In November of 2006 a friend and avid runner invited me to join her and watch the New York City Marathon. Growing up as an asthmatic and overweight child I wasn't much interested in sporting events. I eventually relented thinking, at the very least, it would be like going to Ellis Island or walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, something I could check off the list of quintessential New York City experiences.
As we approached 4th Avenue in Brooklyn I was taken aback by the energy of the spectators lining the streets. Masses of people converged on the edges of the course. They were screaming out the runners’ names (written on the runners’ shirts). ‘Go Jill!’ ‘Come on Craig!’ They were passionately waving handmade colorful signs. Music blared and people were dancing and singing. It was an unexpected and invigorating celebration.
We pushed to the front of the crowd. I became quickly transfixed by the diversity of those running past me. From twenty somethings New Yorkers to Italian grandmothers to a man dressed up as Chewbacca from Star Wars, runners of all shapes, sizes, and colors rushed by smiling, beaming. I recall thinking that these people didn’t necessarily fit into the mold of what I had imagined runners looking like ( long, thin and lean). I found myself inspired and began to imagine myself running amongst them.
The following January, the thrill of that day still with me, I entered my name into the 2007 Marathon lottery. In June, to my amazement, I received an email saying I had been accepted. I freaked, considered canceling my entry, regained my composure and over the course of the next five months transformed myself from couch potato into long distance runner. On November 4, I successfully completed the 2007 New York City Marathon. With my love for running firmly established, in 2008, I ran over a dozen road races in New York City. This fall I set out once again and ran those beautiful 26.2 miles through all 5 boroughs in the 2009 New York City Marathon.
Frank is a member of the New York Road Runners Club (www.nyrr.org) and is also a professional running tour guide for City Running Tours (www.cityrunningtours.com). He is currently training for the 2010 Chicago Marathon.
Frank holds a bachelor's degree from Middlebury College in Middelbury, VT. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He is a yogi, an Eagle Scout, CPR certified, and has climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
