After a year of fighting through 2 injuries I am gearing up to train for my 7th Marathon and 2nd New York City Marathon. The marathon is scheduled for November 2, 2025 which is just 4 months away.
The road to get in the marathon was not easy. I qualified through the 9 + 1 program where you run 9 qualifying races with New York Road Runners (NYRR) and volunteer for one. This required getting into those races and getting my butt up to New York pretty early in the morning. Some of the races were pretty challenging also. Central Park where most of the races are held has some good hills including the Harlem Hills. You New Yorkers know what I am talking about. Despite the trouble, I enjoyed every minute of it. As you can see by the pictures below.
This year and last year were challenging years for me emotionally with some family issues. Professionally it has been fruitful with my first documentary and the road trip of presenting it throughout New Jersey. Running has always been a staple in keeping me humble and emotionally sober. It is always a blessing to be able to run.
I am taking a conservative approach to my training and will be building up slow to avoid getting injured again. My Physical Therapist will be giving me a month by month training program as he is aware of my physical condition and prior injuries.
I am excited to begin this training and this marathon as there is no better marathon than New York! Even though I was fully trained for the last NYC Marathon I did not sleep the night before and it was an extremely hot marathon. This year I will sleep at home and drive to New York the morning of the race. I have a much better chance of sleeping in my own bed. The weather is what you train for. So when it rains …you run, when it’s hot…you run, and when the weather is perfect…you run!
So today’s run was my first speed run and it was hot! I ran 3 miles with a mile warm up and mile cool down with quarter mile intervals of 8:30 pace which I did not pace at. It was more like 9:30 but we got time.
I am going to check in once a week to do a progress report as I gear up for the greatest marathon in the world One Run At a Time!
Dave Escoffery
I’m almost sad that I won’t be running this one with you. Not sad enough to put all the hours and miles in for training that would be required. But if I could do the race cold, I’d totally run it with you. It is an incredible crowd! Knock ‘em dead! And enjoy every step!
Tim
Thanks Dave!!