Multiple motivations for NYC Marathon runners

Way behind the elite professionals that lead the way in the New York Marathon, thousands of ordinary people shuffle their way along, puffing and sweating in the name of charity.Sunday's race has been dedicated to the memory of nine-time winner Grete Waitz, who died in April of cancer. Her name will be engraved into the medals each of the entrants will receive when they cross the finish line.Among the expected 45,000 entrants, will be her husband Jack.Last year, the race generated around $30 million for charities and this year's race will include a host of sporting celebrities also running in support of their causes.Jennie Finch, the pitcher on the 2004 U.S. Olympic gold-medal winning softball team, will start at the back of the field and earn money for every person she passes for the New York Road Runners' youth programs."I go back to being a young girl, and there is nothing like running," said Finch, who just four months ago gave birth to her son, Diesel. "Going outside and running, being active and empowering the youth."Apolo Ohno, the most decorated winter sport Olympian with eight medals in short-track speed skating, is running to raise funds for the Special Olympics."It's totally different being a short track speed skating athlete that glides on ice to now running," said Ohno."On the ice, at least if I slow down I can tuck behind somebody, draft and coast for a couple of laps. If I slow down in running, it turns into a walk."Six-time Stanley Cup winner Mark Messier is running to support the Tomorrow's Children Fund that benefits cancer victims and their families, and also a charity that helps wives and widows of the Sept 11 attacks and all first responders."Turning 50 this year also gave me a reason to shoot for something, and do something constructive," said Messier, who after winning five titles with the Edmonton Oilers came to New York and helped the Rangers in 1994 win their first Stanley Cup in 54 years.Messier said he was surprised by the meditative aspects of running once he got into training for the marathon."It gave me a chance to reflect on my own life, and the things that have transpired in the last 10 years since 9/11," he said."We all have our own stories about where we were that day and what were the circumstances that kept (the Rangers) 60-man roster from training camp out of the Marriott Hotel at the World Trade Center that fatal morning and for all the people that weren't so lucky."Edison Pena, who was regaled last year for his ebullient spirit in running the marathon after being one of 33 Chilean miners trapped 69 days before being rescued, has returned after a year in which he has battled the trauma of his own experience."The hardest time of the last year was when I was hospitalized," Pena said through an interpreter. "I realized that I felt like I was divided in two. That there was a normal me and a me that was a gorilla, and that I need to control that gorilla."I decided to run again because I like challenges. Also I decided to run again because I wanted to encourage others, and I wanted to show them and show myself that, yes, we can."