Road to the TCS NYC Marathon: Part 4 (EEEK!)

Laura Smith Writer

Road to the TCS NYC Marathon: Part 4 (EEEK!)

August 30, 2026

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As of this writing we are 63 (by the time I finish writing we might be at 60!) days away from the NYC Marathon. Sixty-three days until I will make my way to Staten Island and run through the five boroughs to Central Park for the 8th year in a row (minus 2020). Each year has brought challenges, mostly injuries brought on by overtraining which has resulted in undertraining. But I keep coming back, for the city, the people, and the challenge.

The magic of this race is that there is no time cutoff, and if I needed to, or wanted to, I could crawl the 26.2 miles and be ok. I will not be crawling (have you seen what coats those streets?) but I will be following in Jack Galloway’s footsteps and be doing run / walk intervals. Yes it will take me much longer than most to complete the course, but I am an “adult onset runner” (thanks Duane Scotti) and have not yet experienced a training cycle injury-free yet. I am not a natural athlete; I am merely a stubborn soul who finishes what she starts.

This year I am slowly building back up after a meniscus tear repair, so my “long” run is currently an hour time-on-feet. So when I say “eeek” I mean, “eeeeeeek.” But I have gained entry through the 9 + 1 program, so I have to enjoy the fruits of my year-long labor and take in the magic of NY on the streets on November 1. And, if you have ever seen videos of the final finishers at this race, you know that it is inspirational. Plus, I will be able to use the elevators at work for a few days post-race!

So I say “eek” because my preconceived notion of marathon training involves working up to a 20 mile long run, but that hasn’t worked for my body either. So I am listening to my coach, getting my strength up, completing PT, and easing my way back to running longer distances. It will be dark when I finish, but the pizza from Sal’s will be delicious, and I will have extra ibuprofen for the train ride home!

Maybe I can go from “eek” to compassion for this journey of mine, because I have the drive to continue to show up, year after year and explore the limitations as well as the abilities of my changing body. Maybe this year I can practice kindness towards this body as well. She has some miles on her, and fifty-three trips around the sun. This seasoned traveller needs some extra sleep tonight so that she can wake up a bit earlier and run a few miles before the start of the day. It is in the routine and the practice that I find myself, and that will bring me to NY in a few short months, hopefully healthy and ready to experience the magic of the city.

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● About Me

I wrote and published my first blog post on May 26, 2009. I was about to turn 36 and had been accepted to Mount Holyoke College as a non-traditional student, on my way to completing a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Medieval Studies. I had managed, finally, to know what general direction I was traveling. As a self proclaimed voracious reader I knew that I needed a vocation that would allow me to engage daily with words: reading words, writing words, and hearing words. I also needed to eat, so I navigated my way to a teaching position and I began to fine tune my craft. I love to teach and I love my students, but I also needed to continue to hone my own literary technique, voice, and style. I continued my education in order to delve deeper into literature, making connections, and most definitely, writing. I gained more confidence as a reader as well as a writer of both creative and analytical text. That first blog post in 2009 is short, the writing average, and the topic mundane, but as I continued to learn from other writers I began to understand that to become a better writer I needed to write more. Each time I write and release a poem, a post, or a story, I hone my skills. I invite you along for the ride, for this journey of mine as I attempt to wrangle a wealth of ideas and competing directions into an organized freshly paved path to publication. I might get distracted along the way, but sometimes those detours lead us to amazing views and new friends.