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was another weathex p ostica- uon gone 01! the mils th to way l'hen she hit like: a woman scorned. She hnmemififlly unleashed he! wrath on mmymw and cwrything that gm in he: way. mu much}an hypo Yes. I'm a mdhead named Sandy with a temper. but when I bltwv. I unleash a verbal ouslaughl that will mam: your ears ring. Death and (k‘structinn is not my M( I A3 (INN mponers battled the wind and rain and their news anchor counterparts remained comfortably in their studios won- dering how this would affect the pmsklenttal demon nine days later. I selfisth wondemd about the New York City marathon. The 'race I dmhmed about mn- ning long befom l laced up a pair of running shoe-5.1119 race I spent {our years entering a lottery in order to do The mthon that wassuppmedtocapoflareafly good racingyeuAracc-wespem gmaflbnuncon. You I had watched this race on‘ryformoreyepndtgnrlcan recall wondedng how all those peopie did it m run a marathon. Then one day. ldccided. 1.100. would nm a marathon - the New York (7in marathon. 'lhe mate I saw of Superstunn destruction late Monday night and into mosday moming ~thenmdedsubway‘ tenmhe Jersey boardwalk into lun- dling. homes kwled and people left with naming bm the domes on thc'u'backswlkncwthiswasa rare I was not guingto run. I knew in my-heanofhcansl could no! go to Nchork City and run through its streets knmting people within arms length of me wow without food. electricity and ham Race organizers wem on the ground. Most assuredly. they saw what we were seeing. only worse. How Could they host a met: for 47.000 pmple when theme was something more important that needed to be dealt with? A state of emergency was declared in New York and New they. You can't organim a race under those condi~ Agonizing decisions made ahead of cancellation Stoufl'vilk Sun-Tribune rcporta-Snndn Bohnrunsinthczmo Gand- ma'sMandmnhDulufll.MthBohnwutohaveruninhstmk's Nchod: City Marathon before: superstorm shut it down. dons? Can you? Staten island. where the raw starts. was decimated and them was no way to get them. But apparently that didn‘t matter m race Omani/en. (")n “neatly. thvy were claiming the. race was still going ahead as planned. For twn days. my husband. Dave. and l keptwonderingdowe go ordowestay home? lfwv: g0. dowedriworwillwestillbcable toflyflhceMIegathermhowdo we um around the city? Better bring extra cash for cabs and plan todoalomfwalkim.wmtbem mallybca motto‘mn? Aftct how: of frantic emailing back and forth between Dave and myself. checking the news reports for the latest updates and still try» ing to get our work done. I realized going to New York was just a bad I called How/ire to see if we could get our hotel refunded. I knew it was a long shot. but I had to try. ‘ While on hold waiting for the customer service mp to giw me her final answer. more emails to Dawn: "are you sum you‘ve ()K cancelling the hotel and staying hunw?" He said yes and the ms- tomcr service rep refunded our money. I think I lost 10 pounds of mm» when I heard that thme-lcnor We hoped our vacated mom would go to a homdms family. You 909. for ahuut a month I had a wally bad feeling about going to New York. I just knew something wasn‘t right. But I chalked it up tn leaving behind an ailing and aging dog. I had no idea a natural disaster with my name attached to it was about to change the lives of millions forum. Everything after that fell into plaa‘. including cancelling our flight without penalty. I waa sad that l was not run» ning the New York City marathtm in five days. but I knew n was the M somwné 0. while living and muting in rmuda. camc- away fwm Hurricane Danielle in I998 unscalhui. except for no puww for a day at two. I had a small inkling as to what it was like to survive a natural disaster. right decision huge. If back then the island wen- tu haw gm“- alwml with hust- tng a race. while many residents mmatuul homeless and wltlmut food and puwet. I wnuld haw been llu’d. And ifonecmetgenw person went used for the race. instead of asststtltg those in need. I would haw wally Nown my slack. ARM all. racing marathons. for the vast maturin of. us. is just a hobby and no hubby should ('wr take pmuxience over mother's survival. But my lhnught pnms was cleafly of the minurity. A running forum [frequent had a handful of‘pmplt- still packed and ready to race New ‘tbrk. “My fli Us still scheduled to go. sol 5 plan on being there." was the basic wmimmt. Fair enough. While media outlets Mm reporting on the slunn’s aftermath and how the election may be afiected. there was one group that mmained ovn'ly s‘iként m» the race organ'm‘rs. For almost a year. the York Rand Runan inunde ran-rs inlmxés with messages made m get us ohm-excited m be pam'm? paring in thix wnrld famuus ownl. But mnw ptN «Superstar!!! Sandy. they tell silent. No tweets or emails. lust a short message on the raw website stating they feel for the victims of the stomt. but the ram: will go on. Hwy did. hum-vet. pmvidt- a cancellation option for those whu decided they did not want to participate under these cucum- stances. If yuu cancelled by Sat- tuday night. you won: guaranteed entry intu the 20” race. Howwvt. race nrgantzors wem keeping your 20l2 entry ft‘!‘ and ifynu wanted to run in 2013. you would have tn pay that year's entry fee. Mr ( “ana- diuns that mmmt “11"th out on US $50 fur 2012 and would also lum- tu pay at least that again next war to race. ()h and it ynu could. please dunaur m the Victims of Super- storm Sway. Really? Now. these race orgaâ€" nin-m weu- wally looking like uwruw-minded. heartless moneyâ€" grubbe'm Not a mention 0f the mam- Inmh rau- was made on the news until maybe Wednesday and it was likvly due to 'lwnwr and running. fumms gning inn» uwniriw with more than 40.000 runners from annmd the world in Iapot mode all asking lhv sanw qucsliun: is flu- race taking place? As media mwragc of the race finally got some (rm-mm. nrgan'v vrs unmanned adamant the sh: M’ would go on as planned. liven New York City Mayor Michael kamxbt'rg was on board with it. ‘Ihose Who died in Superstorm Sandy would want]! that way. was one u! the masons given by race ufficialx Really? Wcre race Organizers not listen- ing to the residents standing in rubble that once was their homes pleading for food. water. shaker and any other kind of aid avail- 1‘th continued for another lwu days Sometime lim- in the afternoon last Friday. race urgammrs came to their senses and camfled the marathon. My husband and I first heard about it when we 53! down in fmm of thy ‘W in much Pardon 'lhe Inn-rmpliun while I with loaded. [he shows fin! mm was the mamlhnn, I mki Haw m hm turwagrd thmugh it. I was timi 0| hearing the arguments for and against holding the race. We made uur decision. let's muw on. But like a good husband. hl‘ didn't listen and let it roll. limy Kumht-N-r pmmptly mnounwd: " Hu- New York City ttmmlhutt has been t'attct-llt-d.” l was so happy ratio urganm'rs finally camv m thou But I also fell terrible for all those um um whn apt-m lhumands M (M lars getting lht‘fl‘ unly m find um I! was for nothing ‘lhis was Ihv ufl‘u'lal ammum v mom pasted on the race wvbmv and um! m vmmnw "[110 ( Iity 0! MM York and NYRR annuunn- "ml the 20!: mgr