John McConnell, a member from the Roslyn Equinox Fitness Club was riding his bike to meet up with his friend and coach, Equinox Group Fitness instructor Tim McNamara. Six days earlier, Tim had run the last 10 miles of the New York City Marathon with Alan Schwartz, another member of the Roslyn Equinox Fitness Club.

Alan had achieved his goal by finishing his first marathon, and had planned to meet up with John and Tim later that morning for an easy run now that marathon training was over. John and Tim planned to ride their bikes for 60 minutes before meeting up with Alan to run along the water in Port Washington.

The measurement of a mile is 5,280 feet, or 63,360 inches. Exactly one mile from Tim's house, 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 was rushed to the emergency room. Tim went to John's home, rang the door bell with John's helmet in his hands, and informed John's wife of the terrible accident that had just taken place.

After what seemed like eternity, the doctors appeared with what we 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 & 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.

While John did not have any permanent damage, it was going to be a long road ahead of him. John decided that he needed a goal to help keep him motivated while undergoing the months of physical therapy that it would take to regain the range of motion in his neck. John decided with the help and support of his friends that he would train for and run the 2006 New York City Marathon to be held this Nov. 5. Five weeks after the accident, while still wearing a HALO, John took the first step forward and returned to the Monday 6 a.m. spin class.

The instructor, Tim McNamara and other members from the class helped to move a recumbent bike into the spin room to better accommodate John. After a few months of spinning, John and four friends all from the Roslyn Equinox Fitness Club started their run training together this past spring, and will finish their training by crossing the line together Nov. 5.

Less than one year from the day in which John broke his neck in two places, he will run the New York City Marathon in celebration of his amazing recovery while raising money for the Christopher Reeve Foundation (www.christopherreeve.org).

The Equinox members training for the New York City Marathon have logged hundreds of miles on the gym treadmills, and many miles on the local track. The group has been doing their Long Slow Distance Runs on the weekends, and meeting Tuesday and Thursday's at the local track. Tuesday's training is designed to improve overall conditioning, agility, and power, while Thursday's focus is designed to improve speed. Quite a few members from the Roslyn Equinox Fitness Club who are not training for the New York City Marathon have joined the Tuesday morning track workout to show their support, and to help get the team ready to tackle the 26.2 miles they will face on Nov. 5.

On Aug. 27, John McConnell, along with Bill Randall, Aaron Drucker, Alan Schwartz, and Tim McNamara ran the Nike New York City 1/2 Marathon together as a training run to see how there training has progressed. The team crossed the finish line together just under 2 hours and 8 minutes and are looking forward to doing it again on Nov. 5.