Marathons Should Allow Us All To "Pay It Forward"

Nice run this morning in Central Park - if you are out there today and Friday - you will see Superstars - Olympians & Record Holders training - all for Saturdays big race. Okay, When someone does you a favor - don't pay it back, pay it forward. Pay it forward: the concept, noted popularly from the Catherine Ryan Hyde novel - and later in the film about her book. The idea of the book and film has been brought to life by the Pay It Forward Foundation. Check them out, here's how it goes, "since the book was released in January of 2000, a real-life social movement has emerged, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. What began as a work of fiction has already become much more. Reuben St. Clair, the teacher and protagonist in the book “Pay It Forward,” starts a movement with this voluntary, extra-credit assignment: THINK OF AN IDEA FOR WORLD CHANGE, AND PUT IT INTO ACTION. Trevor, the 12-year-old hero of “Pay It Forward,” thinks of quite an idea. He describes it to his mother and teacher this way: "You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven." He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. "Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred forty-three. Then seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?" This is brought to mind for me as of this letter that was published recently in a Maine Newspaper. It goes: "I am writing in hopes that there is someone who had intended to run the Boston Marathon has changed their plans and will not be running. My nephew, who is a police officer in Massachusetts has been training since Aug. 2007 in hopes to run the race for his sister who is recovering from a bone marrow transplant. He was not aware he needed a number in order to run, although all his other papers have been filled out and filed with the Leukemia Foundation. I am inquiring if anyone who may have decided not to run or a major corporation could supply him with a number in order that he may run the race for his sister. Thank you in advance of any help you may offer.
Mary-Esther Hannan
Wiscasset.

I'm not interested in running the Boston Marathon - but could have entered - obtained entry and a bib for the Boston Marathon - and in doing so, wouldn't it have been great if there was a process working within the guidelines where I could "Pay It Forward" to someone like Mary-Esther Hannan here above? All these Marathons need to lighten up & rethink their policies - they are not so damn serious and important in the greater scheme of things where there is not room for me or anyone to earn entry, pay the fees, and choose to pay it forward. Have a terrific day!