Sunday, November 3^rd, was a special day for me in many respects.

 It was the culmination of a goal set in 1995 to raise $100,000 for cancer research following the death from cancer of my only sister.  It was also my first experience running a marathon as a Guide for an athlete with a disability (AWD), and we crossed the finish line of the New York City Marathon first in our AWD division.

Although I had run 18 marathons on five continents before traveling to China in October to run in the Beijing Marathon (my 6^th continent) on October 20^th, I was apprehensive about running two marathons within a period of 15 days, especially considering the training (or lack thereof) schedule that I followed after injuring my left calf muscle in July, and also considering that I would be pushing a wheelchair 26 miles during the New York City Marathon, but I did it, and I’m looking forward to running the Ashenfelter 8K in Glen Ridge on Thanksgiving Day with my two sons and daughter-in-law and other members of the Essex Running Club.

I have a CPA practice in Upper Montclair, which is not exactly compatible with running marathons, especially during tax season in the spring, but I have enjoyed sports since childhood so it wasn’t that much of a stretch for me to get into shape to run my first marathon back in 1995 after my sister’s death.  I run on behalf of Fred’s Team, an organization that raises money for cancer research.  The group, which had almost 400 runners participate in the 2002 New York City Marathon, is named for Fred Lebow, the founder of the NYC Marathon, who died of cancer in 1994.  This year, nearly 300 people contributed (or pledged) more than $30,000 on my behalf, which brought my cumulative contribution to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where my sister was treated, to well over $100,000.  And the group of Fred’s Team members raised over $2 million this year in connection with the Beijing and New York City Marathons.

First, a few words about my training schedule for the two marathons.  I didn’t have time to gradually increase my mileage following my layoff from running in July and August (during which time I walked as many as 45 miles in one week), so I focused on getting in as many long run/walks as possible while also getting lots of rest in between those runs.  I wanted to do three long run/walks of 20 miles every other weekend before the Beijing Marathon, so that became my primary focus.  Another major focus was to keep my joints (knees, ankles and shoulders) healthy.  To do that, I used cold wraps following runs, a heating pad in the evenings, and Young Living Essential Oils – Wintergreen and Peppermint – as often as possible.  In between the first and second marathon, I didn’t run at all, but I did swim, which felt wonderful.

The Beijing Marathon was unique in that it started at the infamous Tian An Men square (the largest outdoor public square in the world – it can accommodate 1 million people) along with a group of Half Marathon runners, 10K runners and 5K runners, so instead of one race there were four different races going on at the same time.  You can imagine how crowded the streets were with runners, but after the Half Marathon ended, the field of runners dwindled to under 3,000, making it easier to run except for the fumes from the cars and trucks passing on both sides of the course.  Beijing, like most of China, is very polluted!  I ran negative splits of 1:53 and 1:52, for a time of just over 3:45, which is good enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon again, should I decide to undertake that challenge next year after tax season.  Thanks to the Galloway run-walk method, I was able to enjoy the rest of our time in China with very little soreness.  Joan and I were typical tourists, visiting and climbing the Great Wall, visiting the Forbidden City, and shopping for silk, pearls, jade, tea, and clothing.

The New York City Marathon was special for me in many respects.  I volunteered to run as a Guide with an AWD and was assigned to run with Damon Rozier from Brooklyn, a quadriplegic (paralyzed from the chest down) following a motorcycle accident five years ago, who owns a hair salon.  What an incredible person he turned out to be!  We spoke several times before the race, but only met for the first time on Sunday morning in Manhattan where we boarded a bus for Staten Island along with other AWDs and Guides.  Exiting the bus, we lost control of Damon (he weighed 200 lbs) in his wheelchair and he fell out of the bus and damaged his chair and injured his head and shoulders.  But we continued to the early start (8:50 AM), climbed the Verazzano Bridge and found ourselves in front of the AWD group, where we remained for most of the race.  My job was to push when Damon needed assistance, especially up hills.  Some wannabe contenders pushed us a little in Brooklyn, where we had a police escort, but upon reaching the 59^th Street Bridge, we again moved ahead of the group going up and down the Bridge and left them in the dust for the rest of the race.  We were alone for the most part going up First Avenue.  What an incredible feeling that was!  The elite runners passed us toward the end of the race, another new experience for me, and at the finish we were interviewed by NBC television for live broadcast.  Other news organizations from around the world also interviewed us.  Our finishing time was under five hours, which was a personal best for Damon.  This was his fourth consecutive NYC Marathon!  He is also a wheelchair rugby player!  The toper was seeing our photograph during the race appear in The New York Times on Monday morning.

Anyone wishing to support my fund raising efforts can do so my sending a check payable to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to my attention at 52 Upper Montclair Plaza, or by going on line at www.MakeADonation.com/msk.