Spectating a Marathon from The Living Room

If you didn’t know it, today was the 43rd running of the NYC Marathon! It’s a pretty spectacular day throughout the five boroughs – the inspiring runners, from the elite athletes to those struggling to finish (of which I was one back in 2009), to the throngs of crowds that line the streets. Marathon week was always my favorite week of the year in NYC and Marathon day was far and beyond any other!

^{Watching the start with my 2009 NYCM mug!}

Even though I couldn’t be in NYC for marathon day this year, I was watching (just about) every minute of the ESPN2 broadcast and tracking a bunch of runners, including Oiselle birds and Grace and reading hundreds of tweets from those in NYC! I’m seriously inspired by everyone who got out there today and gave it their all!

^{Inspired, I hit the gym for a treadmill run/walk so I could watch the marathon while working out. I stayed on that thing for over an hour to see Tatyana McFadden win the wheelchair race & catch Priscah Jeptoo speed ahead and capture first in the women’s race.}

Congrats to everyone who raced today in NYC and everyone who raced this weekend!

As some of you might know, Oiselle is the apparel partner for Every Mother Counts (EMC), an amazing nonprofit started by Christy Turlington Burns to end preventable deaths caused by pregnancy and death around the world. This isn’t something we think of much here in the US, but many women don’t have access to good healthcare and often, distance is one of the biggest hurdles they face.

A team of 50 ran the ING NYC Marathon today in support of, and to raise money for, Every Mother Counts, including Christy and Oiselle founder, Sally Bergesen. What’s even more cool is that they’re letting everyone else get in on the action and help Every Mother Counts by doing something we love. Running.

How exactly does this work? Well, EMC has created a Marathon Month Challenge for November (I know, this post is a little late, sorry). All you have to do is download the CharityMiles app, register, and track all your runs and walks for through the end of the month. For each 1 mile logged, EMC will get 25 cents from CharityMiles (15 cents for miles biked). This costs you nothing, except some of your time and a few calories. The goal is to run 26 miles through the month.

At the end of the month, they’re giving away prizes for top participants in categories like the most days run in a row, most miles run, fastest pace, etc. 100% of the funds raised from us running and walking – things we do every day – will go directly to support the programs of Every Mother Counts.

I started logging miles yesterday on my run but because I did a treadmill run today I was sure to walk a couple miles this afternoon when the ESPN2 marathon coverage was over.

Go HERE for more details on the challenge and share your progress on social media with #RunEMC and #EveryMileCounts

On a related, but slightly different topic, I finally signed up for my first races in Colorado! Woody and I are running the Pumpkin Pie 5k on November 16th – with pumpkin pie at the finish line! – and the United Way Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day! My last race was June 8th, so I’m excited to get back at it!

And completely unrelated, the Michigan State football team remains unbeaten in the Big Ten after a convincing win over instate rival, Michigan on Saturday and bring the Paul Bunyun Trophy back to East Lansing! It was an awesome game and I have to say it was great to be in the company of hundreds of Spartans right here in Denver to watch it all happen! My Spartan Pride runs high today! Overall, this has been a pretty spectacular weekend.

How happy does it make you to see running on a major sports network? * Are you going to join the #RunEMC Marathon Month challenge? *Do you start Thanksgiving with a Turkey Trot? * What was the highlight of your weekend?