A flood of water stopped a flood of runners. (Getty)

Despite his strong feelings this afternoon about keeping the race running, Mayor Bloomberg has just declared in a statement that he is cancelling Sunday's New York City Marathon. He says it has become a source of controversy and does not want that to ruin the event for the participants.

“The Marathon has been an integral part of New York City’s life for 40 years and is an event tens of thousands of New Yorkers participate in and millions more watch.  While holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, it is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division.  The marathon has always brought our city together and inspired us with stories of courage and determination.  We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it. We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event – even one as meaningful as this – to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track.  The New York Road Runners will have additional information in the days ahead for participants.”

It is interesting that after insisting this will bring people together, the mayor has allowed divisiveness to tear the race apart. On the one hand, the race would show resilience, but on the other, there may just be too many New Yorkers in need right now who are deserving of the mayor's attentions far more than a few thousand runners from here and beyond. Imagine being a Staten Islander without a home watching as people run past, throwing down half-empty water cups , a luxury it will be months before you would have again. And so it goes, or doesn't.

A marathon runs through it. (Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)

Mayor Bloomberg has gotten his fair share of criticism for deciding to go ahead with the annual New York City Marathon, given the devastation throughout the city following Hurricane Sandy, including not far from the starting line in Staten Island. But the mayor is sticking to his previous promise to have the race run, to send a message of New York's recovery and to help buoy an economy that has been battered by the storm.

"As Rudy Giuliani said to me this morning, he said, 'You know, right after 9/11 people said the same thing,'" Mayor Bloomberg said. Being Mike Bloomberg, he then launched into an economic defense for his decision. "New York has to show that we’re here, we are going to recover, and that while we help people we can still help companies that need the business, still generate the tax base so that we have the resources to help people. We can give people something to cheer about in what’s been a very dismal week for some people.”

More than excitement, the mayor seemed to stress this was a matter of hope. "I think Rudy had it right, you have to keep going, and doing things," Mayor Bloomberg said. "You can grieve, you can cry and you can laugh all at the same time. That’s what human beings are good at."

One of the biggest concerns seems to be diverting city resources away from the recovery effort, but Mayor Bloomberg insisted that would not happen.

"It does use some resources, but it doesn’t use resources that can really make a difference in recovery, that sort of thing,' the mayor said. "It’s a different group of people, it’s a relatively small amount of people, it’s the Sanitation Departments resources. And we have to have the city going forward. I don’t think there’s any question there are New Yorkers who have lost loved ones, we can’t replace that, people who have lost their homes, we have to do everything we can to make sure they recover, it’s hard for people to get through this thing, and I can assure you we are doing that. "

Were there any threat to the recovery efforts, the mayor insisted he would not allow the race to continue. "We have plenty of police officers who work in areas that aren’t effected, we don’t take all of them and move them into areas that are effected," the mayor said. "There will be no diversion of resources, there will be no redistribution of our efforts, no diminution of our efforts. We have a 24/7 operation going, which I’m confident we’re gonna do. We have to do everything we can to help people."

The mayor also pointed out that the New York Road Runners, the group that organizes the race, was doing its part, donating $1 million to the city's recovery fund, with an additional $1 million possible from runners, who are being asked to contribute $26.20, an homage to the 26.2-mile length of a typical marathon.

"As Mary Wittenberg, the head of the Road Runners club said, they’re running this race to help New York City, and the donations from all the runners and clubs are going to be a big relief to our relief efforts," the mayor said.

Zeddie Little: The real reason you shouldn't run on Sunday.

If you have been spending your days reading only the A section of The New York Times lately, we can forgive you for thinking that this weekend's NYC marathon might be canceled over something as mercurial as a hurricane. After all, that's what Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said today: That holding a major event in a city while its still reeling from a crisis is potentially not the best idea. (Although hey, it certainly would be the fastest way to get over any of New York's bridges.)

And that makes sense, at least on the surface. But dig a little deeper ... say, to Thursday Styles, and you'll find out the real reason people don't want to spend Sunday running around a ghost town. They're afraid someone will take a stupid picture of them.


"Marathon Photos Often Fail to Capture the Glory" reads the led of this poorly-timed faux-trend piece in yesterday's New York Times, which claimed that photo agencies like Brightroom were responsible for all the terrible things that could possibly happen whilst one was participating in a run.

"Sadly — horribly — the list of ways these photos can and almost always do go wrong is wide and deep: Muffin top. Earthquake quads. Wind in the shorts, making it look as if you’re wearing your derrière backward. Front wedgies. Let’s not even get started on facial expressions."

Elizabeth Weil ominously adds that there are 110 official photographers expected at Sunday's marathon before interviewing a bunch of people who benefit from your neurotic fear of looking silly during a race: the CEO of female athletic wear Oiselle; the host of a new Travel Channel show with the tagline "Americans will do just about anything to entertain themselves"; the journalist's husband; an exec from Brightroom; a photographer, and a woman who has authored both Run Like a Mother and Train Like a Mother.

And while the pieces does quickly nod to the Hurricane Sandy debate twice, there's a much higher word count placed on Ridiculously Photogenic Guy Zeddie Little, whose inadvertent ascendance to handsome man meme-hood is actually to blame for people not wanting to run a marathon.

Runners must now carry belongings with them at all times. (Getty Images)

If you ever needed an excuse to tell friends and family why you won't be participating in the grueling 26.2-mile New York City Marathon this year, the organizers at New York Road Runners just gave you an easy out. The NYRR announced yesterday that they will no longer be shuttling the bags of its participants from the start line in Fort Wadsworth to the finish in Central Park.

Meaning that if you want your cell phone, key, change of clothing or any other amenities once you've just finished putting your body through an grueling and unnecessarily taxing endurance challenge, you'll have to carry them with you.

You would think the NYRR was doing this to save money--as the UPS trucks previously used to move the runners' bags came out of the organization's pockets--but you'd be wrong. They're just doing it because they feel like it and are sick of getting yelled at for not delivering bags in an orderly fashion.

So now you runners get nothing. See how you like them apples!

According to Buisnessweek, the UPS trucks will still be utilized and will transport the personal belongings of the marathoners ... but instead of taking the items to their owners, they'll be bringing them to a local charity.

When discussing the new change in policy, which includes 70 trucks and 300 volunteers (not to mention the 47,000 runners), NYRR claimed it was implementing the new plan because of "feedback" from former participants who complained "of post-race congestion and waiting time to exit Central Park." Also:

"UPS employees will continue to be key members of our team, including a partner of our clothing donation effort at the start.”

Instead of their bags, participants can now look forward to a complimentary poncho at the end of the November 4 race.

Look, we're all for charity, but runners have to wear literally as few clothes as possible. And while we're sure the homeless and needy will benefit from a nice windbreaker, they don't need your wallet, keys or cell phone, all of which runners bring to the race because hey, they are leaving their apartment and those items can be necessary to get back home again.

As for the argument that this initiative is being done because of complaints about the wait time when picking up your bag, well, that's like JetBlue claiming that you can't check any luggage on your flight because too many customers have been whining about how long it takes them to find their Briggs & Riley duffels on the carousel. (Look, if you know everyone else is going to bring a black suitcase with wheels too, maybe you should opt for a different color.)

If you don't want to bring a bag to the New York City Marathon, don't bring a bag. Just don't start punishing the people who do. As the online petition sponsored by Travelite reads, "Because who DOESN'T want a fresh pair of socks or some comfy clothes after running 26.2 miles through New York City with 45,000+ friends?!"

Sri Chinmoy in 1999.

While you sit in your cubicle, a real battle is going on out in Jamaica, Queens, where the self-punishing disciples of Sri Chinmoy, a deceased Indian spiritual leader, are running around a single block for 3,100 miles.

The Self-Transcendence 3100-mile Race is just something they do once a year. Four weeks in, Finnish ultramarathoner Asprihanal Aalto is in the lead (most of the runners have special  spiritual nicknames), followed by Sarvagata Ukrainskyi and Igor Mudryck.

They have 52 days to complete the course, which translates to running a minimum of just under 60 miles a day. They will complete a total of 5,649 laps around the Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School in Jamaica, Queens. As this article from last year’s race in the Wall Street Journal explains, the average runner goes through 12 pairs of sneakers.

Anyway, we’re happy that the weekend warriors who think they’re tough for running a mere 26 miles are being upstaged by the followers of "a spiritual teacher who dedicated his life in the service of humanity."

Here is a poem by Sri Chinmoy, from his collection Twenty-seven Thousand Aspiration Plants:

If you want to liberate yourself
From the meshes of ignorance,
Never, never hesitate
To meditate.

“I kind of woke up one day and thought, ‘The biggest problem with the Well blog right now is the Well blogger is not taking care of herself,’” she told The Observer in an interview. Ms. Parker-Pope admitted she had abandoned the gym—at a time when she was trying to include more fitness coverage on the blog.

So Ms. Parker-Pope, who left The Wall Street Journal in 2007 to write about consumer health for The Times, signed up for the ING New York City Marathon. She has until Nov. 1 to train. “If I made it part of my blog, I would actually do it,” she told The Observer. “I thought it was the ultimate multitask.”

To help keep her, and her readers, on task, The New York Times’ interactive news technologies team created Run Well, a Web-based application that allows users to compare marathon training programs, customize their running regime, track their mileage and access other relevant content from the Well blog and NYTimes.com. It’s a kind of home page for Times readers in marathon training.

Online tools from Runner’s World, Active.com and Nike have similar programs, but The Times’ application is specifically for first-time marathon runners and beefed up with specialized editorial content.

“The main feeling is that we cover the marathon really well in the fall when it’s happening, and the build-up to the marathon, but our readers who are participating in the marathon start thinking about it in March or April or May,” said Ms. Parker-Pope. So Run Well extends her coverage. But it’s also a decidedly service-based application—a somewhat new venture for The Times’ interactive department.

Launched quietly during the first week in June, Run Well was built in two and a half weeks by two interactive engineers Ben Koski and Alan McLean, who both decided to sign up for their first marathon by the time they were done coding the application.

They said they had hoped to integrate more social capabilities, like Facebook Connect, but there wasn’t enough time. They told The Observer they eventually plan on extending the application so runners training for 5K, 10K and half-marathon races can use it, too.

“Interaction is more than what you see in a multimedia piece [like a graph or chart],” said Mr. Koski. “There’s this issue we’ve tried to engage in—how do you have a more sustained interaction?”

In other words, how do you create applications in the Web world that build closer relationships between The Times, its writers and its readers so that they keep coming back?

“There are people who are just dying to have a venue, a way to talk to us and for us to talk to them and for them to talk to each other, and we’re not really doing a whole lot right now to do that for them,” said Aron Pilhofer, editor of the interactive newsroom. Most of the articles on the Times site, for example, don’t even enable comments.

But for glimpses into the future of these features, see the NYTimes.com's Oscar ballot feature, NCAA basketball bracket interactive, photos submitted to the Lens blog, and "Readers' Reaction" sections from Michael Jackson's death and the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings.

Mr. Pilhofer said the interactive team has only taken “baby steps” in this direction and is still “kicking around” ideas on what they could do for more Web-based features and even mobile applications. One Times tech whiz created prototype, servicelike iPhone applications—one called “Magic Eat Ball,” which would allow users to shake their phone and find a local restaurant, he said. Another would allow users to tap into Flickr with a few clicks and find photos of nearby sites based on their location. But none of those were released.

The Times team would not say how many users have signed up for Run Well. (“I thought we would be lucky to get a couple hundred active users, and we’ve done quite a bit better than that,” Mr. Pilhofer said.) But Ms. Parker-Pope said the response has been positive. She recently visited a running gear store by Princeton University, and a clerk started talking to her about Run Well, without knowing she was from The Times.

And as a bonus, she’s back on the running wagon, competing in races, although she usually comes in at the end with the rest of the stragglers.

“I wish I was a more experienced runner by now,” she said. “I’m still very new and very slow,” she said. Wait till November!

greagan@observer.com

Correction appended: Alan McLean's name was misspelled in an earlier verison of this article.