NEW YORK CITY: Gay Runners To Pub Crawl For Hurricane Sandy Relief

Instead of taking part in the now-canceled Marathon, today some gay runners and their supporters will pub crawl for hurricane relief in Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and the West Village. Beneficiaries will be the American Red Cross, the Ali Forney Center, and New York Care. More details are here and on the event's Facebook page.

NYC Marathon Canceled

After an outpouring of criticism from all corners, the New York City Marathon has been canceled for this Sunday. It's not yet been disclosed if the race will be rescheduled.

Today's New York Post

I can't say I've ever agreed with the Post before.  It does seem surreal that the Marathon is still going to happen on Sunday.

Paul Ryan Lied About Marathon Feat

Runner's World clocks him on it.

It turns out Paul Ryan has not run a marathon in less than three hours—or even less than four hours. A spokesman confirmed late Friday that the Republican vice presidential candidate has run one marathon. That was the 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, where Ryan, then 20, is listed as having finished in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds. Ryan had said in a radio interview last week that his personal best was "Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something." In a statement issued to Runner's World by a spokesman Friday night, Ryan said of his marathon experience: "The race was more than 20 years ago, but my brother Tobin—who ran Boston last year—reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself ran a sub-three. If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three. He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner tonight."

Ryan confessed after Runner's World scoured marathon records in Ryan's home state. (Tipped by JMG reader Brad)

Morning View - Marathon Ready

The barricades are up, the cops are in position, and any minute the leaders in the NYC Marathon will hit their half-way point as they pass my block on the Upper East Side. Bleachers and band stages have been erected all along this portion of the route, where UES hospital employees will cheer on their teams. The music and screaming will continue for most of the day. I just turn up the television.

RELATED: Stats and factoids about the NYC Marathon.

UPDATE: Television coverage showed the men's leaders on the Queensborough Bridge, so I went back down to the corner to grab a photo as they passed in a pack of about eight.

CNBC: Immigrant NYC Marathon Winner Not A "Real" American

Sunday morning when I reported that an American had won the NYC Marathon for the first time in 27 years, I purposely didn't mention that he is a naturalized citizen - an immigrant from Eritrea - because, you know, so fucking what? American is American, right? Well, not according to CNBC's Darren Rovell. Via AmericaBlog, Rovell's commentary:

It's a stunning headline: American Wins Men's NYC Marathon For First Time Since '82. Unfortunately, it's not as good as it sounds. Meb Keflezighi, who won yesterday in New York, is technically American by virtue of him becoming a citizen in 1998, but the fact that he's not American-born takes away from the magnitude of the achievement the headline implies...

Given our disappointing results, embracing Keflezighi is understandable. But Keflezighi's country of origin is Eritrea, a small country in Africa. He is an American citizen thanks to taking a test and living in our country. Nothing against Keflezighi, but he's like a ringer who you hire to work a couple hours at your office so that you can win the executive softball league. The positive sign was that some American-born runners did extremely well in yesterday's men's race. If any of them stand on the top step of the podium in Central Park one day, that's when I'll break out my red, white and blue.

John Aravosis nails it:

I can't even believe that CNBC would publish this kind of racist crap. This "reporter" should be fired, as should whatever editor saw this story and let it be printed. Technically an American? Simply passed a test? And what did you do, Darren, to become an American? You were born here to American parents - that must have been real hard work fighting your way through your mother's birth canal. I'm sure childbirth taught you a lot more about liberty and freedom than a guy who escaped a civil war to come to a land where he could be free.

American Wins NYC Marathon For First Time Since 1982

Meb Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, won the NYC Marathon today, the first American to do so in 27 years.

A surprisingly strong contingent of Americans were trying to break a 27-year men’s drought in the New York City Marathon, with four Americans in the lead back for a long while.But as the race turned down Fifth Avenue with four miles to go, it was the oldest and most experienced of them, Keflezighi holding the last hopes. He battled Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya stride for stride, as the battle for the marathon title had whittled to the two men. Cheruiyot a five-time winner of the Boston Marathon, is trying to win his first New York City Marathon. In his only previous race here, he finished fourth in 2005. Keflezighi, 34, has finished as high as second here (in 2004) but has never won a major marathon. He did, however, win a silver medal at the Athens Olympics. With about four miles to go in the race, Keflezighi began to create a wide gap between himself and Cheruiyot that would hold for the remainder of the race.

The marathon goes through the Upper East Side about 100 feet from my apartment. It's quite the scene down on my corner - bands, food trucks, and thousands of fans. Wakes me up every year. The NYC Marathon calls itself the "largest sporting event in the world," with 40,000 participants and two million spectators.

UPDATE: Ethiopian Deratu Tulu won the women's marathon.

Afternoon View - NYC Marathon

Today's NYC Marathon runs past my street at the 16-mile mark. The course goes through all five boroughs, although the Staten Island portion is pretty much just the Verrazano Bridge and the runners wisely only step into the Bronx for a few blocks. By the time I took the above photo, the winners had already been interviewed in Central Park, where the race finishes.

Along First Avenue there's a carnival atmosphere, sort of like a tail-gate party with live bands and huge cheering sections for the various international running clubs. Every year, my block hosts big crowds from Holland, Sweden, and France. I got tired just standing there watching all that exertion. Bah.