Community Women Run In NYC Marathon

On Sunday November 7th, 11 community women ran in the ING New York City Marathon. For several of the women it was their first time participating. They spent many months training, and reached their goals with a thrilling sense of accomplishment as they all completed the marathon in its entirety.

With over 45,000 runners, and many more applicants yearly, the chances of running in the marathon are slim. To qualify you had to either run for a charity (one participant ran for the Special Children’s Center), be selected in a lottery, or run in one of several New York Road Runners sponsored races.

Each woman had a yearning to run in the marathon. As they started preparing and training, they got to know one another. Over the months leading up to the race, the women formed a running club allowing them to share their experiences and inspire one another. They became close friends.

Each woman had different goals and reasons for running. Some wanted to run the race in a certain time, some just wanted to make it across the finish line and others were fulfilling a life long dream. For some it was their first time running, some their third or seventh. Two sisters ran together.

They trained hard, supported one another, drove each other crazy and listened to each other when no one else wanted to hear about it anymore. They laughed, wrote running poems, cut out articles, made a slideshow, made t-shirts, bought each other running trinkets, and polished their nails blue and orange—the colors of the NYC Marathon.

The week before the race they met for brunch, picked up their numbers at the Expo together, slept in Staten Island the night before the marathon and wished each other good luck. Then they said good-bye and ran their race. They were in each other’s hearts as they crossed the finish line.

Each woman shared the same sentiments. They felt that running in the marathon brought them a huge sense of accomplishment. The whole experience made them all stronger women, proving to each that she could do anything that she set her mind to do. Tremendous support from family, friends, and bystanders throughout the race propelled the women to complete their journeys. The collective group effort was truly empowering and inspiring to all. Some may run again and some may not, but what they accomplished will never leave them.

In order to stay inspired throughout the year, some of the women will be donating their time to organizations in our community, including SBH Food pantry, SBH Big Brother Big Sister, the Sephardic Community Center, and Chai Lifeline.

Congratulations go out to all the runners: Sara Bibi, Celia Cayre, Sharon Dayan, Gladys Haddad, Adele Laboz, Michelle Levy, Tammy Moreno, Rachel Setton, Iris Shalam, Liza Shamah, and Elizabeth Zarif.

A special thank you goes to Cindy Gindi who supported and gave advice to many of the girls. Cindy ran in the NYC marathon five times, ran the full Chicago marathon this year, and was fortunate to run the last 10   miles with two of her closest friends.
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Randi Shomer is a community member, mother of four children, and a freelance writer.