It's been two weeks since Hurricane Sandy took a bite out of the east coast and just over a week since Mayor Bloomberg made the decision to cancel the 2012 ING New York City Marathon, for the first time in the event's history.

It's still feeling a little surreal, like wait, WHAT just happened?! but even though we did not get to do everything we had planned with the team for the weekend, I've never been more amazed and proud to be associated with the members of our marathon teams. Of course, all of us were a mess leading up to the weekend not knowing really if we should, could, would be able to race and truly celebrate the months and months of work and sweat that got the team here.

As the news of the marathon cancellation became reality, as disappointing as it was, my inbox quickly became filled with messages about teammates plans- Sean & Alyson would collect donations of supplies & food; Jesse, Jeremiah, Sheila, & Bung would run the marathon in Central Park; Lucia, Jenn, Mary Liz, Audrey & Zach would do the marathon in their hometown to conserve gas and resources; many would find an alternate marathon in the coming months to continue spreading the word about Team Reeve, and everyone would continue to fundraise for our cause which is so important and close to their heart even with everything that is going on around us right now.

As teammate Jeremiah wrote in a follow up thank you letter to his supporters, "...Sheila, myself and our friend and fellow marathoner KJ took supplies to Staten Island on Saturday. But we all decided that for Sunday we really needed to run this 26.2 miles. We all had different reasons. I felt a huge commitment to my charity. And the namesake of my charity, Christopher and Dana Reeve. Both of whom didn't understand the concept of "give up." And I will admit it was that and the tenacity of my wife and KJ that kept me metaphorically putting one foot in front of the other."

"Can't" is just not in our team's vocabulary. So many on our team know well the reality of living with a spinal cord injury & paralysis. It wasn't something expected. Came out of nowhere and reaped havoc on their lives. But if the focus is on what you can't do as opposed to what you can, you won't survive and certainly will not thrive. So Team Reeve NYC couldn't do the ING New York City Marathon on November 4th, but we sure as heck didn't do nothing.

THANK YOU TEAM REEVE NYC 2012!!
Ron, Antoinette, Harry, Navila, Simone, Marty, Lindsay, John, Robby, Katie, Emily, Brittany, Keara, Mary Liz, Teo, Audrey, Lucia, Alyson, Sean, Eric, Kim, Scott, John, Kelly, Drew, Sharone, Benjamin, Ashley, Alexander, Andrew, Danielle, Katie, Yolanda, Maarten, Michael, Dana, Freddy, Polly, Tracy, Michael, Doug, Kathy, Jenn, Bung, Michelle, Zach, Emily, Adam, Jesse, Steven, Lou, David, Josiah, Ned, Nick, Declan, Carmelo, Elsa, Danielle, Jesse, Liz, Scott, Pri, Dan, Sheila, Garrett, Tyler, Jeremiah, & Sarah

Leigh A. Alspach
Manager, Team Reeve®
Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation