UPDATE: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg decided to cancel the New York City Marathon today. Click here for more details. This column was posted a short time before the decision was announced.

Running a marathon is a unique way to see the in’s and out’s of a city - at least 26.2 miles of it. The best routes take you, by foot and up close and personal, to diverse neighborhoods, both shiny and less than so - the route of the Baltimore Marathon, set in my hometown, includes Fort McHenry, where the National Anthem was written, the projects, trendy bar area Fells Point, Johns Hopkins University and the urban lake where I used to ride my bike.

You meet people of every different ethnicity, race, income and provenance. I have been cheered on equally by college kids holding up their boomboxes to play “Eye Of The Tiger,” old midday drunks bleating “You run, Sistah!,” little kids shyly passing out water from their rowhome steps and yuppies with their expensive strollers holding $6 lattes. It’s all of humanity, come together to encourage people dumb and happy enough to run (or in my case, run, walk, crawl and cry) 26 miles to meet them. It’s when a city can put on its best face - hopefully, its real one - and greet the world.

I think we can all agree that right now, New York City is not up to visitors.

But that hasn’t stopped Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ING from continuing plans to hold the iconic New York City Marathon this weekend. The spin is that it will bring a needed infusion of cash and tourists into the city, and that it’s imperative to achieve normalcy. What is normal about this? What is there to see? Tired emergency responders whose own homes and families may have been endangered, governing a race when there are residents in need? Empty stores? Sad people? They are still finding bodies on Staten Island. How can you feel good about that? I have heard that there are people who are running in memory of family members or friends who feel that they would want them to, and I get that. I applaud that.

But can’t we applaud them in March? Can’t we wait? Marathons are a grueling proposition in a normal situation, and the training is horrible. I have trained for races I am unable to do - that’s happening now because of an injury. But lives are more important than your training. I can’t imagine the stress of this on runners, residents and the cities. I have also heard that residents displaced from their homes have been staying in local hotels and will be displaced again by tourists. Really? I’m sick about it.

I understand wanting to keep going, to not give up, to try to find the best way possible through this with a positive event. But I think it’s wrong. I don’t think the city is ready. It’s been damaged. It’s not as pretty. Let it and its people pull themselves together before not only having to greet people, but to share its resources.

New Yorkers are tough. But do they have to be this weekend?