New York City Marathon weekend is here. You can feel the excitement throughout the city as runners flood in from around the world and move around in flocks with their running jackets and sneakers, speaking a multitude of languages.
The amount of energy the marathon generates is unlike any other event. On Sunday more than 50,000 runners will navigate the streets of the city, and an estimated two million people will line the route. Many New Yorkers report it is their favorite day of the year because of the distinct positivity that courses through the air.
What’s often lost in the celebration of the marathon is that it always comes two days before Election Day — and this year, of course, before one of the most momentous elections of our generation. In this contentious political climate, the contrast in moods is striking. The enthusiasm for the marathon and what it symbolizes sits in striking juxtaposition to the anxiety and sense of discord that many people feel about the election.
In this time of turmoil, I encourage us to take inspiration from the marathon and the virtues it embodies.
The most obvious is the scale of the effort put forth by the runners. I estimate they have collectively run at least 18 million miles in preparation for the marathon. These runners have trained in all sorts of conditions, at all times of day, squeezing in miles between work, caring for others and making family dinners.
To run a marathon, you have to sacrifice comfort and convenience to accomplish your goal, and you have to link that effort to the power of your imagination. Some runners will finish their 10th or 20th marathon; others will be completing their first. Many of them are accomplishing something they previously thought was impossible. It is always thrilling to witness dreams meeting reality on such a grand scale.
The power of the effort of training for and completing a marathon should also remind us that each of us has dignity. In the marathon, you’re not scrutinized by your political party, bank account or education. You’re stripped of pretenses. You, by virtue of participating, are worthy. Anyone who has run the marathon knows the feeling of comity while standing in the corrals at the start. A vast majority of the runners are strangers, yet they recognize one another in the most elemental way as humans striving and seeking, having faced and overcome the challenges that training for and running 26.2 miles presents.
What’s most distinctive about the marathon is the type of interconnectedness and friendship that is born out of traversing the five boroughs. No matter what you look like, where you come from, what your job is or how fast you run, participants appreciate the path that the others took to get there. For many marathon runners, this begins in a training group where they learn to push and support one another. And on the day of the race, just watch how runners encourage one another, something you can see even among the elite runners when they share water bottles and gels. It’s rare in sports for competition to coexist with camaraderie in this way.
All of this speaks not to individualism but to the ways in which we are engaged in responsive and reciprocal relationships. During my time as a professional runner, some of my favorite competitions weren’t elite track meets but road races. I loved seeing people of all types giving their all and cheering the runners on. And still, there’s nothing more gratifying than to stand at the finish line in my role as chair of New York Road Runners, offering high-fives and celebrating the runners’ accomplishment.
To me, the marathon is glorious in no small part because the day represents an ideal of civic life: people striving to accomplish their goals while seeking connection with others. This year, in particular, let us take solace from this model of civic participation that reveals all that we can accomplish together when we cheer one another on.
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