Marathon Sunday

So today was this little thing called the New York Marathon, which normally just means kind of a hassle since the whole upper half of the city is basically impossible to navigate. Not this year! My friend Molly and Spencer Williams were running the marathon for the CF Trust! So needless to sayI had to go cheer them on. After donating to their wonderful cause, I hauled myself up from TriBeCa all the way to the Upper East Side. We were planning to watch them go by at 65th and 1st Ave but unfortunately the route we took put us on the east side of the street. All their other friends were on the west side and there was no way to cross. But we did get to see them go by! We just didn't get to be in their little cheering section. They looked so awesome in their bright neon yellow CF Trust jerseys. The jersey said See Off CF under the CF Trust logo. It was very cute.

Once we saw them go by we decided to walk to the finish line. On the way there we passed the CF Trust official station, so I stopped to talk. The organizers told us that they had 75 people running for them! Wow. So between them and Team Boomer I'd say that the Cystics were well represented! We chatted with them for a while and heard all about how the trust has been fundraising. It's so neat to connect with people like that over a cause.

So then we walked all the way to the finish line, which was fine until about the midway point, when I started an all-out coughing fit. Lovely. I think this might have something to do with the fact that I was out until about 4 am on Friday party-hopping for Halloween. Whoops. Oh well, at least it helped emphasize to my friends why so many people were running for CF. As if they needed more convincing.

Got to the finish, watched my friends run by yet again, cheered wildly. Right as we were leaving a guy came to take our spot at the gate bordering the race route. He started spreading out an Irish flag and then I noticed a logo on it. It said Irish Cystic Fibrosis Association! Totally random. Anyway, so then I introduced myself and he said he was the fundraising chair for the foundation over there. He said that they had two CFers running for them (out of 15 spots) - a 28 year old woman and a young man who is 21 and just found out he has cepacia. I was super impressed. He mentioned that he was going to stop by the Team Boomer party tonight, which was also cool. We chatted for a few minutes and he was really amazing. After we left my friend turned to me and said that between my friends, the CF trust station, and the Irish guy it felt like the whole race was dominated by CF. Talk about spreading awareness. I felt so proud to have been a part of that sort of amazing energy for such a deserving cause.

Anyway, the best part is that a couple of my friends have decided to try and run next year for Team Boomer. They wanted to run anyways and being out there seeing all these awesome people working for CF convinced them that they would rather run for a cause they care about than just as an individual. I feel super lucky - how did I get so many fantastic friends? Seriously.

I love Sundays like this. Brunch with friends, a truly New York activity, and then such a wonderful show of support from so many people who really care about CF. Makes me feel like I'm not just a random burdensome friend who slows the group down. The way they were all cheering and chatting with the people from the different CF groups and then deciding to run for the cause made me realize that they don't want to just ignore my CF and they don't just think of it as an annoyance. They, and a whole lot of other people, are really invested in curing this disease, and they're proud of me and the active role I try to take in spreading awareness. Just made me feel so special for the day. And yeah, I know I'm gushing, but sitting here with my puppy and thinking back on the day, it's hard not to want to gush. I guess I'm just that lucky.

To all those who ran, have run in the past, or will run in the future - you are truly rockstars. Congrats and thank you!