This was a very special day. Running has a been a significant part of my life as my family well-knows and about 18-20 months ago, my eldest daughter noted that as I was approaching 50 lifetime marathons, that I should schedule it out to take place in NYC in 2025 which would also be my 15th NYC marathon and also because it would bookend the race as my first marathon - that all of my children and their respective spouses would run the event togerher with me. And although in many situations the best laid plans do not work out...this all came together as it was envisioned.
Over the last two years or so, I had to run enough races and not too many, as well as keep myself healthy enough to make this happen. At the time I think I had 43 or 44 race completed.
My family loves to organize events and parties and this truly was a team effort. From arranging for a hotel suite for the whole family, to arranging for Halloween trick or treating in the West Village for the grandchildren with all of us dressed in costume as the muppets, to a bunch of gear with running shirts, hats and sweatshirts including those for runners and those for cheer teams emblazoned with "Bret the Jet" "50 Marathons, 15 NYC's, 7 World Marathon Majors, 1 with all of his Kids" to a group dinner celebration which was like receiving a lifetime achievement award - to everyone coordinating to be on the ferry to be at the starting line Sunday morning-- it all went to plan.
My wife's "job" on race day was to shepard the two grandchildren around to spectate at the 8 mile mark, 16 mile mark, and at the finish line for which she recruited my youngest daughter's best friend and her boyfriend for navigational assistance and child minder support. They made their way around the city and met us at each place perfectly.
My middle daughter learned that she was pregnant about 8 weeks ago and due to some related issues, was not able to train enough nor did she want to push herself too much (and because she'd already run 3 NYC's including last years) she planned only to run the first 8 miles with everyone so that she could be a part of the event; and likewise my eldest son-in-law who was diagnosed with MS this year was having some serious training issues and complications associated with that condition and so he opted to do the same as my daughter. So we all ran together through 8 miles and then the group was down to 4, which included myself, Sam, Delaney and Bradlea. Neither Sam nor Bradlea had ever run a marathon. Sam did some really very good training and so I was confident he would be fine, but Bradlea who has the two little ones, never got enough long runs in her training - though she was very consistent for about 8 weeks of daily runs during the week. I was a bit more concerned about her ability to finish. Delaney had completed last year's event with me and because we had all committed to run as a team, that meant we'd run Bradlea's pace which we expected to be around 12 mins per miles - and because we kept true to that effort and commitment - that's about exactly where we ended up.
My daily running friend, Dan who has not run a marathon in years, and was not running even this year, nevertheless came up with his wife and visited their two daughters who live in NYC and they all came to the Saturday evening dinner and met us as spectators on at about 18 miles and about 23.5 miles to cheer us on. I was so happy that he made the trip.
Although Bradlea had to focus a lot in the second half of the race - she was very determined and kept the effort well-within herself not to overdue it had the utmost confidence that she would finish - and she did. Sam was well-trained and could have easily run an hour or so faster than we did took it all in with relative ease - but it was not about performance on the day - it was about celebrating running together.
I could not have asked for a more special event to mark a milestone for me in my running than what they put together to celebrate the occasion and what we did together as a family. It is a memory I will never forget.
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