2006 NYC MARATHON...26 MILES & 37,954 FINISHERS..EACH WITH A STORY OF MOTIVATION

Marilson Gomes dos Santos

Elena Prokopcuka repeated as the ING New York City Marathon champion for the women!

Every first sunday in November NYC draws people from all over the world and every borough for the NYC ING Marathon. From bands, to street side supporters, to by standers-its a real unifying experience!

26 miles in NYC-now that's really something people! 29-year old, Marilson Gomes dos Santos made the Brazilians in NY and back home real proud when he took the victory for the NYC 2006 Marathon this year(his first win!) This is the first time an African did not take first place (Africans can really run though-lets kid ourselves!) Stephen Kiogora of Kenya had a breakthrough race, finishing second in 2:10:06.

Lets not forget our hottie Lance Armstrong(eye candy alert!)-who doesn't love this boy! He beat cancer, (love his ad-have you guys seen that??) won like how many-Tour De France- seven consecutive times!! Insane! Anyway I think he's a beatiful (in more than one way!) His recovery from Cancer has inspired ton's of people, and running the Marathon is yet another way to show the world that you can do anything you want-if you put your heart, soul and mind into it...Thanks Lance!
I didn't realize how big this Marathon was when I bumped into a stranger who actually ran the marathon in my grocery store. Motivation people, I gotta say these people really have it!

Aside for the pro Athletes who are drawn the Marathon, when you watch the tele-cast of it, you kinda look at all the boroughs and realise wow-all that is NYC! It's really amazing, from the Verazano bridge, to the brown stones in Park slope to queens via the queensboro bridge, Bronx and Harlem-and right back to Central Park, you realize how big and beautiful NYC is.

Each and every runner had a story, a reasoning behind the motivation to take this journey! I'm not going to kid myself I run 3 miles around the park, and I'm about to kill myself-so I have the utmost respect for each and every runner that ran the race (even if they didn't finish)-Congratulations!! It’s a true achievement. And to my friend in the grocery store-big up!

DID YOU KNOW? The race was originally produced by the New York Road Runners and has been run every year since 1970.