On Nov. 12, 2005 John McConnell, of Manhasset, was riding his bike to meet his friend and coach, Tim McNamara, also from Manhasset. Six days earlier Alan Schwartz of Port Washington had achieved his goal of finishing his first marathon, and planned to meet up with John and Tim that morning for an easy run now that marathon training was over.

A mile is 5,280 feet, the exact distance from Tim's house in which the unimaginable happened. John's sneaker became lodged in between his front wheel and the fork on his bike. This caused John to go from riding 20 mph to an immediate dead stop, which resulted in John flying over his handlebars. John landed on his head, and while he was wearing a helmet, the helmet cracked in seven different locations due to the impact. John was put on a backboard and rushed to the emergency room. Tim went to John's home, rang the doorbell with John's helmet in his hands, and informed John's wife of the terrible accident that had just taken place.

The doctors appeared with what was hoped would be good news, that John wasn't paralyzed from the accident. The doctors informed us that John had broken his neck in two places, both the C1 and C2 vertebras. It was a miracle that John was still alive after what had happened; it was even more amazing that John was not paralyzed.

John was facing a long recovery and decided that he needed a goal to help keep motivated while undergoing months of physical therapy. His goal; to train for and run in the 2006 NYC Marathon. Less than one year from the day in which John broke his neck, he will run the NYC Marathon in celebration of his amazing recovery while at the same time raise money for the Christopher Reeve Foundation (www.christopherreeve.org).

Five weeks after the accident, while still wearing a HALO, John took the first step forward and returned to Tim's Monday 6 a.m. spin class. The class helped to move a recumbent bike into the spin room to better accommodate John. After a few months of spinning, John was ready to start running.

The group took its first step forward in April and started its quest to run the 2006 NYC Marathon. With the motto, "You are only as strong as your weakest runner," the groups trains together in both good times, and in bad. The group plans to be at the starting line together, and after covering 26.2 miles, plans to cross the finish line together.

John McConnell, Bill Randall (Port Washington), Aaron Drucker (Roslyn), Alan Schwartz, and Tim McNamara ran the Nike NYC half Marathon together as a training run to see how their training had progressed. The team crossed the finish line together in just under two hours and eight minutes and is looking forward to doing it again on Nov. 5, 2006.