"N-Y-R-R! Five more to be a star!"

Though a rainswept, overcast day, our stars never shined so bright the morning of July 27 at the New York City Half Marathon presented by Nike, as we cheered on runners and walkers coming out of Central Park between miles 7 and 8 (hence 5 more miles to go in the cheer) onto the surface street of Seventh Avenue. It was one of my proudest moments being on Cheer New York, and yes, that is due somewhat to my bias as a New York Road Runners employee, the producers of the race. Nonetheless, for it being short notice and while on the off-season, to have nine members of Cheer New York as chipper and high-spirited as ever at 7 AM on a Sunday was simply mara-torious.

Race participants traveled 13.1 miles through Manhattan, and we traveled thirteen feet into the air in photographed full extensions. A few of my cheer mates knew people in the race making it that much more personally meaningful, but even for the people we did not know we cheered our hearts out. Moments that really struck me were when towards the end a few runners began to slow down and actually walk looking worn out but at the sight of us lifted their faces and ran ahead renewed with vigor. Also, as luck would have it, our area was adjacent to a cheering zone full of my coworkers and kids from our programs who I had just met on that previous Friday. They loved us!

Next stop, CNY, the full marathon in November with 40,000 of our closest friends!-Rick H.


(top photo courtesy of New York Road Runners)