26.2 Mile Journey

On Sunday, Nov. 6th, 2022, nearly 50,000 people from over 130 countries ran 26.2 miles across the five boroughs of New York City, competing in the largest marathon in the world. “This will be the hill I decide to climb because if there's one thing about me, it’s go big or go home, and there's no harm in trying,” says 21-year-old Lauren Klym, in reference to the New York City Marathon.

This was Lauren’s first time participating in the famed race, as well as her first time running a marathon. Prior to this race, the longest distance she had ever run was eight miles. Her motivation and drive for the race came during a period of isolation amidst the COVID- 19 lockdowns. She began to think more intently about what she wanted to accomplish in her life.

“I kind of tried to make a pact with myself to do things that, you know, are life goals. I've really been trying to make a conscious effort to do things that not only scare me, but that could also be good life experiences to have while I'm young.”

New York City Marathon 2022 race route and map key across NYC's five boroughs. Created by Ries Allyn

Since the pandemic started, Lauren has already gone skydiving, swimming with sharks, and now she is ready for a new challenge, which is when she started looking more seriously into the NYC Marathon.

Go Big or Go Home

From an outsider’s view, the race already seems like a daunting and challenging endeavor, and it is. But what people unfamiliar with the structure of the race don’t know is, participants must first be allowed into the race. Never mind being physically able to compete in the race, you can not just sign up.

The four ways of getting into the NYC Marathon is first, through eligibility and qualifying for the race from a prior marathon finish time. Second, competing as part of a charity or fundraising group partner by raising a minimum of $3,000. Third is through the “9 + 1 program,” which consists of completing nine New York Road Runner races, as well as volunteering at one race. And fourth, through the lottery, the most competitive way to earn a slot. This year, “more than 84,000 runners entered the drawing. Only about 12 percent were chosen.”

After doing her research, Lauren decided she would enter the lottery and attempt to complete the “9 + 1 program,” however, on her first try she made it through the lottery. A rare accomplishment.

Part of Lauren’s journey to the race stems from her athletic history and love of running growing up. She played a mix of sports in middle school and high school, and her Instagram handle was once @Laurunnn, a nod to her participation in cross country.

“When I got to college, I picked it back up again and, re-found my love for it,” says Lauren. “I would go on eight-mile runs at 6 am just for fun. And something I really appreciate about running is it's just you and your thoughts.”

Living in the tri-state area, Lauren was always aware of the NYC Marathon and had it in the back of her head that it was something she would attempt. Now that she was selected, the realization of what this means set in, and the hard work of training began.

All In: Mind, Body, Heart and Soul

Lauren has learned that training and preparing for a marathon is more than just going out on runs but its actively building routines and regimens into your lifestyle, something that’s been hard as a full-time student with an internship.

“This has been four-plus months of my life. It's every day. It’s a conscious decision, to you know, to wake my ass up at 6 a.m. and go run. Especially when I was starting, I kept reminding myself it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Like “yeah, I got this lottery ticket, let's see what we can become.”

It takes active planning and discipline. Over the course of her busy week, Lauren breaks up mileage in her training so at the end of the week she hits around 20 miles total running distance, with a mix of shorter and longer running days.

“I didn't plan on running this when I signed up for classes, so my schedule was not built for someone training for a marathon, which makes it really hard.” Says Lauren explaining the difficulty of balance that comes with training, “I can't exactly go out as much as maybe I'd want to or, you know, do certain things because I have to dedicate 4 hours of my Saturday morning to running.”

A key role in Lauren’s preparation is her mindset and keeping a positive outlook. She shared that sometimes, long runs are ironically almost easier than the short runs.

“It is mostly a mental game. You know, if I'm having a bad day, I do not want to run and my runs will be hard. And I found that during the week I'm more tired, so my shorter runs feel harder than my longer runs,” says Lauren. “I think part of that is because, like long runs, I know how important they are. I know I need to have that mileage, the short run, I know I can run four miles if I want, so it’s hard to find the motivation to do it sometimes.”

To learn more about what it takes to prepare for a marathon Julz Del Viscio, an endurance coach at NVDM coaching and director of athlete relations, echo’s Lauren’s comments on the effectiveness of positive thinking. “You have to be your own best friend. You know, you're the one who is getting up in the morning to do these training sessions, and being that person that you can kind of talk to during your sessions,” says Del Viscio.

During Lauren’s training session she connects with herself on a deeper level and builds her own drive to keep moving, “The further you go, the less there is to think about. When you know you're running for three-plus hours, you really kinda get to get in tune with your body and figure out what you're capable of and where you can push your boundaries.”

Lauren Klym, prepares for the NYC Marathon during a training session. Photographs by Ries Allyn

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Another aspect Del Viscio emphasizes with her athletes is remembering the race's difficulty. “The race isn’t going to be easy. You know, so if the race isn't going to be easy, we have to get uncomfortable during training a little bit”...”this race is going to be tough, it's going to be hard, but like we can do hard things.” Its confidence boosters like this in training that she says really help her athletes maintain positivity.

Del Viscios’ clients come from various athletic levels and backgrounds; some are beginners who have never run competitively. Del Viscio says she’s had a few people come to her looking for guidance a month or two out from an event and she shares the biggest mistake they made is not giving themselves enough time to prepare. “The first thing is really having an actual plan, an idea of the race you want to do and giving yourself time to do it. The second thing is consistency. You know, not every day is going to be easy in training, but if you are hitting your sessions, staying consistent, with everything, you're going to show up to the start line, the most prepared version of you.”

When it comes to training sessions and building up to being marathon ready, both Del Viscio and Lauren underscore how vital time is, “'training is going to take up more of your time than you think on a weekly basis,” says Del Viscio.

She explains that three-hour training days are essentially five-hour training days. You might do an 18-mile run on the weekend, but you first have to get up early to fuel the 18-mile run. And then athletes need to be sure they’re resting enough and getting in calories to be able to run again two days later. “If you're going to sign up for these long endurance races, you have to be all in on it. You have to be all in on yourself, all in on the process, all in on the race.”

Alongside mindset, Del Viscios states any successful training plan includes what she calls “active recovery days.” “You are still moving your body and you are working your muscles but with no intensity. Essentially flushing out all of the lactic build up in your body from, a previous training session. It's more beneficial to do active recovery than to lay in bed all day.”

Lauren emphasized that through all this training for the NYC Marathon, the drive keeping her going has been the idea of being part of something greater than herself. “This is such a momentous occasion, and there's nothing quite like running in New York.”

Hitting the Ground Running

When she initially applied for the race, Lauren wasn’t sure of her pacing so she estimated her finish time would be around 4 hours and 30 minutes, because of this she is starting in a later wave which is how they release groups of runners based on their pace and abilities. Since training she has gotten her pacing down so she aimed to finish under 4 hours. Leading up to the event she reminds herself, “I'm going for the experience rather than the finish time.”

“Coming into it, I thought it was definitely more skill. You know, I was like, you have to be an elite runner. You have known what you’re doing.” Then Lauren joined a few running groups on social media where other participants shared their mindset and goals for the race, “I have seen so many people saying, I'm going to be the in the last wave it’s gonna be a good six-hour run time. But I'm here, for vibes. And you know, this experience is something you never forget. Doesn’t it matter how fast you go?”

Another way her perspective has shifted since talking with other runners is the idea behind finishing quickly. “You know, these guys (elite runners) are running so fast, but they can't think about running slow for that long.” Which juxtaposes the concept of strength when it comes to running at a quicker time versus for a longer duration, who works harder?

Lauren finished the 26.2 mile journey in 4 hours and 23 minutes. Her main takeaway for people wanting to participate is, “have a good time and enjoy the moment. I think, you know, every marathon you try to go a little bit better, but don't lose that. It is, you know, such a life-changing thing in a fun way.”

Lauren is yearning to continue climbing the next hill and participating in more marathons.