By Alex Garrett (10/29/26)
Milestone years always are worth celebrating. What added to this year’s 35th birthday was a Knicks banner raising the same night ! It felt like a championship – caliber birthday around great people , culminating with seeing the Knicks 2025-26 banner raised in the Garden rafters. I visited the banner during the game on 10/25/26!
The truth is I just wanted to get to 35 and whatever God has next for me in this life , I’ll be forever grateful! Yet, there have been so many things in motion since turning 35 that I’m actually excited to enter my mid-30s in that quest for total independence !
Also realizing that I’m old enough to run for President is quite an achievement for a kid in the NICU the first 77 days of life!
To kick off 35 , in addition to checking out the Knicks game and spending my actual birthday with my family , friends and a very special person in my world , I had to overcome one more piece of the grief I’ve carried for 3 years. That piece of the grief was Belmont Park!
You see, Earlier this year, I finally took the trip to Chicago , one that I’ve been trying to make since my dad passed . It just happened to be year 150 for the Cubs and to be there for the celebration was special ! ( https://www.spreaker.com/episode/onelegupalex-takes-you-inside-wrigley-field-as-cubs-celebrate-150-years-on-8-29-26–74929439) So my rolling through grief tour wasn’t finished just yet .
Then October 24th, freshly 35, I rolled into the newly designed Belmont Park and soaked it all in. Having not been there since my dad passed added to the magnitude of the changes . Then all of a sudden just like old times, I was back in the winner’s circle with our family friend and trainer Rick Dutrow ! That moment with Rick and Flavien Prat healed my soul in ways I couldn’t even tell you.
This year alone has taught me I have the power to continue this journey and just keep building on foundations left by my dad and my mom and stepdad, Vic, too while they are here to see it with me!
Now comes the ONELEGUPALEX DRIVE TO 36
