We Have a Winner!

Band on the run...or at the end of it. Sharon's right wrist and the rest of her savors the NYC Marathon finish line.

Six hours, twelve minutes, twenty seconds. Six-thousand two-hundred forty-one dollars. Obviously you recognize those figures as how long it takes the Yankees and Red Sox to play seven innings and how much it costs to see them do so at Yankee Stadium. But there’s more to those numbers.

The first figure is how long it took Sharon Chapman — and her Faith and Fear in Flushing wristband — to traverse the 26.2 miles that coursed through all five boroughs Sunday, meaning she was good to her goal and finished the New York City Marathon. Good Metsopotamian that she is, her self-imposed time limit was six hours and fifty-three minutes, or the length of the inartful yet memorable twenty-inning staring contest that ensued between the Mets and the Cardinals last April. Sharon beat it by better than forty minutes, and no position players were compelled to pitch in the process.

It should be noted 6:12:20 was her running time, but the time spent on preparation was exponentially longer —  not just intense training for the Marathon, but the heartfelt fundraising Sharon led in conjunction with her entry into the race. That’s where the $6,241 comes in — it’s the final total that has made its way to the Tug McGraw Foundation. It’s $6,241 committed to improving the quality of life for victims of brain tumors and for seeking out treatments and cures for brain cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. What blows me away beyond the 26.2 miles run in 6:12:20 is the $6,241 raised inside of 11 months. The sum and the effort it took to build it represents dedication and generosity and hope…and it’s fantastic.

Thanks once more to all of our readers who contributed to Sharon’s cause. Thanks to Sharon for making the Tug McGraw Foundation her cause and for engaging this humble blog to serve as her run’s decidedly uncorporate sponsor.