The Special Meaning of a Finisher Medal
Greg Pratt
On November 6, Greg Pratt, 71, of Orem, UT, will be running his 18th marathon and fifth New York City Marathon. He's running this year as a member of NYRR's Team for Kids, a group of adult runners from around the world who add meaning to their miles by raising funds on behalf of NYRR Youth and Community Services.
Pratt's marathon, and in particular his finisher medal, will mean even more to him this year. Since 2001, he's been sending the finisher medals he receives at his marathons to the Ladley family of Coltsneck, NJ. Pratt started doing this after he finished Utah's St. George Marathon in 2001, when entrants were urged to run in honor of the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11. He contacted the family of James P. Ladley, a partner at Cantor Fitzgerald who had worked on the 104th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and spoke to Ladley’s widow, Sheri.
"We started to talk," Pratt recalls. "I think we probably talked and cried for about two hours." The conversation inspired him to send the Ladleys his medal, and he has continued to do so after every marathon he's run since.
As it happens, Pratt hasn't run the New York City Marathon again until this year.
Now, in the 10th-anniversary year of the 9/11attacks, Pratt will send the Ladleys a medal from the city in which James P. Ladley worked and died. "This marathon means so much to me," says Pratt, a lifelong runner and former New Yorker who met his wife during the New York City Marathon in 1993. "I am able to give my finisher's medal to Sheri on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. This will be one of the greatest moments of my life."
