What is the meaning of a Marathon? 30,000 people of all ages, sizes, colors, and shapes standing on the Parkway in the near dark on an early Sunday, November morning. Total strangers in common bond as far as the eye can see. So what?
On an individual level, it is about (mostly) ordinary people doing something extraordinary. With discipline, determination and dry socks, an individual can prepare and then run 13.1 or 26.2 miles. Apply and repeat to other life goals.
More importantly, imagine what we could do as a community if we decided to harness ordinary people to accomplish the extraordinary. 30,000 people running though a city with 430,000 people (not a typo) living below the federal poverty level. 135,000 of them children. 30,000 people running through Mantua, a West Philadelphia neighborhood with 18,010 (51%) people living in poverty. Throughout history, we’ve come together as a society so ordinary people could accomplish the extraordinary. We can turn our attention to this one.