Evans Chebet was among the runners who watched as Daniel do Nascimento separated himself from the rest of the men’s field at the New York City Marathon on Sunday. Do Nascimento, a 24-year-old Brazilian who is known for being — what is the word? — assertive, was a blur as he surged into the lead, then a speck off in the distance, and then gone from view entirely.
Chebet, a soft-spoken Kenyan who arrived in New York having already won the Boston Marathon this year, opted to exercise patience. Sure enough, as he approached the 21st mile, he saw do Nascimento again: face down by the side of the road, being tended to by medical personnel.
“I felt bad for him,” Chebet said in Swahili through a translator, “but I had to continue the race.”
On an unseasonably warm November day, Chebet survived both the conditions and the competition, winning in 2 hours 8 minutes 41 seconds to complete a clean sweep for Kenyan men in the six world marathon majors this year. Chebet, 33, did his part by winning two of them — and two of the toughest. Of course, considering what Chebet had done in Boston in April, no one was surprised to see him tackle New York with great composure.
“Boston was actually harder,” said Chebet, who wore his winners’ laurel wreath to his news conference.
The women’s finish was much more unexpected. Sharon Lokedi, a Kenyan who raced at the University of Kansas, was fearless in her marathon debut, breaking free from a celebrated field to win in 2:23:23.
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Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, middle, unexpectedly won the women’s race with a time of 2:23:23Credit...Ben Solomon for The New York Times
“Perfect weather for me,” said Lokedi, 28, who splits her time between Kenya and Flagstaff, Ariz., where she trains with the Under Armour-sponsored Dark Sky Distance group. “I didn’t expect to win. I expected to run well. But it ended up being a good outcome.”
Lokedi left an all-star cast in her wake. Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, a Kenyan-born Israeli who arrived in New York with the fastest time in the field, finished second. Gotytom Gebreslase, an Ethiopian who is the reigning world champion, placed third. Edna Kiplagat, a 42-year-old Kenyan who is one of the world’s most decorated marathoners, was fourth. And Viola Cheptoo of Kenya, last year’s runner-up, was fifth.
“It was hot, but I was really prepared,” said Lokedi, who was the N.C.A.A. champion in the 10,000 meters in 2018. “I picked up water at every station to pour on myself.”
Do Nascimento, who set a South American record when he finished third in the Seoul Marathon this year in 2:04:51, was the story in New York for much of the morning — until it all began to go poorly for him. Easily recognizable in his lavender tights and space-age sunglasses, he built a two-minute lead more than halfway through the race. But others in the field had seen him try that sort of bold strategy before.
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Do Nascimento running in Brooklyn before his collapse.Credit...Calla Kessler for The New York Times
In brutal conditions at the Tokyo Olympics last year, do Nascimento was among the leaders when he collapsed in scenes that were vaguely horrifying and was forced to withdraw.
On Sunday, his superhuman pace was beginning to slow when he pulled off the course for an 18-second stop at a portable toilet. He emerged with his lead intact, albeit narrower, but it was clear that he was in trouble. About six miles short of the finish, he sank to the pavement and was forced to abandon the race.
“I want to feel sorry for him when I saw him on the ground,” said Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, who finished third. “But I was like, ‘Come on, man, this is the second time. You did that in the Olympics.’ ”
A spokesman for the marathon said do Nascimento did not need to go to the hospital and was recovering at his hotel.
It was not an easy day for anyone. Galen Rupp, a two-time Olympic medalist for the United States who was making his long-awaited New York debut, dropped out about 18 miles into the race with a hip injury. And Shura Kitata of Ethiopia, who finished second behind Chebet, lumbered onto the stage for his news conference as if his legs were made of concrete. A race official handed Kitata a giant bag of ice, which he placed on his thighs.
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Shura Kitata of Ethiopia finished second behind Chebet.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
“It was very hot,” he said in Amharic through a translator, “and that made it very tough.”
It was the warmest marathon on record since the race was moved to its traditional early November date in 1986. The temperature in Central Park was 73 degrees Fahrenheit at 11 a.m., shortly before the elite runners began to cross the finish line.
Scott Fauble, 31, was the top American man, finishing ninth — a solid result coming the morning after he signed a new sponsorship deal with Nike. Fauble, who was also the top American finisher in Boston this year, had been without a sponsor for months.
After agreeing to terms on a contract at dinner on Saturday night, Fauble took an Uber to the Nike store in Manhattan to pick up sneakers. The rest of his racing gear arrived at his hotel later that night.
“It’s quite a rush to get your singlet for the next day at 10 p.m. the night before the race,” he said.
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Aliphine Tuliamuk, far left, finished in a personal-best time of 2:26:18.Credit...Calla Kessler for The New York Times
On the women’s side, three Americans finished in the top 10. Aliphine Tuliamuk was seventh, Emma Bates was eighth and Nell Rojas was 10th. Tuliamuk, 33, who won the marathon at the U.S. Olympic trials in 2020 and gave birth to her daughter, Zoe, in January 2021, had not raced in a marathon since she injured herself at the Tokyo Games. On Sunday, she finished in a personal-best time of 2:26:18.
“I think that I excel when the conditions are not perfect,” Tuliamuk said. “I rise to the occasion, and I believe that today that was the case.”
Still, she had to overcome some adversity. In early September, she said, she experienced swelling in one of her ankles that forced her to take a couple of weeks off from training.
“In the back of my mind, I wished that I had a few more weeks” to train, she said. “But I also decided to focus on gratitude because I didn’t know that I was going to be here. And the fact that I was able to put in some solid training and had a chance to be competitive, I was just very grateful for that.”
Nov. 6, 2022, 5:26 p.m. ET
Nadav Gavrielov
Reporting from the marathon
Before some 50,000 runners were unleashed onto the streets of New York today, they congregated on Staten Island. In those early hours, runners lingered and grappled with pre-race jitters — and admired what others were wearing. In some ways, the New York City Marathon is a 26.2-mile fashion show.
Sharon Lokedi and Evans Chebet, both Kenyans, won the women’s and men’s races.Credit...Ben Solomon for The New York Times
Runners from around the globe converged on New York City on Sunday for the 2022 marathon, which was run in unusually warm and humid weather. Rowdy spectators — some in colorful costumes, some dancing, some playing musical instruments — lined the route and encouraged the racers to persevere.
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Runners aboard the Staten Island Ferry on their way to the start village.Credit...Benjamin Norman for The New York Times
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Before the 26.2-mile race begins, runners must complete the journey to the start line.Credit...Benjamin Norman for The New York Times
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Crossing the Queensboro Bridge from Queens to Manhattan.Credit...Johnny Milano for The New York Times
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Cyclists cross over the Queensboro Bridge.Credit...Johnny Milano for The New York Times
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For these runners in Central Park, the finish line is in sight.Credit...Ben Solomon for The New York Times
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Runners make their way through the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, between Miles 8 and 9.Credit...Calla Kessler for The New York Times
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Racers rest along Central Park West after finishing the marathon.Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times
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A woman dances at Mile 21 in the Bronx. Credit...Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York Times
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A racer makes her way through Central Park.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
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This year’s race drew about 50,000 entrants, according to New York Road Runners.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
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Although the leaves were falling on Sunday, the air was unusually warm and humid.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
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In the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, between Miles 8 and 9, children await the runners.Credit...Calla Kessler for The New York Times
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Runners make their way across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Credit...Benjamin Norman for The New York Times
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A cyclist crosses over the Queensboro Bridge.Credit...Johnny Milano for The New York Times
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Denis Wajman of San Paolo, Brazil, after crossing the finish line in Central Park.Credit...Ben Solomon for The New York Times
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Members of the Last Damn Bridge Society gather to cheer on the runners at the Madison Avenue Bridge between the Bronx and Manhattan at Mile 21. The members are teachers in New York and New Jersey.Credit...Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York Times
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Racers cross the finish line at the end of the New York City Marathon.Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times
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Runners in Queens can be seen on multiple levels.Credit...Johnny Milano for The New York Times
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A lone runner makes his way across the Queensboro Bridge.Credit...Johnny Milano for The New York Times
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Hugging after finishing the marathon.Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times
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Once the magic of the marathon is over, it’s back to the subway.Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times
The marathon cleaning staff is picking up the bottles and electrolyte packets that runners discard during the race. Raquel Solano and Jorge Velez said they would probably be here until late tonight but are happy to be involved.
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Credit...Kris Rhim for The New York Times
Nov. 6, 2022, 4:02 p.m. ET
Lola Fadulu
Reporting from the marathon
Gina Gregorio always watches the race from the corner of Warren Street and Fourth Avenue. This year she held signs that read, “Run to the Polls.”
“I love it when we’re right before the election because we can actually ask people to get out to vote, and it’s like nonpartisan, although I have had partisan signs before because I feel like it’s a great place to have your voice heard,” Gregorio said.
She said the runners have been supportive, with many thanking her and giving her high-fives.
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Credit...Lola Fadulu
Nov. 6, 2022, 3:54 p.m. ET
Nadav Gavrielov
Reporting from the marathon
What do runners have to look forward to once they cross the finish line? A medal, a poncho, a New York State McIntosh apple, various other snacks and the option of never having to do this again.
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CreditCredit...Chevaz Clarke/The New York Times
Nov. 6, 2022, 3:51 p.m. ET
Nadav Gavrielov
Reporting from the marathon
Anyone out there on the course who doesn’t feel like finishing (and for some reason happens to be reading this) has the option of dropping out and being picked up by sweep buses, which follow the last wave at a 7-hour race pace. They even drop runners off at the finish area! It’s a much more efficient way of getting from Staten Island to Central Park.
Each year, The New York Times works to print the names of as many marathon finishers as possible.
Once again, The New York Times is competing in its own race today — racing against a deadline, that is, to publish what’s known as the Marathon Agate, a list of the names and finish times of many of the marathon runners in Monday’s city edition of the newspaper.
“Agate” is journalism jargon, referring to information that is printed in smaller type — in this case, just a quarter-inch high.
Compared with a typical Monday, the post-marathon city paper sees a bump in retail sales of almost 50 percent.
The number of names published depends on both the number of pages allotted for the agate as well as runners’ finish times. Read about more of the details here.
Nov. 6, 2022, 3:36 p.m. ET
Lauren McCarthy
Reporting from the marathon
John Bido Rodriquez and Edwin Done-Tirado, cheering near a water station just after Mile 24, chanted “hydrate, hydrate, hydrate” with the help of a guira, a Dominican percussion instrument. They chose the location because it wasn’t far from Bido Rodriquez’s son’s Sunday swim class. He said the runners seemed energized when they heard their names shouted from the sidelines. “I think it helps a little bit to have that cheer and good energy.”
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Credit...Lauren McCarthy for The New York Times
Nov. 6, 2022, 3:27 p.m. ET
Lola Fadulu
Reporting from the marathon
David Colon lives a few blocks away from Fourth Avenue in Park Slope and has fond memories of watching the race with his grandparents, including a visit to a local bakery after the race to pick up bread for the family’s Sunday dinner.
But this year is different. Instead, he is here with just his mother, Maritza Colon, and his 6-year-old daughter, Kaylee.
“Both of my grandparents actually passed away within the year,” he said. “I’m here with my mother, so it’s basically kind of nostalgic in a way.”
He brought Kaylee to continue the tradition. She sat nearby drawing with chalk.
“My hands are sweaty because they were high-fiving me,” Kaylee said of the runners.
Maritza Colon said she’s been a spectator since the 1980s. She said her favorite part was “just cheering them on and giving them encouragement to do it until the finish line.”
Tommy Rivers Puzey is a former professional runner.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times
Tommy Rivers Puzey used to cover the 26.2 miles in about 2 hours 18 minutes.
But that was in what he calls the “B.C. time,” before he received a diagnosis of a rare and aggressive form of lymphoma in the summer of 2020. He was not expected to survive. Then he was told that if he did survive, he would most likely be on a ventilator for the rest of his life.
One year later, Puzey, a former professional runner, finished the New York City Marathon in 9 hours 19 minutes. He called it “the single most difficult athletic achievement that I’ve ever accomplished.”
Puzey, 38, was back on the course on Sunday, six months after he ran the Boston Marathon in April.
“Coming to New York City for the first time was an opportunity to write my name, like a horizontal line on a door frame,” he said in an interview before the race. “I’m glad that things did work out because I can come back and do exactly the same race exactly a year apart and it’s like that second horizontal line on the door frame.”
It’s progress, he said. Progress that was never guaranteed with his diagnosis.
He hopes the race comes to him a bit more quickly this go-round. He’s eager, if humbled, to take on the energy that the city has given him. He is still emotional thinking about the people who waited for him — “a frail skinny cadaver of a man” — in the cold hours of November last year.
Puzey’s time on Sunday was nothing like what he used to run. But he shaved more than three hours off his 2021 result, finishing in 6:13:54.
“If you need a reminder of what humans are capable of, there’s no better place to see it than a road marathon in New York in November,” he said.
Nov. 6, 2022, 3:09 p.m. ET
Sara Naomi Lewkowicz
Members of the New York Taiko Aiko Kai Society drummed to cheer on the runners at Mile 21 in the Bronx.
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Credit...Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York Times
Nov. 6, 2022, 3:03 p.m. ET
Kris Rhim
Reporting from the marathon
Marco Mori, clad in hot pink from head to toe, might take the crown for the best-dressed runner. Mori, 50, who finished his 17th marathon today, traveled from his home in Florence, Italy, to participate. “I don’t want to be confused with anybody else in the race,” he said.
The couple served breakfast and hired a D.J. to work the crowd and cheer on the runners.CreditCredit...Lola Fadulu
Kathy Urbina ran her first and only New York City Marathon in 1987. Her husband, Tim Stoenner, and a few of their friends met up in front of their home in Fort Greene to cheer her on.
Over the years, that modest effort at Mile 8 has turned into a joyful annual celebration.
“At that time there weren’t as many people who really showed up for marathon runners,” Urbina said on Sunday afternoon amid music and cheers for the runners. “I just really decided 26.2 miles is a long, long way and we need to support everybody.”
The following year, they put speakers outside their window — and blew them out.
After that, they decided to hire a D.J., and now each year they throw a whole party that includes a breakfast.
“We invite our neighbors, we invite our friends, and now it’s like kids who are little itty-bitty toddlers are now coming back with their husbands and their kids,” Urbina said. “This is the 35th year and it’s just a wonderful, wonderful time.”
John Marsich of Big Fine John’s Entertainment, microphone in hand, worked the crowd outside of Urbina’s home on Sunday, as his 13-year-old son played music under a tent. Marsich high-fived runners, shouted words of encouragement and led the crowd in dancing the “Cotton Eye Joe” and the “Cha Cha Slide.”
Lisa Fitzpatrick, who has watched the marathon each year for more than 20 years, returned to her old neighborhood on Sunday and joined the festive crowd.
“This particular corner has always been a staple for the community,” said Fitzpatrick, who now lives in Crown Heights.
“It is so meaningful for all of us, especially in Brooklyn,” she said. “Brooklyn has always been the best part of the marathon.”
She said that this particular stretch of the marathon was difficult, especially for first-time runners. “A lot of them are fading,” she said. “Seeing the energy of the day, right here in this moment, in this place, it actually does help to pump people back up.”
Nov. 6, 2022, 2:47 p.m. ET
Anna Watts
Some runners who had finished were simply exhausted on Central Park West.
Once again, the New York City Marathon offered ordinary runners a rare opportunity: a chance to measure up to (and perhaps beat) celebrity runners like the actor Ashton Kutcher or former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber.
Among the 50,000 participants in the New York marathon, throngs of amateur runners shared the racecourse with popular figures from the worlds of television, cinema and sports. Among the famous runners who participated in this year’s race are Ellie Kemper of “The Office” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”; T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach of ABC’s “Good Morning America”; and Kutcher, who as part of his efforts raised more than $1 million for Thorn, the nonprofit technology company he co-founded to help prevent sexual exploitation of children.
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Chelsea Clinton, who ran the race, looked at a phone held by her mother, Hillary Clinton.Credit...Ben Solomon for The New York Times
Here are some of the finish times of this year’s famous runners.
Marit Bjorgen, Olympic gold medalist in cross-country skiing: 3:08:52
Matt James, former lead of “The Bachelor”: 3:46:45
Meghan Duggan, Olympic gold medalist in hockey: 3:52:06
Cheering intensifies as the runners enter the park and and enjoy a slight downhill into Mile 24, with no police lines to inhibit high fives or embraces. Spectators are sure to shout the names of every runner who displayed it on their shirt.
Only about two miles of the marathon run through Queens, from the Pulaski Bridge to the Queensboro Bridge, but that stretch brings out plenty of spectators, intense racing among the elites and some fun costume sightings.
Josh Alexander, who finished his 10th marathon today, is limping after reaching the finish line while balancing an ice pack on his head. He said the crowds were the best he had ever seen, but the humidity was almost too much for him to bear. He didn’t hit his goal of finishing in 3 hours 15 minutes, and he needed medical attention, “but I’m still here, right?”
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Credit...Kris Rhim
Nov. 6, 2022, 2:09 p.m. ET
Lola Fadulu
Reporting from the marathon
Rivers Curry, 16, who attends Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, organized a bake sale for asylum seekers along the race route in Fort Greene.
Some church members, he said, went to Tijuana, Mexico, in 2019 and met two families who were trying to cross the border. The church has since been supporting them and has recently expanded its efforts. "Now we’re working toward helping out with the current crisis, the people staying in shelters,” Curry said.
More than 20,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City over the past couple of months, overwhelming the city’s social services programs.
For years, Makoshi’s photograph has hung from the rafters at the Javits Center convention hall.Credit...via Makoshi
Yasuhiro Makoshi is a gargantuan man who stands five feet tall.
You most likely know him. You may have taken a photo with him. For years, his photograph has hung from the rafters at the Javits Center convention hall, where exuberant New York City marathoners pick up their race packets.
The image of his 30th New York City Marathon finish, with his arms raised triumphantly, is an enduring photo of the race.
For the Japanese community in New York City, he is more than that. He was a cultural fixture for 45 years. The 70-year-old Makoshi ran Nippon, the iconic Midtown restaurant, where he was a paragon of manners; his way quiet, easy, unassuming.
Those that have run with him in Central Park saw another side. They knew a fierce competitor with 328 New York Road Runners finishes, 35 New York City Marathons and five “runner of the year” awards. He ran 31 races in 2010 alone. He made it look effortless.
Makoshi and his wife moved back to Japan this year. But at heart, he is and always will be a New York runner, and he is devout in his desire to keep running the New York City Marathon. “My goal is to keep running this race the rest of my life,” he said. “Running is my backbone.”
He ran his 36th New York City Marathon on Sunday and saw it from a new perspective — the way many of the 50,000 runners do — as a tourist. He finished in 4 hours 38 minutes 52 seconds.
Musicians performed on the sidelines of the race, providing a soundtrack for the marathon.
By Calla Kessler
By Lola Fadulu
By The New York Times
Nov. 6, 2022, 1:53 p.m. ET
Kris Rhim
Reporting from the marathon
As red-faced runners limp from the finish line, many are talking about the humidity. Madeline Pena said she decided at Mile 13 that “today was not her day.” From there, she ran at an 11-minute mile pace, well off the 7:50 pace she was keeping prior.
For fans scattered across New York City on Sunday, the marathon was an enormous, daylong party. The weather was unusually warm, a challenge for runners but a delight for the throngs who came out to cheer them on.
Luke Higgins, a runner originally from Britain who now lives in Boston, had an impressive cheering section of his wife, son and friends, stationed on the slight uphill around 94th Street on Fifth Avenue.
Higgins, an avid marathoner, was enjoying his first in New York City after winning a place from the lottery. “He wanted to break 4 hours,” said his wife, Cori Oliver, as the tracking app estimated a finish time of 3:44:14.
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Credit...Lauren McCarthy for The New York Times
Nov. 6, 2022, 1:41 p.m. ET
Lauren McCarthy
Reporting from the marathon
Ralph, a 4-year-old goldendoodle from the Upper East Side, enjoys a front-row seat, undeterred by the commotion. Dogs are among the most passionate spectators of the day.
The blue line at last year’s marathon.Credit...Nadav Gavrielov
It happened gradually, under the cover of darkness and over the course of two nights last week. A caravan composed of Department of Transportation vehicles accompanied by a painting truck was unleashed into the five boroughs of the city to paint a conspicuous, if temporary, dashed blue line on miles of city streets. Specifically, 26.2 miles.
The crosstown mission was split into two nights, with a crew making its way across Brooklyn and Queens on the first and painting the road in Manhattan and the Bronx on the second.
The World Athletics rule book calls for a measurement line in road races “in a distinctive color that cannot be mistaken for other markings.”
While it’s rare for New York’s streetscape to change overnight across the city, that’s exactly what happens every November in the lead up to the New York City Marathon. The painting of the blue line has long been a marathon tradition, beginning in 1976 after Fred Lebow, a co-founder of the marathon and its longtime race director, got lost while running a marathon, according to the organization behind the race.
The race line is not exclusive to New York. It’s a familiar sight at races across the world, including the Berlin and Chicago Marathons.
The New York Road Runners, the group that organizes the race, also held a symbolic painting ceremony for the line in Central Park earlier in the week, with various city officials present.
Though it’s unlikely that runners will get lost — given the presence of 50,000 others on the course — the line helps ensure participants know exactly where to run.
From across Fifth Avenue, Katlin Frittola saw a runner collapse before Mile 24. Frittola, a nurse at NYU Langone Medical Center, ducked beneath the police line and dashed through the runners to tend to him. “This is what she does,” said Mike Frittola, her husband.
Nov. 6, 2022, 1:06 p.m. ET
Kris Rhim
Reporting from the marathon
The 21st mile in Harlem is home to the We Run Uptown running club. There is a food truck and a D.J. playing hip-hop that can be heard blocks away, and there are people dancing and blowing whistles. “It’ll feel like a party,” said Hector Espinal, the co-founder of the club.
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Credit...Kris Rhim
Nov. 6, 2022, 1:01 p.m. ET
Lola Fadulu
Reporting from the marathon
“Come on, y’all, let’s get this!” Stephanie Yeh yelled into a megaphone. “Look at that form! Looking good, feeling good, we’re doing this today, this is happening, right on!”
She and her friend Stevie Brittain stood along Fourth Avenue in Park Slope, cheering for, well, everyone, wearing banana and taco costumes.
“It’s my favorite day of the year; it’s better than my birthday,” Yeh said. “I find so much inspiration in all of these runners, and in their sort of commitment to the sport. I just think it’s such a beautiful thing to watch, and I take it with me the rest of the year until the following year.”
Runners in the New York City Marathon endured unseasonably warm weather, with temperatures in the mid-70s.CreditCredit...Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times
Sunday’s New York City Marathon unfolded under the warmest conditions on record since the race was moved to its traditional early November date in 1986.
The temperature in Central Park was 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius) at 11 a.m., shortly before the elite runners crossed the finish line. The previous November record, as measured at the time the first runner finished, was 70 degrees on Nov. 14, 1993, according to New York Road Runners, which organizes the marathon.
(The race was held in September and October in its earliest years; temperatures hit 80 degrees as the first runner was finishing on Oct. 21, 1979.)
Before the race, the Road Runners advised runners to drink plenty of water and wear lightweight clothing. It also warned them to not start out too fast. One of the elite runners, Daniel do Nascimento, could have heeded that advice. He took a big lead early but wound up collapsing on the course, apparently of exhaustion. New York Times journalists also saw multiple amateur runners being helped from the course.
Temperatures over the last five years of the race have averaged 53 degrees at the time of the first runner’s finish, according to the Road Runners. The temperature hit 62 degrees in 2015, and 66 degrees in 2005.
In 2014, temperatures were as low as 43 degrees.
While it is difficult to immediately attribute a single event to climate change, heat records can often demonstrate its most visible effects.
Abdi Abdirahman at the New York City Marathon in 2016.Credit...Seth Wenig/Associated Press
There are so many stories about Abdi Abdirahman, the longtime bon vivant of American distance running.
About how he fled Somalia with his family and eventually settled, as a teenager, in Tucson, Ariz. About how he picked up running as a college freshman and found that he had a knack for it. About how he has made five U.S. Olympic teams while emerging as a consistent and joyful presence on the world marathon stage, well into his 40s.
Now, after being considered ageless for nearly a decade, Abdirahman, 45, can see the finish line. He is running his final competitive New York City Marathon on Sunday, though there is a big caveat: He wants to return to New York in the future so that he can run the race recreationally and be a part of the sweaty swarm of humanity that crosses the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn.
“Maybe run it in three hours or four hours or five hours,” he said. “One thing a lot of people don’t understand is that recreational runners — those are my heroes. What would the New York City Marathon be without them? As elite athletes, we’re up front, and you don’t see nobody. But I want to experience running with the masses, with a bunch of friends, having fun, stopping, going to the bathroom, drinking water, doing whatever you want to do!”
Abdirahman, who has had a decorated career on the streets of New York, with six top-10 finishes in eight appearances, said he could see himself volunteering as a pacer to help others meet their goals. “I want to see their faces,” he said.
As for his own prospects on Sunday, Abdirahman is, of course, an optimist.
“I was talking to someone last night, and I said: ‘You know what? Even if I win the race, I will not be surprised,’” he said. “Because I know how hard I train, and how my preparation was. It’s just about giving yourself a chance.”
