Linda Ferraro courtesy of Facebook
NOVEMBER 20, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY GAIL KISLEVITZ
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Running can be described as the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other. But in a marathon, that simple act of moving forward for 26.2 miles takes on a whole new meaning, one with lots of perseverance and discipline. Among the finishers at the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 were two Ridgewood women, Linda Ferraro and Dominique Hamel, who will never forget their day.
The New York City Marathon is the largest marathon in the world, with 50,000 registered runners. It starts at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island and winds its way through all five boroughs of New York. Standing at the foot of that span on Marathon Sunday was Ferraro, running her first marathon at age 60, gripped with the usual fear and anxiety that every marathoner feels. Hamel was also nervous but for a different reason. A veteran of more than 50 marathons, all run under four hours, she was volunteering as an Achilles guide for a 73-year-old male cancer survivor who was predicting it would take nine hours to complete the course. She had never run that slowly or with a disabled runner as sick as he was. This was her third consecutive year as an Achilles guide and it would be her most challenging and rewarding.
Ferraro decided to tackle the marathon as a way of celebrating turning 60, and as a lifetime runner wanting to know what the experience was all about. “I have to admit it was on my bucket list, but way down, close to the bottom of the barrel,” laughs Ferraro, who had run a few half marathons. At the time she signed up for the marathon, Ferraro had nothing on the horizon and knew she could dedicate five months to the training. But then her two daughters got engaged and planned weddings three months apart, scheduled for June and September in 2015. Ferraro not only had to train for a marathon, she had to plan back-to-back weddings.
https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/friends-have-unique-experiences-1.1459289
