This past weekend they ran the Indy 500 ( the biggest and best open wheel race in the world) and the Ridgewood Run....obviously these events are on much different scales but both present an opportunity to shine....most of us will never drive an Indy car let alone qualify for one of the 33 spots in the 500 but all of us ( with few exceptions) can have the spotlight for a few moments. I watched the 5k and the men's and women's mile races on Memorial Day in Ridgewood....I have run the 5k and 10 k several times over the years but was just a spectator this year. Thinking back on the day...it was a great scene...people were lined up along Linwood Avenue coming up to the finish line...I saw people I knew and who had obviously run the 10k or just had finished the 5k and stayed to watch and cheer for the other runners, there were family members looking for their favorite runner and probably people who did not have a family member running but came out to watch on a beautiful day...how cool is that????

When you're running, and you pass trees or bushes that hang over into the road, do you high-five them and imagine the branches are really fans' arms hanging over the barricades cheering you on? I do sometimes.....Do you envision yourself running hard to the finish line of the Nike marathon? the NYC Marathon...making that final right turn by Columbus Circle and heading back into Central Park and up to the finish line? Or seeing the finish line and the race clock and knowing that you are about to set a new PR...or qualify for Boston....or break 5 hours or 4 hours for the first time or YOU ARE ABOUT TO ACHIEVE SOMETHING NO ONE CAN EVER TAKE AWAY......FINISHING A MARATHON!!!!!! I have and still do

Running is possibly the only sport (and more specifically road racing as opposed to track running) and maybe the only event that people like you and me can perform on the same stage and hear the encouragement of the same people along the course as the best in the world. I can tell people with total honesty that I have run the same races on the same courses as Haile Geberlaisse ( has set about 17 world records in distances from 10k to the marathon), Deena Kastor, Meb, Paul Tergat, Paula Radcliffe and even Lance Armstrong....so I did not beat any of them but I ran the same distance they did and my medal is the same as theirs. So fill out those entry forms and come out and hear the cheers as you run by. Come out and feel just like that...the star of the show. Few people will ever get to feel that feeling. Some of us can feel it a few times a year. I wonder if those that are cheering realize how special they make us feel....whether they do or not...I want to say thank you to them and to the volunteers that give their free time to allow us to hear the cheers.

BTW, try volunteering at a race...a local one or for a NY Road runners race...its a great feeling and you will understand what it takes to put on a race and will appreciate it the next time you run a race.