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Kristen and Katelynn — and some 50,000 others — taught us what “yes, you can” really means

First came several Marathon participants with “disabilities” — arms pumping their specially-equipped handcycles — to the admiration of the cheering crowds lining 26 miles of New York City streets, bridges and parkland. 

Then, in rapid (and eventually, not so rapid) succession came the intrepid wave of runners. They had come from countries around the world, of virtually every ethnic and racial background, young and old (six in their ‘eighties), “in shape” and “not-so-much”.

Some seemed to flow with ease. Others struggled. All with one aspiration: “We will do this.”

It’s not hyperbolic to say that Sunday’s 2015 New York City Marathon was a testament to what human beings can accomplish when in great accord. The runners, of course. But also 10,000 race-day volunteers. And well over a million roadside “cheerleaders”. A runner from Iowa: “The crowds never stopped cheering the whole way. I kept pushing even when I was struggling — I didn’t want to let them down.”

Something to ponder at the higher levels of society.