Laura for allowing us to greet one another in this fashion. :-) Denise

Laura A said...

Beth, I didn't know that your family were marathon fans, too. Glad to find another fan! We've been out there every year we've lived here, and that's a lot of races ;-). Besides Bob, we're usually cheering for any number of friends in the race, as well as the general crowd. It's such a fun fall day!

Susan, I didn't see Kara Goucher, nor did anything come up when I searched her name, so I don't think she ran. And Bob appreciated your understanding his feelings about the race! (You were right, of course.) It did feel funny not doing all the usual rituals (we did do the "spectator marathon" and yell whatever people had on their shirts), but I can honestly say I didn't miss the carbo-loading, since it's so tempting to overindulge myself. Maybe Bob did!

And Jody, you cracked me up! I'm sure Bob was secretly hoping the same thing. What marathoner doesn't?