A marathon experience like no other

Anybody who checks race times for this year’s New York City Marathon will not find Ben Diamond’s name. The East Meadow resident said it was always his goal to run the 26.2 dash through the city’s five boroughs, and on Nov. 3, he did — just not in the way he had always imagined it. In fact, if you ask him, it was better than he always imagined it. Much better.

Diamond, 43, ran as a guide for Michael LaForgia, a 48-year-old double amputee from Smithtown.

In 2005, at the age of 39, LaForgia contracted bacterial meningitis, and required emergency surgery. Doctors amputated his right leg below the knee, and most of his left foot.

LaForgia, who had previously ran three marathons — including the New York City Marathon in 2002 and 2004 — was not slowed down by his operation. Since the surgery, he has completed multiple triathlons, and, with the use of prosthetic “blades,” he ran the New York City Marathon again in 2009.

Diamond met LaForgia through a mutual friend, Lori Polansky, also of East Meadow, who has worked with LaForgia at Chase Auto Finance for 14 years. Recently, Polansky introduced LaForgia into her local running group, which includes Diamond, as well as East Meadow residents Todd Weinstein, Patti Adelman, Robert Morriss and Missy Serbonich. “They’re both so special to me,” said Polansky of Diamond and LaForgia. “It was exciting, it was fun training together, and seeing it come together, and knowing they had each other to get through the race.”

Polansky ran the New York City Marathon in 2004 with LaForgia, when he was able-bodied. And in 2012, she, with Weinstein, Morriss and Serbonich were set to run the race, until it was canceled in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The group’s eligibility was deferred to this year.

Diamond, however, had not been accepted into the marathon, an exclusive race that typically requires a competitive qualification time from other marathons for entry. But about two months before the race, LaForgia told Diamond he was allowed to have two guides run with him, and asked if he was interested.