Hello hello!
The New York City Marathon was this past weekend, one of my favorite times of the year. It’s also the one-year anniversary of this newsletter, as longtime readers might remember that I launched this thingamajig after last year’s race. I was so inspired by my sub-optimal performance that I had to write about it! (Here’s that first post.)
I didn’t run the marathon this year, and I don’t think I’ll run it for some time, unless it’s as a "fun run.” My medium-term goal is to run a marathon as fast as I can, and after dedicating 2021 and 2022 to the prestigious but slow courses of New York and Boston, I realized I was making the achievement of that goal unnecessarily hard. For context, the women’s course record for the New York City Marathon is 2:22:31, while the women’s course record for the Chicago Marathon, a much flatter course, is 2:14:04. It’s unfathomable that an elite runner could run New York City in the same time as Chicago, so why would a mere mortal like me?
I have a lot of respect for people who make New York City their first and only marathon. It could be a lot easier!! Yes, all marathons are hard, but New York City is a gnarly course. The first mile from Staten Island into Brooklyn is uphill—elites run it a full minute slower than their “race pace”—and the last six miles, which are hard no matter the marathon or how well-trained you are, are a mix of gradual inclines and rolling hills. Also, the weather this year, though perfect for spectators, was about 20 degrees warmer than ideal for running. That said, the New York Marathon is the most FUN. Bostonians will try to claim otherwise, but no other marathon brings out spectators like New York.
Though I didn’t run, I did partake in the action and handed out water at mile 24 on race day. Initially, the logistics of the 6.5-hour volunteer shift stressed me out—bags weren’t allowed nor was food provided so I wore layers to maximize storage space for my snacks. In the time I actually spent holding water cups for runners, I found myself in total awe of all the people who choose to run a marathon. On one end of the spectrum, you’ve got your two-hour-ish elites who are trying to win $100,000. On the total opposite end, you have people who walk it in nine hours. And in between, you have everyone else: locally competitive runners, people going for Boston qualifying times, fundraisers, first-timers and streakers. And they’re all united in their goal of finishing the race.
On a parting but related note, if you haven’t heard of Tommy Puzey’s story, I recommend you check out his Instagram or read this Sports Illustrated piece. He’s an elite-level runner who was diagnosed with a brutal form of cancer in 2020. He walked the marathon last year in nine hours, and walk/ran it this year in six hours. I found his most recent Instagram post an incredibly inspiring reminder that anyone who wants to can and should run a marathon: “Why enter a marathon when you can’t even run for more than a minute at a time? Because we can.”
Now go figure out how to run next year’s!! (9+1 is the way to go if you’re based in New York.)
Elaheh