Let's see you whine and [censored] about how she shouldn't have been
participating in that race because she's too slow, you elitist snob.
Nature blessed you with the genes that let you run fast, and that makes
you think that you're better than everyone else. This woman is 1,000
times the person that you will ever be.
Curious, though, that with all your bragging about how fast you are, and
your snobbery about people slower than you, I don't recall seeing you
posting to the weekly reports, or posting about any races that you have
run. I wonder why that is. At least I'm out there busting my ass,
trying to improve myself, and doing the best that I'm able to do--and
I'm not ashamed of what I can do because I know that I am trying to do
my best.
What about you?
NEW YORK (AP) -- When the elite athletes passed her, Zoe Koplowitz kept
walking. When the hard-core runners went by, she kept walking. And
finally, when every other one of the thousands of people in the race had
finished, she kept walking.
Koplowitz, 59, crossed the finish line and completed her 20th New York
City Marathon on Monday -- just under 29 hours after she had started.
Wearing braces on her back and knee and using purple-painted crutches,
Koplowitz, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and diabetes, walked the
entire route, accompanied by supporters.
"I'm just extremely grateful,'' she said after reaching the finish line
in Central Park. "I don't get any younger, my MS doesn't get any
better.'' She called crossing the fnish line "a total blessing.''
Koplowitz, a motivational speaker, was diagnosed over 30 years ago with
multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the central nervous
system. She entered her first New York City Marathon in 1988 and made
her best time -- just under 20 hours. This year's effort clocked in at
28 hours and 45 minutes.
How long it takes doesn't really matter to Koplowitz. She says she
enjoys her unusual vantage point, which lets her see some of the world's
best marathoners run by. "The best part is you get to be both a
spectator and a participant,'' she said.
Koplowitz started the 26.2-mile trek ahead of the main pack, this year
at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, and pulled over to give the elite runners room to
go by. This year's women's winner, Paula Radcliffe, won in 2 hours, 23
minutes, 9 seconds, just nine months after giving birth. The men's
winner, Martin Lel, finished in 2:09:04.
Ruth Brenner, president of the New York City chapter of the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society, called Koplowitz an inspiration.
"She's not letting MS change her life,'' Brenner said Monday. "I think
she is a real champion.''
Koplowitz, who has also completed races in Boston and London, said she
hoped to keep taking part in the race "as long as I'm able to keep
getting around.''
Her short-term goal, though, was to relax. "I'm going to go home, cuddle
with my husband and my dog, and take a nap,'' she said.