Countdown to running the 2025 New York City Marathon
As of today, there are 361 days until the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon, and I have every intention of running in it next year. As I write those words, I can’t help but think about the fact that I’ve said that before – about nine years ago – but I failed to do it. So naturally, as I start the countdown to 2025, I say with some level of caution, “next year will be different.”
I say those words cautiously because I believe to some extent, goals can be dangerous. There will be an upcoming post devoted to this entire topic, but for now, the only point I want to make is that sometimes the biggest levels of success come with the process of working towards a goal even if the result is not achieved. So, if one evaluates the goal purely by whether it is accomplished, it’s easy miss the big picture. After all, it’s my failures, the process of trying, and the response I had to it all that lead me to believe that I’ve got it this time.
While this year may be my last on the sidelines before I finally spend Marathon Sunday between the ropes, I spent this marathon weekend as a sort of kickoff for training my mind and body to run 26.2. Of course, the process started well before this weekend. I didn’t know it at the time, but my path towards 2025 started almost exactly one year ago when I decided to give running a try again after having given it up for eight years. For more on the struggles I went though, see what I previously wrote about my running journey.
Today though, inspired by all those who are finishing the race as I write this post, I’ll just share a little more about the reasons next year will be different for me . . .
Because I’m in a different place now . . .
Nine years ago, I was carrying over 100 lbs. more in body weight, and even though I had been getting stronger for two years, my body couldn’t handle it. Long runs – which at the time were anything above three miles – set me back, as I’d have to take several days off to recover from the pain. Through the process, I learned that it was more important to workout smart than it was to workout hard. Keeping my body fresh for the next day led to fitness gains while ruining it for days on end did the opposite. At the time, I had no idea that stepping away from running to focus on getting my body in shape would be exactly what would get it ready to run again, but here I am in a much different place.
On Saturday, I ran the NY Road Runners 5K Dash to the Finish. The race mostly goes up 6th Avenue to Central Park where it concludes at the finish line for Sunday’s marathon. I ran this same race in 2015, but with much different results. At that time, I finished it with fewer than 1% of those who ran the race ending behind me.
My results from the 2015 Dash to Finish 5K, finishing 9,292 of 9,475 in 46:34 at a pace of 14:59/mi.
I felt no shame in that, in fact, while others ran for only 20-30 minutes, I got a much harder 45-minute workout in that day. Many ran faster, but few worked harder.
In the 2015 5K dash, there were the usual big crowds in the beginning, but not many remained on the course as I made my way toward the finish line with my goal being simply to complete the race.
This Saturday, I crushed it! It may have been the first time I truly ran a race as a race – not with the goal to finish, but rather with the intent to finish as fast as I can. The crowd was packed at the beginning, but as I crossed the starting line, I found a lane around the masses and just took off faster than I ever started a run before. Every race I ran before, I paced myself early and pushed harder at the end with what I had left in the tank. This time, inspired by last week’s post, I spent every minute of the race telling myself not to leave anything for the way back. I not only set a PR, but it was my first time running at a pace under 10 minutes per mile!
My results from the 2024 Dash to Finish 5K, “officially” finishing 4,753 of 9,870 in 30:15 at a pace of 9:44/mi. My Strava app had it at a 9:25/mi. Either by the official results, or by my running app, it was a PR!
My Strava app had me at running a faster pace than the “official” results, probably because I spent a good part of the race running around those in front of me (rather than running the straightest line to the finish). Either way, it was a record day!
I ran this one like a true race — trying to finish in the shortest time possible!
Because I know my body better . . .
Nine years ago, I thought working out was supposed to make me hurt. I had no clue how to recover. I ran, I was in pain, I rested for as long as I needed to before running again. Then I repeated the cycle. Today, I’m not in pain after I run, and I am back at it the next day for whatever that workout is. On Sunday, it was a 30 Minute Power Zone Pelton ride in the studio with Olivia – the first time we rode together in person in five years!
Five years after first riding with Olivia at the old studio, I joined her in the new one for our reunion ride!
But more importantly, it’s what I did after Saturday ‘s run – and how I spend most weekend afternoons – that keeps my body fresher and stronger. If you read this blog, you know about Remedy Place where I go for many recovery techniques including contrast therapy. This past weekend, Remedy opened a new location – and a quite different one – in SOHO, and I was one of the first to try it out. I spend the afternoon doing red light therapy (energizing and skin health), the Remedy Roller (like a full body foam roller on steroids), and of course, their new contrast suite (with a combination infrared/dry sauna). I can’t wait to write more about this – especially as I try more of their new tech like the AI Bodywork (a robot massage that uses AI to determine your body’s needs). I’ll surely be spending my pre-marathon and post-marathon days next year getting all I need at Remedy including new hyperbaric oxygen chamber! For now, here’s a preview . . .
Cool stuff to check out at Remedy SOHO includes, the Remedy Roller (top left), hyperbaric oxygen chamber (top right), red light bed (left middle), ice baths (middle), and the contrast suite (right middle and bottom)..
In all, I’ve mostly learned to keep my body balanced through the workouts I do and the recovery methods I employ in between them. Of course, as I wrote about recently with my elbow injury, I’m not perfect at this, and I am acutely aware of what happens when I lose that balance. Nearly every other form of exercise I do – swimming, rowing, boxing, jumping rope, and strength training – makes me a better runner and keeps my body fresher for it. Even climbing prepares me for the marathon in that it teaches me to focus and tune everything else out when it all may otherwise seem so terrifying.
Because I failed before . . .
As much as I write about what I achieved as a result of my prior running struggles, I’m only human and the failure still hurts. I spent eight years away from it thinking I’d never run again before I finally realized I could try it once more. That time away was spent learning how to “win the day.” With each day, the meaning changed – ultimately to the point where I went out on November 10 last year – inspired by having watched the 2023 Marathon a few days earlier – and tried it again. That day, I ran 1.7 miles at a 12 minute per mile pace. That was almost two minutes faster than I had run before. Since then, I’ve done a 12-mile race at a faster pace than the 1.7 I started with, and I just broke the 10-minute per mile pace!
My process from the past year is what taught me that next year will be different – because it is already so much different from when I failed before. Everything about it – my pace, my distance, my recovery, and my mind – has changed, and it’s why I believe I will succeed this time.
Win or lose, I’ll keep sharing this journey along the way. For here’s a few interesting races that I have on the calendar right now . . .
November 24: 4-mile race. Can I break 10 min per mile over almost one extra mile?
December 7: 15K race. This was the race that made me quit running in 2015.
January 26: Half marathon. My first half and only two days after I return from vacation in Antarctica!
Whatever the result for each race, and no matter what happens a year from now, I know we can all learn something here. But as I mentioned in the beginning, right now I have every intention of running the marathon next year. I say “every intention” not so much because of the fear of failure, but because in my career, you never know when a trial might get in the way. Marathons can be deferred, but trials can’t.
One thing’s for sure though, I won’t be running anything dressed as a hot dog, but props to this guy!
That said, as if there isn’t enough motivation from watching this year’s runners have fun and push themselves to their limits and beyond, there are always some special reminders at the Marathon that whatever your struggle, “it could be worse.” Thanks to all who ran, walked, or wheeled across the finish line for inspiring me in life!
Photos courtesy of @nh_photogenic
Aaron