Prelude

At thirty-eight, I ran the first of my six completed Marathons in September, 1978 in New York City. The race traverses all five boroughs of the City.  The race begins at Fort Wadsworth Park in Staten Island and immediately crosses the Verrazano Narrows Bridge across New York Bay to Brooklyn.  Through Bay Ridge and downtown Brooklyn and across the Pulaski Bridge to Queens.  Then across the 59^th Street-Queensborough Bridge to Manhattan, north to the Willis Avenue Bridge to the South Bronx, and then the Madison Avenue Bridge back to Manhattan, through Harlem and Central Park and finally to Tavern on the Green Restaurant near Columbus Circle.  (A friend of mine quipped, “I wouldn’t even want to drive that route!”)  The race covers the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles or 42.2 kilometers!

Here's a cute story I like to tell about that race: “I ran the race with the famous marathoner Bill Rogers!  He is the eventual winner at 2’ 10”….  But when he crossed the finish line in Manhattan, I was still slogging along in Brooklyn!”

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Jomtien Beach

Thailand

Early Sunday Morning

July 20, 2025

Windy and Overcast

Hello,

And speaking about runners slogging (or just walking) along:

 By the time I realize what is happening in my neighborhood this morning, the Pattaya Marathon had been in progress for three hours. The elite runners and well-trained long-distance runners have already crossed the finish line.  Since my location on the route is at 32 kilometers. or about 20 miles, I am watching “the back of the pack.”