UPDATE: Dawn breaks over Marblehead: Marathon is canceled.
I'm transferring links from my other post. I've decided to do this because of an email I got from the Actuarial Society of New York (of which I'm a member).
Here it is in its entirety (except for the signature):
ASNY Members:
Hurricane Sandy continues to impact us all in the Greater New York area and beyond. The Downtown Marriott has sustained significant damage such that they are no longer able to host our annual meeting on November 8th. In addition, transportation to lower Manhattan continues to be challenging.
At this time, ASNY has no choice but to postpone this year’s annual meeting. We are currently working with the Marriott and other venues in Manhattan to obtain an alternate site and date for our meeting. We expect to know much more by early next week and will inform you at that time. Please be patient with us as this is a fluid situation and is still developing.
While we hope that you will be able to join us for the annual meeting, our first concern is your health and safety. The ASNY board wishes you the best during these trying times.
Hmmm. Maybe there were some other events that would have been wise to postpone in the city, eh?
Let's run down some of my links, plus some new ones:
Bloomberg is gambling on this weekend's marathon to raise the city's spirits. But the decision not to cancel the event, which starts Sunday at 9.30am on Staten Island, has led to widespread criticism. Some residents and elected officials have said it could divert essential resources from the recovery operation.
James Oddo, a council member for Staten Island, described the decision as "idiotic".
Paul Fernandez, 24, who lives in Oakwood, Staten Island, told the Guardian: "I think it is bullshit. We need some help down here. We need help fixing the benches, fixing people's houses – nobody is helping us here, nobody is saying anything."
- food
- water
- those insulated blankets they give to the runners after the finish line
- generators
- tents (the material could be useful, even if you're not going to be camping outside)
- hotel rooms
- cops
I'm sure there's more, but that's just off the top of my head. People could actually use that stuff, especially given we're having a cold spell and possibly another nor'easter come our way.
Holy shit, here's something from firedoglake which is definitely a lefty site:
For some insane reason, city officials are planning to go forward with the New York City Marathon on Sunday, the staging area for which happens to be on Staten Island. Unless those runners are using treadmills that can somehow be made to power up local homes, there’s no reason to devote precious resources to this race.
Meep on November 2, 2012 at 3:35 pm said:
more stuff people could use:
- portapotties
-trucks
jefferson101 on November 2, 2012 at 3:50 pm said:
I have a hard time feeling sympathy for the NYC folks over Bloomie. They elected him. They re-elected him. Then, after he got term limits overturned, they elected him once more. It's a self inflicted wound.
At the risk of invoking Godwins Law on myself, I have to note that when Hitler was running amok, and we were stomping on Germans indiscriminately, it was noted that they elected him, so they brought it on themselves. The same analogy, although perhaps with less bombing of city centers, extends to Bloomie, I think.
jefferson101 on November 2, 2012 at 4:39 pm said:
Wow! You only have to kick Bloomie in the groin three or four times before he catches on.
http://news.yahoo.com/storm-hit-yorkers-uneasy-decision-hold-marathon-015459663–sector.html
He crawfished and cancelled the Marathon.
Heh.
Meep on November 2, 2012 at 4:56 pm said:
Yup, I just came back here before I left work to post an update. (I don't have internet at home right now)
Thanks for the link
Starless on November 2, 2012 at 5:34 pm said:
And here I had a post forming in which I was going to declare the New York Road Runners club "The Biggest Douche in The Universe". Too late now.
Anyway, Bloomie is an asshole but he's a politician. The douches running the NYRR, OTOH, are all a bunch of high-powered NY elite citizens who are supposed to actually give a shit about the city they live in.
jefferson101 on November 2, 2012 at 5:58 pm said:
Hey….Probably only a third of the runners are actually from NYC, and they are either in the "also ran" column, or are Rosie Ramirez.
I don't blame NASCAR drivers for issues in Daytona, or IRL drivers for political problems in Indianapolis, so why would I blame marathon runners for the fact that Bloomie has his head inserted somewhere that is very dark and smelly?
The racers go where the prize money is, as do all good competitive capitalists, right?
Starless on November 2, 2012 at 6:23 pm said:
The NYRR runs the NYC Marathon. They didn't need Bloomie to cancel or postpone it for them, they could have done it themselves. Earlier today they were boasting that they were going to donate $26.20 per marathon entrant for hurricane relief as though that was going to make up for the fact that they were going to clog up major transportation arteries, use first responders, and divert other critical resources so they could run around until their nipples bled. Only now, after a firestorm of criticism, do they realize that running the marathon on Sunday is a stupid idea for a whole host of reasons.
I only criticize the runners to the extent that I've known a few marathoners and oftentimes the type that end up at the NYC Marathon treat their runner's high as a religion experience and would run over their elderly, disabled grandmothers to experience it. Or, in this case, would blithely run past neighborhoods blasted by a hurricane to experience it.
jefferson101 on November 2, 2012 at 7:01 pm said:
I know marathon runners, too. They are fairly obsessive about it, by my definition of "obsessive", but they might think the same thing about my hobbies.
OTOH, my "hobbies" don't normally involve spending two or three days in bed recovering from a day of enjoying them, and I've never vomited or had convulsions because of my hobbies. (Well, maybe when I was young and had "more beer" as a hobby, i might have vomited a time or two, but beyond that?)
My mantra is more like: "If it hurts to do it, don't do it." I do make exceptions for shooting firearms with major recoil, but that doesn't hurt nearly as much as running a marathon does.
Starless on November 2, 2012 at 10:45 pm said:
"No pain, no gain" is fine by me but if it's at the level where it involves destroying your knees, bleeding through your nipples, and peeing on yourself, I'm generally not for it.
Meep on November 3, 2012 at 6:44 am said:
in response to the back & forth above, I have a few marathoners on my fb friends list and they all criticized holding the NYC marathon this year. (to be sure, they weren't registered to run this year's marathon, but still)
Starless on November 3, 2012 at 8:08 am said:
My dad was a marathoner a long, long time ago (back in the Jim Fisk days) and he wasn't a (completely) selfish jerk who dedicated his life to achieving the runner's high, so I'm not saying that the "Marathoner" and "Self-absorbed, superior jerk" sets completely overlap, but that when it comes to those who aspire for the NYC Marathon there is a significant degree of overlap. And looking at the list of board members and leaders at the NYRR, the superior, self-absorbed jerkitude seems to exist there in a concentrated form. Possibly even more so than in people who buy thousand dollar road bikes, wear wrap-around shades, all-too-revealing outfits, and "Live Strong" wristbands, and get pissed at pedestrians who dare to walk on pedestrian paths.
Meep on November 3, 2012 at 8:41 am said:
Well, the people I'm mentioning have run the NYC marathon before, just not scheduled for this year.
As for pedestrians in the pedestrian paths, I never minded the runners much. They were pretty nimble, and unlike the cyclists, weren't lethal when they collided with you.
Starless on November 3, 2012 at 9:24 am said:
Fine. Not every single person who has ever run the NYC Marathon is a self-absorbed jerk.
FTR, my main interest in writing about this has to do with having the opportunity to write "bleeding nipples" multiple times. Because, I mean…WTF? What kind of person voluntarily engages in an activity with a high probability of causing their nipples to bleed? Outside of an S&M club, that is.
Starless on November 3, 2012 at 11:09 am said:
jefferson101 on November 3, 2012 at 3:38 pm said:
You can understand them being a bit disgruntled. There are probably somewhere around 500 of the participants to whom this involves big money, or at least the potential therefore. There are probably another 5000 or so who have got a fair chunk of change invested in coming there for the race.
Those folks are naturally going to be less than overjoyed that the race was cancelled. I can understand their feelings. Understanding their feelings doesn't change my opinion that holding the race would have been the pinnacle of stupidity, under the curcumstances. But I can understand how they feel.
Starless on November 3, 2012 at 4:01 pm said:
I see only 70 prizes. How do you come up with the number 500 for "big money"?
I can only understand how they feel if they're giving the middle finger to Hurricane Sandy. Or Thor.
jefferson101 on November 3, 2012 at 5:28 pm said:
Finishing in the top couple of hundred would probably be enough to get you support and training funds from your "national" association, no? For women or youth? A good time at a high profile event will get them subsidies, for sure. So there are that many folks for whom it could mean either a payday or a payoff.
If you are from most of the world, and you have a chance to get free food, housing in a training facility, and a subsidy of $100/month, that's probably huge money, to them.
The ones doing most of the whining are those who paid their own way there to compete, though. And, as noted, I understand their being upset. I don't really give a rat's ass about their little issues, but I can understand them. I bought Season Tickets to a local Hockey franchise that folded a third of the way into the season. And that really annoyed me. I did not, however, go abuse the City Council or the owners of the Arena where they played over it.
Shit happens, people. Get over it and go on with your lives. The folks in New York are trying to do that, and they don't need any whining from you.
Does that about cover it?
Starless on November 3, 2012 at 6:11 pm said:
Finishing in the top couple of hundred would probably be enough to get you support and training funds from your "national" association, no?
I have no idea. I haven't paid attention to the inner workings of the running world for a while.
Does that about cover it?
"Shit happens" definitely covers it and being annoyed or pissed off that something didn't happen that you wanted to happen for reasons beyond your control is perfectly understandable.