Illustrator Live-Sketched New York City Marathon While Running

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Niemann's live-sketch drawing titled "Mile 19.3: Bottom of Willis Ave Bridge."

It takes a skilled man to paint while running. Especially during the insanity that is the New York City marathon. But famed New York Times cartoonist Christoph Niemann managed to pull double duty as both marathoner and artist Sunday.

Fully engrossed in his mission to “live-draw” the marathon, Niemann didn’t break any race records (that honor was reserved for the three first place men’s runners), but he did manage to complete the race at 4:08 p.m. He may have been out of breath, but he was certainly not out of inspiration as he crossed the Central Park finish line.

(PHOTOS: The 2011 ING New York City Marathon)

Starting off with his trusty markers in hand – though he did lose a cap to his pink marker somewhere around mile 9 – Niemann chronicled his voyage to the starting line, his running troubles, and the inspirational runners he met during the race. His drawings were a mix of humor and humility: he portrayed himself as a quickly discharged battery around mile 3.2. Expectedly (and not unlike the rest of our daily tweeting) he created a number of sketches about his hunger pangs during the race. But he somehow found the juice to keep going and keep drawing, and in the last mile and a half, he broke out the paintbrushes to chronicle his final steps of the race.

Niemann, who’s a staple in the New York Times Magazine and whose pensively clever drawings appear on his Abstract Sunday blog on the Times’ site, took his craft to the Twittersphere. Tweeting under the handle @abstractsunday, he actually tweeted so much that he says Twitter stopped him midway through the race, and he was forced to set up an alternate account (an exasperated-sounding @abstractsunday1) to continue his live-sketch-tweeting of the marathon.

Truly, Niemann provided a better view of the action across the five boroughs than even the best news camera. This year’s best New York City marathon play-by-play happens to be in painting form.

MORE: Geoffrey Mutai Sprints to Record Finish During New York City Marathon

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Kenyan Makau sets marathon record

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Makau sets marathon record in Berlin

Patrick Makau retained the Berlin men's marathon title in a world record time.

The Kenyan finished in a time of two hours, three minutes and 38 seconds to shave 21 seconds off the record set by Haile Gebrselassie on the same course.

The Ethiopian great failed to finish having experienced apparent stomach problems around the 27km mark.

"In the morning my body was not good but, after I started the race, it started reacting very well. I started thinking about the record," said Makau.

Continue reading the main story 2006 - First in 2:05.56 (fastest time of year)2007 - First in 2:04.26 (world record)2008 - First in 2:03.59 (world record)2009 - First in 2:06.082010 - Did not compete

"I didn't have any problems in the race. Last year I had some problems with my soles inside my shoe, but today everything went very well."

Gebrselassie, the 38-year-old double Olympic champion at 10,000m, had also been looking to post a fast time and ease the pressure on him to qualify for the Games ahead of strong Ethiopian rivals.

But he found himself forced to step off the road midway through the race as Makau, sensing the Ethiopian great was struggling, upped the pace.

Gebrselassie set the previous world record time with a mark of 2:03.59 in the third of his four consecutive Berlin victories between 2006 and 2009.

However, this year he halted for a full minute as his hopes of a quick time evaporated, then pulled out for good at the 35km mark.

"He was still feeling good at 25km but then his lungs started tightening up. He could not breathe - we don't know why," his agent Jos Hermens said.

Hermens added that Gebrselassie suffers from asthma and is allowed to take medicine, but had not taken any because he had not had any problems for months.

"Maybe this was a mistake, but he felt fine before, his preparation was good," he said.

"Qualifying [for London 2012] may be a problem now, we don't really know where to get it."

Gebrselassie is now expected to head to Dubai in a bid to ensure he reaches the London Olympics.

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Multiple sclerosis patient finishes record 50th marathon

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By Marice Richter

DALLAS | Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:51pm EDT

DALLAS (Reuters) - Life has taken long-distance runner Patrick Finney down many paths, but few have been so rewarding as the one that led him across the finish line on Sunday at the Bellingham Bay Marathon in Washington state.

It was there that Finney, 48, of the Dallas suburb of Grapevine, achieved a personal milestone and made history.

"I am the first person with multiple sclerosis to complete a marathon in all 50 states," he said triumphantly, in a phone interview with Reuters moments after finishing. "It's been an amazing journey, and I'm on top of the world."

Strong, gusty winds made the race especially difficult, and Finney felt queasy when he finished. But he recovered quickly to celebrate with a group of nearly 30 friends and co-runners from Texas, who accompanied him to Bellingham, Washington, to witness an achievement that would have been unimaginable a few years ago.

In 1998, he was diagnosed with MS, an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system and produces various impairments, including difficulty walking.

"My MRIs were consistent with someone who should be in a wheelchair," Finney said.

The diagnosis in 1998 by a doctor in Washington, D.C., was discouraging for the 6-foot-4 software test engineer, who had recently taken up running to shed some weight from his then-300-pound frame.

Finney was directed to "take my medicine and take it easy," but he refused to follow that advice.

Instead, he returned to a regimen of moderate running, which he continued when he relocated from the nation's capital to the Dallas area in 2000.

By 2004, however, the disease had left him unable to walk. But unwilling to endure a life of infirmity, Finney managed to regain his ability to balance on two feet, to walk -- and eventually to run -- through extensive rehabilitation therapy and new medications.

"The first year was a real struggle for me," he said of returning to the running trails. "I was going through a pair of running shoes every two weeks because I scraping them up as I dragged my feet."

But with training, he entered a half-marathon in Dallas in 2005 with only one goal -- to finish. Most of the runners did that in less than two hours. Finney took just over four.

The following year, he ran his first full marathon -- 26.2 miles -- and hasn't stopped since. He also took up coaching.

When a friend challenged him in 2010 to run 50 marathons in 50 states by his 50th birthday, Finney couldn't say no. He developed a plan, put together a spreadsheet and prepared to meet the challenge in 3 1/2 years.

But when he crossed the finished line in just under five hours on Sunday, a couple weeks past his 48th birthday and two years before his goal, he exceeded his own expectations.

"I have gotten to travel to a lot of new places and meet a lot of great people," he said. "It's been a wonderful experience."

This is hardly the end for him. Having completed a total of 71 marathons since 2006, he plans to run in seven more this year.

Long-time friend Jill Parker is in awe, but not surprised.

She recalled an incident several years ago in which a group of runners were preparing for a race on a hot, humid September day in Dallas.

"Everyone was moaning and groaning about the weather except Patrick," Parker said. "He was smiling. When someone asked why he wasn't bothered by the weather, he replied, 'I'm just happy to be able to run.'"

(Editing by Karen Brooks and Steve Gorman)

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