Through the eyes of Ken.

New York was…interesting.

Beyond the bumps of the chilly weather, inadequate hotel room, confusing train schedules, and the crazy subway map, I enjoyed myself.

It was refreshing to see so much of the city out in force in support of so many runners they don’t even know.

I had set out immediately after seeing the wife off at South Ferry, and made my way to a nice street corner to wait for her to pass.

She was in the third wave of runners so I waited probably over an hour and witnessed some pretty amazing things in the meantime.

People were pouring out of their houses (some hanging out of their windows) to cheer on the waves of runners that were passing by.

You’d think they were cheering on friends, probably set their watch according to some schedule just so they could pop out and cheer him on as he ran past, but that wasn’t the case at all.  These people were cheering for ALL the runners.

I was waiting an hour for my wife. These folks were there before me and was still hanging around after I left, cheering on every runner that passed.

If you had your name on, they’d yell your name. If you had your country’s name, or flag, they’d cheer for that. If you wore a silly costume…etc.

It was infectious and I soon found myself alongside them, cheering for people I’ve never met.

They brought their kids out! On a Sunday morning. On a CHILLY Sunday morning.  All wrapped up in their coats so they wouldn’t freeze (I know I almost did…)

And their kids cheered with them. For people they didn’t know. They’d stretch their hands out to the runners, who hi-fived them as they passed. And every single time they were high-fived, they’d turn around… and BEAM. Their smiles were so wide you wondered if you had somehow stumbled on the set of a toothpaste advertisement.

It was fun!  (No, I’m not any closer to running a marathon. We can have cheering screaming people along a half-marathon route too…)

Yeah. Fun. =)