I don't mean to complain, but I'll be really disappointed if I can't see the NYC marathon on TV this year. Sure, My neighborhood was hit extra hard by Hurricane Sandy, we have no heat, hot water or electricity since Monday (and they tell us we'll have to wait until Tuesday to get it), but my discomfort and the lost lives of others on Long Island shouldn't stop NY from using all resources possible to have the marathon.
People missing on the South shore, including the deaths of children? Well, we need policeman to man the marathon.
Hotel rooms available for people to have one night of normalcy and take a warm shower for the first time in this week? Nah. We need many of those rooms occupied by runners.
Neighborhoods in Queens and New Jersey were decimated by this storm. I can only tell you for those who were not here, it was horrific. Can't get in the way of FUN AND RUNNING!!!
It's gonna lift our spirits, they say. I really hope so. But I'll tell you what would lift my spirits: Not having LIPA delayed by one single second so that NYC gets all the resources it needs to host this run. Not having to worry if my kids will catch pneumonia sleeping in a room that, even with blankets, is freezing cold (and expected to get colder this weekend). Not having to hear about anyone else dying from hypothermia or a collapsed three (we have another storm coming this week) because we had to spend all our energy on our precious marathon that will only seemingly uplift the spirits of those who were a little more fortunate than some in this storm.
I have no issue with the run. It just needs to be postponed. We're not uplifting our spirits from an event that happened. This event is STILL happening. That should be enough.