I am so proud of my cousins, Nina Herrera-Huang and Ton Concepcion for joining the ING New York City Marathon, one of the 5 WORLD Marathon Majors. (Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York).  It was a Marathon that ran thru the 5 boroughs of New York and in the process crossed 5 bridges, a total of 42 kilometers or 26.2 miles. This year there were 39,000+ participants.

Nina finished it in 5 hours 18 minutes and Ton  in 4 hours 49 minutes.

Many people wonder why many people join marathons and Nina’s husband and my cousin, Anton had a good way of putting it:  “People say that running the NY Marathon is running a personal marathon. 99% of the participants do not do it to compete against the thousands of others that are there struggling to cross the finish line. They are there to endure a life changing exercise, to prove something to themselves or as a form of sacrifice to create awareness for a cause of a loved ones suffering.”

Nina had her own reasons and one of the reasons was FOR A CAUSE which probably gave her more courage and strength to finish the marathon.  It all started with her sister, Pinky Herrera-Brady, who first pledged to donate a pair of ADVAN children’s sneakers for every kilometer that she finished.  The sneakers will be given as a Christmas present to a Filipino street child supported by Kidsmile Foundation, a charity organization run by Pinky and her friends, Nicole Olbes -Fandiño and Ana de Borja-Araneta. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!  Nina was able to raise pledges for approx. 2,500 pairs of shoes. In peso amount this comes up to P500,000.YAY KIDSMILE!!! YAY NINA!!!

To read more on Ton’s experience, see his story.