Chapter 11 A marathon of thoughts
Marathon Sunday was basically a holiday in New York. All five boroughs were busy with one thing: supporting the runners. Restaurants catered to spectators. Locals brought lawn chairs out to strategic spots, and people like Leah, who wanted to support a specific someone in the race, planned out their day so they could use the subway to spot their someone at multiple locations.
This was Leah’s third time watching Gabe run the marathon. She was as avid a watcher as he was a runner and she knew exactly where to stand and which subways to catch so she could first spot Gabe in Brooklyn by taking the L train over the Williamsburg Bridge. He’d still be fresh then after starting the 26.2-mile race. She’d wait until she saw his smiling face and his bright orange shirt that he wore so he would be easy to spot. She’d jump and cheer and once he ran past, she’d dart away back to the L train to Manhattan and transfer to the 4, 5, 6 uptown to see him once he got to First Ave. There, his smile would be a little less sharp, he’d be getting tired, but when he’d see Leah, he’d perk up. She’d cheer and once he passed her again she’d run back to the subway and take the N, Q, R across town so she could see him one last time before he crossed the finish line. That third time she’d see him at the southern edge of Central Park and he would be giving his last push to the end. Gabe was a fast runner, so it didn’t give Leah much time between stops, but she was ready for it. She thought of it as her own marathon, which was equally strategical and physically challenging as what Gabe was doing—well, maybe not.
That morning Gabe woke up before most of New York’s non-runners went to sleep. While some were stumbling between bars, Gabe was in his running gear and heading down to Staten Island where the race started. Leah woke up briefly to wish him good luck and promise she’d see him in Williamsburg. She then slept several more hours and woke up to meet Maya who was accompanying Leah in her race through the boroughs.
“Coffee,” Maya stated once Leah met her on the sidewalk outside Maya’s building. They had a long day ahead and needed to fuel up, so they went to the closest Starbucks, which was just steps away—in Manhattan a Starbucks is always just steps away—and bought Venti lattes and croissants that they would bring with them to their first stop in Williamsburg.
The L train was filled with Manhattanites traveling to Brooklyn with signs to cheer on runners. Leah had made her own sign for Gabe on a neon poster board that she had rolled up under her arm.
“How’s wedding planning going?” Maya said once the L train was under the East River toward Brooklyn.
Leah took a long sip of her coffee while she thought about her answer. “It’s not,” she said honestly. Maya was one of her few friends who would understand her relationship with Gabe. All her other friends were strictly in the no-interfaith-marriage department. While her other friends smiled and pretended to be happy for Leah when they heard about her engagement, she could smell the judgment oozing from their pores. She could see the pity leaking from their ears while they congratulated her. She saw them bite their tongues while they acted like Leah was optimistically walking toward a cliff where she would inevitably fall and get divorced because that was the only true ending for interfaith marriages according to the teachings Leah had been brought up with. Maya, on the other hand, was different. She’d had serious non-Jewish boyfriends and didn’t think Jewish was a top priority.
“Because of your families?” Maya asked.
Leah shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she responded. “We’ve talked about how amazing it will be to be married. How much we want to be together forever. But we’ve sort of avoided talk of the wedding itself.”
“Because your family wants a Jewish wedding?” Maya asked. “Do you want a Jewish wedding?”
Leah shrugged again. She’d always imagined a Jewish wedding. A beautiful Chuppah. Her husband stepping on the glass at the end of the ceremony. Would Gabe agree to those things? Would it be offensive to have him step on the glass under the Chuppah?
“Maybe we should just elope,” she said, although that was the last thing she wanted. She wanted a perfect wedding. And she was sure she’d only get married once—even if it was to a goy—and so why not do it the way she wanted?
“Don’t do that,” Maya said, reading Leah’s mind. “You just need to manage your family’s expectations. Do what you want for your wedding.”
“Will people be offended if Gabe wears a kippah or breaks the glass?” Leah asked Maya the question that had been on her mind.
“Who cares?” Maya retorted. “It’s your wedding. You should do what you want. Anyone who will be offended doesn’t need to come.” The train then came to a halt at the Williamsburg station. The girls got out and followed the crowd from the subway to the marathon route. There were some spectators, but not like what there would be later in Manhattan. Here, they could easily get right up to the route.
Leah unrolled her sign and flattened it out while she checked her phone to track Gabe on the NYC Marathon website.
“He’s almost here,” Leah said and held her sign up. She scanned the runners going by for Gabe’s orange shirt. When she spotted him, she shook her sign up high and started cheering. “GABE!! You got this babe!! Woo!” She screamed. When he caught her eye, he smiled big, dashed to the side, and came so close that he smacked a kiss on her face without even slowing down. She wiped Gabe’s sweat from her face while watching the back of him slip back into the middle of the road and further down toward the finish line. She was full of adrenaline from watching him. Full of love and inspiration, excitement and lust.
“Oh my God, you are adorable,” Maya said. “That was the most disgusting kiss I’ve ever seen and you loved it.”
“I did love it,” Leah confirmed, her cheeks blushing and her heart pounding. “Let’s go.” She and Maya then got back on the subway to meet Gabe at their next spot. If the subway came fast, they’d get there just in time. But if there was any waiting, Gabe might be running faster than the subways could take them to First Ave. The girls rushed as fast as they could and jumped onto a Manhattan-bound L train just as the doors were closing.
“Wow, I’m almost as out of breath as Gabe,” Maya laughed.
“But not as sweaty.” Leah giggled, still feeling the force of his kiss on her as he went by. It had startled her and she couldn’t stop replaying the moment in her head. When they emerged from the subway, First Avenue was packed. They squeezed through the crowds and tried to push their way to be as close to the route as they could so Gabe would see the sign Leah made and she would get a second chance at a sweaty kiss.
“Did we miss him?” Maya asked once they’d found a tight spot between other spectators. Leah looked at her phone and saw that Gabe was close. She shook her head and then she saw his orange shirt.
Again she screamed for him. “GABE! You’re doing amazing! Keep going!” Again he swerved toward her. His shirt was even sweatier and he caught her eye. He smiled again, but his smile looked pained. She cheered harder and he held out a hand for a high five and Leah grasped his sweaty palm as he ran by.
The girls turned around to get back on the subway for their final stop, just a mile before the finish line in Central Park. Here would be the most crowded spot, it was where most spectators wanted to be and where the runners needed the cheering support the most.
When they got to the south side of Central Park, the crowd was so thick, they couldn’t even see the marathon route. Carts were selling race paraphernalia, coffee, and food. Leah checked her phone to see where Gabe was and saw that he was still a little ways away.
“Hot dog?” Maya asked, motioning to one of the carts on the sidewalk.
“Those are disgusting,” Leah responded.
“No they aren’t,” Maya argued. “New York hot dogs are the most delicious things in the world. As long as you don’t think about what’s in them.”
Leah made a face.
“You’ve never tried one, have you?” Maya asked. “Because they aren’t kosher?”
“Because they aren’t meat,” Leah reasoned, although the kosher thing might have played a part.
“I’m getting one,” Maya said. “All this running has made me hungry. You sure you don’t want one? You’re missing out.”
Leah’s stomach grumbled. She was hungry, but a hot dog? Was she disgusted by it because it wasn’t kosher? Was kosher so ingrained in her that she thought unkosher hot dogs were implicitly disgusting? “I’ll get something else,” she said and walked over to another cart selling bagels.
The girls got their food and then tried to find a spot along the race route. Here, the crowd roared so loudly that it shook Leah’s ear drums. It was like sitting inside a closed stadium when someone scored and the crowd erupted, but here, the eruption didn’t end. It was almost impossible to get along the race route, but Leah and Maya pushed and elbowed their way through like true New Yorkers until they were squeezed up along the race route line.
“He should be here soon,” Leah noted.
“How does Gabe’s family feel about the whole Jewish thing?” Maya asked as they waited.
“I’m not sure,” Leah responded. “They aren’t so religious, I don’t think.”
“But not religious is not the same as being open to Judaism,” Maya reasoned and Leah nodded. “Would they feel excluded in a Jewish ceremony?”
Leah hadn’t thought about that yet. She pursed her lips and shrugged. There was so much she hadn’t considered about their wedding. She looked at the runners, trying to spot Gabe. “He should be here by now,” she noted, wondering if she had somehow missed him. Runners kept passing, but Gabe wasn’t there. She checked her phone again and saw that Gabe was still on his way. “He must be slowing down.”
Then, she saw the orange shirt. His brow was scrunched and his eyes were on the ground. His shoulders were hunched and his stride looked less gazelle-like and more like a pitter patter.
“GABE! BABE! You’re almost done! You got this!” Leah tried to cheer as loud as she could, hoping her cheer would give him the support and strength he needed for the last bit of the race. He looked up slightly and pranced toward the side of the road.
“Gabe, are you OK with a Jewish wedding?” Maya blurted once Gabe was close by. He looked at her and his head bowed slightly, but from his expression, Leah wasn’t sure he comprehended what she had said. She wasn’t sure if she had comprehended what Maya asked.
“Good job, babe!” she reassured him. “Almost done!” And then Gabe had his back to them and he was pitter pattering toward the finish.
“Well, I guess he’s good with it,” Maya stated.
“Maya! That’s not even fair! He’s exhausted! You can’t expect him to agree to a Jewish wedding after running 24 miles!” Leah exclaimed.
Maya shrugged. “Well, were you planning on ever asking him?”
“Of course, I was!” Leah said, more than a little annoyed at her friend. “But not now! Not like this!”
“Be honest, you are afraid of the conversation,” Maya said. “You would just stay engaged forever rather than ask it.”
Leah scowled. There was a chance her friend was right. The girls pushed their way through the crowd away from the marathon route. “It’s not that I’m afraid of the conversation,” Leah finally responded when they were no longer in the crowd. “It’s more like I don’t know my own opinion about the situation. I don’t know what I want, what I think is right. How can I ask him when I’m not sure myself?”
“Maybe you figure it out together then,” Maya said.
The next stop was the meeting area after the finish line. Leah and Maya walked around the park to the lamppost that was their designated spot.
“I’ve always pictured a Jewish wedding for myself,” Leah confessed to her friend. “But it seems unfair to Gabe. And sort of wrong.”
“Waiting isn’t going to make it feel less wrong,” Maya said. “You just need to figure out what’s important to you and what you feel is right.”
Just then Leah spotted Gabe limping toward them in a silver tin foil blanket given to the runners to keep them warm. She ran to him.
“Are you OK? You were amazing! You got a great time!” Leah said, embracing him despite his sweat and silver covering.
“I did terrible! I thought I was going to get a PR,” Gabe responded. PR, personal record, runner talk for beating your fastest time. Leah knew the lingo after dating Gabe for so long.
“You were only a few minutes off!” Leah tried to console him.
“I think I pulled something,” he responded, not consoled. Leah walked with him as he limped toward the subway. They said goodbye to Maya and agreed to meet up for drinks later that week. They were silent on the way home. He didn’t mention Maya’s question at their last meeting point and Leah wondered when a good time would be to bring it up.