Marathon runner Nick Parisi never thought that he would be able to participate in a marathon but he successfully was able to do so. He never imagined the day would come when he’d become a viral meme, but a rejection letter for the New York Marathon with his face on it made it happen.
“My friends were like, ‘Wait you realize that that image is not only your email like everyone is getting that’,” he told NBC New York.
Upon knowing this information, he decided to post his reaction to the rejection email online which clearly caught a lot of people’s attention.
In a weekly run at Central Park with Front Runners New York, the New York Road Runners CEO showed up to award Parisi a slot at the New York City Marathon as well as a new nickname from “Negative Nick” to “Positive Parisi.”
This is the second marathon that he will be attending, the first one being the Berlin Marathon where he will be running to raise money for cancer research in honor of his mother who had a rare case of skin cancer and passed away last 2022.
The New York Road Runners are now pledging to match his fundraising efforts hoping that this viral post helps in amplifying a greater goal.
“For me, knowing that I’m able to contribute to the research and hopefully helping others who have been diagnosed with similarly rare cancers. It makes every run worth it,” he stated.
With becoming a viral meme, Parisi said that he is grateful for having new connections in the running community alongside his inspiration and signs from his mother to run with it.
“Doing it for her, doing it for myself, and if I can run with her memory, it makes it even better.”
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