Here is the hero of the day: Eduardo Ronanduano. One of my closest friends, who like other 50.000 souls, trained himself to be able to run the 2015 New York City Marathon. The day arrived and the picture above shows the achievement. Of course, without Claudia's support, nothing could have happened.
Then the real thing started to happened. On Sunday November 1st, we woke up early to be able to get the Staten Island Ferry in lower Manhattan. Once we crossed the Hudson Bay we would be taken by hundreds of buses to a location nearby the Verrazano Bridge ramp.
In meditating state, Edu crossing the Hudson bay towards Staten Island. The morning was pleasantly cool, with a perfect temperature for the marathon. The atmosphere on the ferry was electrifying. People were in good mood, some of them preparing part of their gear, some others already eating and drinking the water and vitamins required for the challenge. Eduardo here, just contemplating the view.
I am sure that this grin meant happiness: his mind thinking that the day finally arrived... Ok, honestly, I am not sure. If I were him, this expression would be read as a grimace saying "WTF I am doing here!"
I didn't want to show his face as he looked at the very first challenge the marathon has. The race starts going up the hill from the bottom of the Verrazano Bridge and you can see here its curvature... good luck with it!
After the fact, asking him about it, he casually mentioned that this first challenge was a piece of cake... So I am happy that in this picture his face hidden just in case of showing any regret or weakness. Heroes are perfect!
After the crossing, we took the bus to the bridge's ramp. Our driver got lost and after a moment of panic, one of the runners help him to find his way to the right location with the cell phone's GPS feature. Little gems of an otherwise perfect organization.
The staging area for the marathon was divided in several sections. Each participant based on their running time would be assigned to one of four waves. Each wave would start the race after 20 minutes. In the meantime, until their time came, people would relax and prepare themselves.
I left Eduardo ready to start the marathon to be able to get in time to the finish line in the Central Park. Some of the pictures I took at this point came out in an article published in La Nacion newspaper from Argentina. Here is the link:
And that was his moment. I took the picture seconds before crossing the finish line. I had to shout him to stop Edu on his track to document the moment he has been longing for many months.
To get emotional as I browse these pictures is unavoidable. I was in many ways witness of what the human ingenuity can achieve and what it means to have purpose in life. I am proud of having a friend like Eduardo that pushes himself everyday to achieve that purpose, his purpose. He is an inspiration for me and I always hope that each person can have someone to be inspired by next to them. I am really lucky. Congratulations Edu! See you next year... hopefully I will be ready with Claudia with the mate and the bizcochitos.
Gus - November 2015
- Ps. I want to thank German Leza and La Nacion to allow me to document this event.
Credits:
Gustavo Mirabile