A week ago I sat in front of the TV watching thousands of runners take on the New York marathon. The picture is all too familiar, thousands upon thousands of excited runners streaming over the start line as they make their way over the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s absolutely mind blowing when you see it!

But during the broadcast on SuperSport, there was a break in transmission and the commentator apologized for the picture being ‘stuck’ on the camera at the starting line. He apologized that the viewers were watching the slow back-markers instead of the leading pack – not compelling viewing at all in his opinion.

But he was wrong because I was mesmerized! It suddenly occurred to me that if I was running the race, that I would most probably be running in that group of runners. I’m averaging 8 minutes per km and not very fast so when I run my races, I’m typically in the back as it is now.

I was overcome with a mixture of excitement and incredible nervousness for these runners knowing just how far their race was and how long they’d be out there. But I was also full of inspiration.

It proved once again to me that it doesn’t matter where you start or when you finish in a race, every runner’s marathon is their own! I hope each and every one of them went home with tired feet, happy hearts and a medal around their neck!

(Images from Google. The photo of my TV is my own.)