On Sunday morning from 7:00-11:30, we volunteered for the New York City Half Marathon 2023. More than 25,000 runners, including Olympic gold medalists, reality TV personalities, FDNY firefighters, and NYPD officers were all competing to win a decades-long rivalry. The first wave started just after 7 a.m. on Sunday, and the runners kept coming well into the afternoon. The professional wheelchair division racers began first, followed shortly afterward by professional women’s and men’s runners.
The 13.1-mile trek began near the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, wound through Prospect Park, and beelined to Downtown Brooklyn and over the Manhattan Bridge. From there, runners journeyed north from the Lower East Side along the FDR Drive on the banks of the East River to the United Nations headquarters in Midtown. Then they traversed Midtown and crossed through Times Square before ending in Central Park. We were at the East River trying to support the runners, 8 miles away from the start.
When we arrived, we first meet mystery mountain club, one of the most influential running clubs in New York they are nonprofit organizations. We tried to set up the things that we brought, like water, paper towels, glue for runners, and some hot chocolate to keep people warm. After waiting for a few minutes, we saw the professional wheelchair racers come, and I admired their spirit. Then the women and men runners came, and we prepared banners, bells, and horns to cheer them on all the time. They were also energized by our spirit, and many runners gave us thumbs up and said thank you. It made us very happy, and we felt the fruits of the direct and joint efforts of people. At the same time, many athletes asked us for water and paper towels, and we were happy to help them. Although the weather was very cold in the morning, with a strong wind at minus 2 degrees, we also felt that this event was very meaningful, and we were also inspired by the spirit of the disabled who did not give up their struggle.
members who participated(4.5hours): Fanxi Xia, Zoe Xia, Ivy Zhang, Yunhe Luo.