Suri’s mommy finished a marathon.
And you can forget about the obligatory medal and Mylar blanket, Katie Holmes cashed in on a bigger prize when she crossed the New York City Marathon finish line today—a congratulatory smooch from her loyal husband Tom Cruise.
Couch jumper and super sweet Suri spent more than five hours waiting for Mama Katie to complete the 26.2-mile race that weaved through the streets of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. Holmes’ official finish time: 5:29:58.
As a marathon runner myself I found myself drawn to this story for a number of reasons. First and foremost becasue I was dying to see if Miss Perfect Marriage/Perfect Mother/Perfect Life Cruise finished her first marathon in a time better than my own.
Oh, come on, every marathon runner out there knows what I’m talking about—runner’s swap split times, finish times and various other race war stories. This was my chance to see if I could possibly compete with a woman who seemingly has it all. She lives a charmed life. I’ve been cleaning up throw up for the past few days. Was it possible that I could gain some sort of sick satisfaction knowing that I ran 26.2-miles faster than Tom Cruise’s wife?
Heck, yeah. I can now officially say I outran Dawson Leary’s true love. (Life provides limited opportunities for self-validation so I take what I can get.)
Kidding aside. I applaud Katie Holmes’ effort to join 39,000 other runners on race day. Running a marathon is no easy task. And I suspect if you are a celebrity it’s even tougher given the fact that your finish time becomes public record and consequently becomes another source of scrutiny (think of all the runners who finished today’s race and are now walking around bragging that they beat Katie Holmes).
Then there’s the issue of being photographed after sweating like a pig for more than five hours. From the video I saw of the race, Holmes donned a dark FDNY baseball cap, purple tank top, and long black pants. Personally, I thought she looked great (as always), but I don’t know very many runners who would appreciate having hordes of paparazzi snapping their sweaty mugs and airing the end results on CNN for the entire world to see.
Still, Holmes made it to the bitter end and got to do what most marathon moms dream of when they cross the finish line—fall into the arms of their husband and children. (Though, non-celeb moms don’t typically have the clout to get their husband and children past security and positioned right at the finish line.)
Oh, and just in case you thought I was on a vicarious runner’s high from seeing that I beat Holmes’ finish time, rest assured it took only a split second for me to be brought back down to earth after viewing the finish time of the marathon’s female winner. Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, who just gave birth to her daughter nine months ago, broke the tape in 2:23:09.