New York is a city built on curves. Even the most straightforward journey can be transformed for a small amount – whether it is an unexpected road closure, an unreliable subway, or a taxi driver’s unorthodox navigation – into a long-term, often painful, journey of discovery.
The City Marathon is no exception.
As the sun rises Sunday, more than 50,000 runners will descend on Staten Island with an eye toward making it to Central Park. While the most direct route to the finish line will cover just over 16 miles, there is a 26.2-mile distance through the city’s five boroughs, across five bridges and several rolling hills in front of the runners.
The New York City Marathon is widely considered the toughest major world championship for a reason.
Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia and Helen Obiri of Kenya, who each won the title a year ago, returned to defend their titles. They will face stiff competition: other previous winners returning to the fray are Evans Chebet, Albert Korir and Geoffrey Kamworor in the men’s field. Sharon Lokedi and Edna Kiplagat in the women’s category.
There are also a string of American hopefuls in the mix, with Olympians Conner Mantz, Clayton Young and Dakota Bobbin returning from Paris; CJ Albertson is competing just weeks after a strong performance in Chicago; And 2018 Boston Marathon winner Des Linden returns for the fifth time.
But the range of the world’s largest marathons is as broad as it is deep. The champions and former Olympians tackling this course will also lead a large group of runners – including beginners, fundraisers and octogenarians – on this complex tour.
The Guardian spoke to four athletes as they prepared for Sunday’s race.
Minutes into the race, as the elite group climbs the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the highest point on the course, Linden allows herself a quick glance to her left. “I always take a moment to appreciate the stunning views of the city,” she said. “She’s amazing.”
Moving through each neighborhood and experiencing each community is unique, says Linden, a two-time Olympian. “The roads are closed so you can be in the center, have a parade and do that tour of the city,” he says.
She adds that the bridges are steep, but the opportunity to run across them and enjoy the stunning views is “very special.” New York “is the center of the universe, especially on marathon weekends.”
Linden, 41, represented Team USA at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics. She has officiated in Boston 11 times and New York four times. This time, the goal is to “finish on the same day,” she says with a smile.
She admits that the favourites, including some of the dominant artists in Paris this summer, may be “a bit too rich for me, at this stage of my career”. “I still enjoy and love racing, but I don’t have anything to prove, necessarily, at this point.”
But you never know how the race will develop. “Anything can happen,” Linden says. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Connie Brown, 80, has run this race more times than any other woman: 44 times. For months, she had been training for the forty-fifth day.
She remembers finishing the work for the first time in tears, as her hope that she could do it gave way to realization. She remembers the live bands, clever gestures and kind words that have helped her get to Central Park many times since.
She remembers celebrating her early years by dancing the night away, including a post-race party at a Broadway nightclub.
Connie Brown runs the New York City Marathon in 2023 Photo: Courtesy of MarathonFoto and New York Road Runners
Brown New York had run through heat waves and rain, under sun and lightning — lightning was more likely to strike a building than a person, she told herself as it cracked above her head — and past crowds of cheering spectators.
Days before she was scheduled to travel to this weekend’s race, personal circumstances forced Brown to stay home. (Sarasota, Florida). She still plans to run the marathon on Sunday, heading out around 3 a.m. to beat the heat.
At this point, this endeavor is “part of who I think I am,” she says. “I’m someone who runs at least one marathon a year.”
Over the decades, Brown says, “running has given me confidence.” “Anything you set your mind to—set a goal, make a plan, follow through on it—you can do it. If you can do this, you can do anything.”
Thousands of runners travel around the world to take on New York. Nate Kahiali, 33, flew nearly 5,000 miles from Hawaii.
When the teacher and his neighbors were evacuated when wildfires swept through Maui last summer, he thought he would be back soon. Kahayali picked up some bits and pieces, not realizing that what he chose would be all that was left of his home.
Like many others, he lost his home.
Among the small collection he salvaged was a bright orange pair of Nike Vaporfly running shoes. They have become for him “a symbol in a way” of his hometown of Lahaina.
Nate Kahaiali’i with his Nike Vaporfly running shoes, which he plans to wear in every major world marathon. Photo: Nate Kahaiali’i
Wearing them, as he will on Sunday, is “a way for me to honor the community, but also to represent it,” says Kahayali, who has raised nearly $7,000 (and counting) for the reconstruction effort by selling T-shirts bearing the slogans. The phrase “Lahaina is strong.”
“The main hope — whether they buy the shirt or not — is to keep Maui on people’s minds,” he says. “It’s been a year, but there is still a lot of work for many families here in Lahaina.”
Kahayali, who teaches health, hopes his marathons will inspire his students, who call him Mr. K. “Every time I come back, they say: Did you win?” “Did you win?” he says. “I say no, I’m not that fast.”
He plans to wear Vaporflys in all six of the world’s major marathons. With four of them remaining, “they are still in very good shape.”
Concepcion Gonzalez, 65, had never run “even a mile” before this summer. She’s about to run her first marathon.
For years, Gonzalez — who has lived in New York for more than three decades — sat in the grandstand cheering on her daughter Teresita and son Luis.
I watched hundreds of people, of all abilities, from all walks of life, cross the finish line. “I saw people who looked like me, and I thought I could do it one day.”
Gonzalez is under no illusion that it will be easy. “Everyone goes through hard times,” she says. “People fall. They can get up. I too can embark on this journey.”
For many grappling with this issue, this cycle is less a race than an achievement of resilience. It is more a test of perseverance than pace. But she is ready.
Gonzalez, who will run alongside Teresita, 29, and Luis, 32, on Sunday, is excited to see her city from a new angle. “I feel a sense of pride, being from New York City, and being able to represent New York City,” she says.
Brown, who first managed New York in 1978, has plenty of advice for first-timers. “Don’t eat anything you haven’t eaten before” the night before, for starters. Don’t worry too much about sleeping well either. And if one knee starts to feel dodgy, “think about your other knee.”
Linden recommends treating the first two miles — a steep climb on the Verrazzano, setting up a steep descent — as a warm-up, and not worrying too much about speed. “It’s really cool, because the New York marathon distance is only 24 miles when you beat those two,” she says.
Conversely, once you reach Manhattan in the second half, try not to push too hard. The crowd, Linden says, “is just electric, and you feel like, ‘I have to win,’ because they’re going crazy. But you still have a long way to go.”
Just soak it all up,” Brown adds. “Don’t miss things,” she says. “Don’t get so caught up in yourself and focused on your running that you don’t see the neighborhoods, you don’t see the people out there.”
Some people run New York to show the world. Others are out to show themselves.
As elite marathoners pick up speed, those at the front are running against the clock. But the majority of runners who roam the five boroughs are running for something.
For some, this marathon is a grueling physical test. Others will face the mental challenges that come when your body is pushed to its limits. Many, if not most, will have to deal with both.
No matter the journey that led them here; Whether this is their first time, or their forty-fifth; Whether they are a few thousand miles away, or a stone’s throw, from home; About 50,000 people will gather in the early hours of Sunday for the same basic goal.
Central Park awaits.
