Middleburg was well represented at the most recent New York Marathon when Cricket Bedford headed north with her kindergartner, Louise, her third grader, Harrison and Julia Ross, endearingly known as "Wa" to run the race she'd always hoped to finish. Finish she did, in slightly over four hours, and the experience of running the famous race across bridges, through Queens and Central Park and up and down Manhattan did not disappoint her in any way at all.

"I wasn't the only runner from Middleburg at this Marathon," she emphasized. "Christopher Tate, Neil Morris and Dee Maki all ran this year. But, for me, the race was a phenomenal experience."

"I've always wanted to run the New York Marathon at least once," she said. "My best friend, Polly Gardiner, ran it when I was pregnant with Harrison, and I remember so well promising myself that I'd run it too someday." Polly, who now lives in Connecticut, took the train down to see Cricket run and it meant the world to her. "We went to UVA together, and when I came out of the Park afterwards, exhausted and wrapped in my mylar blanket, it was so wonderful when I saw her with Wa and Louise and Harrison. It was the perfect end to a wonderful run."

After three years on the application list, Cricket was delighted to learn she had been deferred in 2006 because that guaranteed that she would have a place in the 2007 Marathon. To prepare for the run, she did some half marathons, spread out to maintain her strength, and felt well prepared for the run of her life. "It's an absolutely amazing experience," she recounted. "Everyone wears layers and layers of clothing to stay warm at the start, and you just cannot believe how many runners line up in the cattle yards under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge starting point. I thought the Marine Corps Marathon was big, but, believe me, there is nothing like this."

In fact, Cricket said it took eight minutes from the starting gun until all the runners were even moving, simply because there were so many runners. It's made clear to runners in New York that, the clothing they shed as they warm up in the race, will be collected and given to the homeless, so, in addition to all the excitement of bands, great ships sending up celebratory water sprays under the bridge, helicopters and the excitement of the enormous crowd, runners have to be very careful not to trip on the hundreds of garments that have been cast aside as runners take off at the start.

"Usually, as the race evens out, you find people at your pace to run with but this time, I never found my pace set. People were passing me, and I was passing others. It was really hard to focus, and it took me some time to calm down and get into a groove. Then, everything was great."

"I relied on my iPod a lot to keep me going because I was running all by myself. It was a little scary, but it turned out to be the best thing I've ever done by myself. I could go at my own pace without worrying at all about anyone running with me."

Well before she and her party left for New York, Cricket had decided that a great way for her to see them at a meeting point during the race, would be for them to have swimming pool noodles to wave in the air. "I coach field hockey at Hill School, so I borrowed school pool noodles and explained how careful we had to be with them to Louise and Harrison. They were very excited."

Cricket's entourage planned to meet her at Mile 19 at 92nd Street and First Avenue in Manhattan. "It helped me so much to know they'd be there," she remembered. "When you're on First Avenue in the 60's, the crowd is huge and incredible, but I had 30 more blocks to go to see them…I kept them foremost in my mind, and, suddenly, there were the pool noodles! It was awesome and really picked me up!"

She saw them one more time on Madison at Central Park before she reached the finish line at 4:08:01. "My brother teased me about not finishing under four minutes, and I'm sure I would have if I hadn't stopped to see them, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!"

"To have my best friend there, my children, Harrison and Louise Whitner, and my second mother, Wa, with me for this run made it an experience of a lifetime."

"When Harrison said, 'We waited a long time for you, Mom,' I understood exactly, but having them there with me made both the run and the wait more than worthwhile."