CLEANUP DUTY. Kristen Boscia helps pile up debris on Staten Island instead of running in the New York Marathon, Photo courtesy Kristen Boscia
By Ashleigh Ruhl: “You may have cancelled the marathon, but not my spirit,” Kristen Boscia says she told New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Wearing her orange race jersey, Boscia, 38, met the mayor on Staten Island the weekend the New York City Marathon was originally scheduled to take place — the weekend after Superstorm Sandy made landfall. Although the race had been canceled, Boscia donned her bright orange race jersey and decided to lend a helping hand and a backpack full of donations to the victims in Sandy’s wake. The Seal Beach resident and world traveler was hoping to complete her third full marathon (she has also run in 24 half marathons and a handful of triathlons and other related athletic feats, including hiking to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro — the highest mountain in Africa — earlier this year). She said it was devastating to hear that the race had been canceled, especially considering that she had been on a waiting list to participate in the marathon for more than three years. “While I was on my flight Friday afternoon to New York, I saw on television that the marathon had been cancelled,” she explained. “At first, I was shocked … the race was only a day-and-a-half away, and I wished they would have cancelled it earlier so that I could have avoided flying out. But then I started to think there must be a bigger reason why I was flying out.” Bosica searched online until she found information about a group of runners — some from other states or even other countries who had come to NYC for the marathon — who planned to help the victims of the natural disaster. So, she joined more than 1,200 marathoners who packed their backpacks with batteries and packaged food and headed to Staten Island. She spent the weekend meeting victims and helping clean out damaged homes or distribute donations to those in need. “It looked like a war zone,” Boscia said about Staten Island. “There were fallen trees and power lines and people were out — neighbors were coming together and helping each other and cleaning up.” She said the experience was life changing — more so than any marathon, even one that had been on her bucket list. She said what most impressed her was the way that people came together in a crisis to support one another. “It was the best race I never ran,” she said. Source: Gazettes.com
