Marathon Runners Want To Know Why Bloomberg Waited So Long To Cancel The Race

It's a good question - why did Bloomberg wait until yesterday to cancel the NYC Marathon:

Runners reacted with a mixture of rage, relief and regret on Friday, after Mayor Bloomberg pulled the plug on the New York City Marathon.

And just about every runner interviewed ripped Bloomberg for waiting so long after the storm to make his mind up.

“As a former New Yorker, I am shocked it took this long for Mayor Bloomberg to do the right thing,” said 29-year-old Donald Cutler, now of San Francisco. “This is ultimately the right thing to do, but it should have been done on Tuesday.

Frank Campagna, 42, who has run six NYC Marathons, said the only thing he’s sorry about is that Bloomberg didn’t do it sooner.

"I must admit that I’m seriously annoyed that they waited until Friday to make this decision,” he said. “As a lifelong New Yorker, I thought having it was insensitive and I’m glad the decision as to whether to run or not has been taken out of my hands.”

Steven Wagner, however, was seriously angry at Bloomberg. He had just flown in from Atlanta when he learned the race was off.

“Thinking of suing Bloomberg,” said Wagner, 39. “Or fighting him.”

Orlando Gonzalez was picking up his marathon bib at the Javits Center when the announcement was made.

“It’s the right call; it’s not the right time,” said Gonzalez, 39, of Jersey City. “People are yelling. People are pissed off.”

Bloomberg waited until Friday to cancel the race because he had no intention of canceling it.

It was only when every politician in the area ditched on him and called for the marathon to be canceled, when many runners called for the cancellation, when many NYC residents called for cancellation and even Bloomberg's politico cronies like Wolfson told him he had no choice but to cancel, that he did so.

But believe me, he had every intention of going ahead with this race, no matter how many people were in the dark, without food, water, and supplies or still isolated in flood-ravaged areas of the city.

Mike Bloomberg does not give a shit about those things.

Or those people.

He cares about himself, he cares about getting attention, and he cares, ultimately, about ringing the bell at the race finish line and saying "See, NY is back!" just days after Sandy.

Even though NYC isn't back - not by a long shot.

I hope some runners do sue Bloomberg personally.

I hope some residents left stranded and abandoned by the mayor do so as well.

That's about the only way you can get his attention - try and take his money from him.