My last marathon was Philly in the Fall of 2011. I didn’t know the course that well and had never run the streets of Philadelphia. In New York, I know the danger zones for potholes and curbs and all that good stuff. Not so much in Philly.

At mile 8, I tripped in the middle of the street and went crashing down in a giant pack of people. I spent approximately .013 seconds on the ground before I was scooped up by three male runners who barely missed a stride before planting me on my feet and sending me on my way to finishing my 9th marathon.

Yaaaaaaay Philly!

I’m still in awe of that kind of support from perfect strangers. And then I’m not because that’s just how the running community is.

We pick each other up and help each other finish.

That’s what we did on Monday in Central Park. 300 of my closest friends got together to show support for those killed and injured in Boston last week, our running community, and the entire city of Boston.

Take a look.

The following photos are courtesy of Eric Stafford (do not reproduce images without permisison) whom you should really use for your next fitness event/shoot cuz he’s pretty rad.

The idea was conceived by Brian Kelly, and I had two fabulous women who chipped in to make our event happen, Christine Yu and Julia Bienstock. Many thanks to American Apparel for donating the shirts so that we could raise money for The One Fund. Thanks to the fabulous Eric Stafford took some photos for us and, of course, to the Runner Army of New York City who showed up big time.

You guys rock.

Now go out and run.