NYC Marathon: Making You Feel Worthless, One Runner at a Time

?Every once in a while (okay, fine, probably more often than not, seeing as how we live in New York), a person comes along who, for whatever reason, makes us feel like a worthless piece of lazy crap. Like that chick who beat the shit out of the man who attempted to rob her last night in the East Village. Or, like Larry Lewis, the 53-year-old New Yorker who plans to run his 28th consecutive marathon on Sunday.

Somewhat of a modern-day Forrest Gump, Larry Lewis can "run like the wind blows." He ran his first marathon in 1983 and says he has no plans to change his habits any time soon:

"It's a whole mind, body, spirit thing, a lifestyle thing that just all culminated, came together for me and I continue to do it... And I expect to do it until I can't move."

?But as just one of nearly 120,000 other participants in Sunday's ING New York City Marathon, Lewis is certainly not the only runner looking forward to the upcoming race (nor is he the only one who will make you impulsively feel the need to run around the block a few times).

***Michael Rodgers, a 35-year-old Manhattanite, plans to run his 31st consecutive marathon this Sunday in the name of charity.

***Edison Pe?a, the 12th Chilean miner to be rescued on October 13th, will participate on Sunday after running 6 miles per day while trapped underground.

***Jared Fogle (you know, the "Subway Guy") will be running his first marathon on Sunday after losing 245 pounds in 1999. So he's finally able to cross that off his bucket list.

***Al Roker, the gastric-bypassing weatherman who dropped 115 lbs, plans to celebrate by running/walking the 26-mile race on Sunday, his first marathon.

If these dedicated, health-conscious folks aren't enough to make you slap on a pair of spandex bicycle shorts in the name of good, quality exercise, maybe it's time to accept your fate as a couch potato. But, whatever, showing up and drinking on the sidelines while you wait for your friends to pass by is exercise enough, right? Or you can just watch the marathon from your iPhone.

[atimm@villagevoice.com]

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