Breaking news: thousands volunteer and thousands run 26.2 in NYC anyway

By now you know that the 2012 ING New York City marathon was an on-again, off-again media debacle.

With thousands of mid-Atlantic residents homeless and running low on food and water, New York city officials decided to cancel the race. Unfortunately the cancellation came too late for most participants to get refunds on pricey airfare and hotel accommodations.

(For those of you thinking "too bad. so sad. at least you didn't lose your house" remember that many runners spent more than a thousand dollars on airfare, registration, and accommodations. An earlier cancellation would have made at least some refunds possible. There's no need to add company to misery.)

Making the best of a bad situation...
ABC news and USA Today are reporting that thousands of runners converged on Staten Island this morning, not to start a 26.2 mile run, but to put their endurance training to work in the cleanup effort.

In addition, my sources on the ground in Central Park tell me that there is a marathon underway despite the cancellation. Thousands of runners showed up this morning to run the "old route" - the 1970s original course which includes four loops around Central Park.

Photo borrowed from my friend, D

Times will not be recorded. The run will never show up on searchable race results. There will be no age group awards or post-race celebration. But runners who spent months preparing for the race will know that their training did was not for naught. Many participants are running for charity via organizations like Run4NYC.

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To donate directly to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, see the American Red Cross Hurricane Relief page.