2007 Marathon Over!

Steve Bergen

We raised $3,606.32 from these 68 donors:

AB (100) AB&LB (22) AG from CA&NYC (42) AG from NYC (2) BN (2) BT (52) BW (22) CB (22) CBD (44) CG/PRC (50) CJ (222) CL for Miss Monica (33) CM (22) CM (50) CM from Apple (22) CS (50) DB for Miss Monica (20) DG (22) DM (222) DS (333.33) DS (44) DS from TN (22) DW (22) EE (50) EF (100) EM (12) ER (22) FB (25) FI (22) GC (30) GC/RC (22) GR (2) GW (100) JC (22) JG (10) JH (50) JL (22) JM (22) JS&PS (444) KC from Nobles (22) KC from Wooster (22) KE for Miss Monica (100) KG for Miss Monica (22) KG for Miss Monica (222) KN (22) KR (222) LB (25) LB (22) LF (??) LR (22) MAF (22) MB (15) MM (50) MP for Miss Monica (22) MW for Miss Monica (22) PM (50) PPL (10) PV (100) PW (22) RP (20) RS (22) SA (22) SF&MH (22) SR (66) TF (22) VF (??) VL (22) VP (222)

• Click here for a special audio/video thank you from the first graders at The Children's Storefront
  
• Click here for the Web page called "The Power of 2" which describes why we are trying to raise money for The Children's Storefront and The Boston Home.
  
  
  

  next to me is Anne Fry from Ethical Culture and Monica Winslow from Storefront

  2008 Marathon is on Sunday 11/2/08

  A Shaky Start

  It all began early morning at 5AM at Bloomingdale's (59th and Lexington) where Monica and I were scheduled to meet at 5:15AM. I had a cab driver ready for the moment Monica got off the train coming from Queens so we could get to the Verrazano bridge by 5:30 or so. But at 5:15, no Monica. And at 5:20, no Monica. The cab driver wanted the fare and was willing to wait. At 5:25, no Monica. I called and text messaged her cell but to no avail. At 5:30, no Monica. Shivering in shorts, I started making up a little tune and singing it in the street, since no one else was around Monica in the morning
  Monica without warning
  How long am I gonna wait?
  I called Eric who was working the midnight shift at my apartment and asked for advice. He said "wait ten more minutes" before you head to the bridge by yourself. I decided that 6AM was the cutoff point. And then in the middle of our phone conversation, Monica calls. The trains were messed up and she had to go to plan B and take the train to 52nd street and she was walking up Lexington. Fantastic. The cab driver was ready, picked her up at 55th and we were at the bridge by 6AM.

  A Great Middle

  • Click here to see the start of the race at 6AM
  • Click here to see 33rd street in Brooklyn where Monica insisted on taking a picture
  • Click here to see our first stop at mile 3 to do some early morning carbo-loading for the marathon
  • Click here to see over 100 police officers at mile 10 in Brooklyn waiting to disperse ... it is a unique scene to see so many officers in one street
  • Click here to see mile 11 in Brooklyn
  • Click here to see mile 15 when we were hoping that we could get over the bridge but a bit lost in Queens since one police officer told us there was no walking allowed over the 59th street bridge ... I was not feeling groovy about this since two years ago when not allowed over the bridge, I had to take a train into Manhattan
  • Click here to see how with Monica's smarts and diligence we made it over the 59th street bridge and finally made it into Manhattan where we were scheduled to meet up with Anne Fry who teaches at Ethical Culture Fieldston School and who was going to join us for the last 10 miles.
  • Click here to see our second major carbo-loading stop at mile 17 ... I had wanted to stop in Brooklyn but Monica was correct in telling me that we needed to get over the bridge before we stopped
  • Click here to see the three of us at mile 19
  • Click here to see Anne and Monica at mile 21
  • Click here to see Monica at mile 25 ... I was 5 feet behind her and we were right in the middle of the pack heading to the finish line ... Anne had been asked to "get off the course" and we would never see her again ... at this point, it seemed that we were going to finish
  • Click here to see us at mile 26 on the side

  A Shaky Finish

  With just .2 left to finish, they asked Monica and me to exit since we did not have official numbers. We walked to Central Park West, actually hobbled is more like it. The cab driver drove me to 90th and Second and I hobbled one block to my apartment, taking literally 15 minutes to walk that one block since my legs hurt so much. Once home, it took me hours to recover. As I started watching the Pats play the Colts, my legs were in a frozen state refusing to move. It was a vivid reminder of what I felt like back in 1992 before having surgery. Although it seems trivial to keep saying "we take so much for granted" it is the absolute truth. There are so many wonderful residents at The Boston Home -- intellgent, wonderful sense of humor, caring people -- for whom this horrible disease has affected their physical ability to get around. Technology is so very helpful to them and they need it so badly. And to provide these kids growing up in Harlem at The Children's Storefront with technology is a mitzvah of immense proportions. On Friday before this weekend, we just launched a new program to allow grade 6-8 students to take home a desktop computer that had been donated by one of our tech friend schools from Boston or NY. One girl was not able to configure her machine by 6pm and was almost in tears when I told her she would have to wait for Monday to take home her new computer. Be strong, I said. Be diligent. You will have this machine on Monday, I promise. She wants it home so badly. It is a 5 year Mac that will allow her to do some limited word processing and some typing. But it will be HER machine and she wants it so badly. We take so much for granted.