100 Days From the NYC Marathon, Upper West Side Runners Lean Into Training

By Scott Etkin

It’s an annual sight on the Upper West Side: thousands of runners streaming into the neighborhood, wrapped in foil blankets, after reaching the New York City Marathon finish line nearby in Central Park.

“The entire Upper West Side that day is, you know, completely shut down for the marathon,” said UWSer and two-time NYC Marathon finisher Kevin Coduto, speaking about the crowds of runners celebrating after the race. “It almost feels like an Upper West Side party.”

Non-runners probably won’t focus on the marathon, which takes place on November 2nd, for a few more months. But with the marathon 100 days away, Coduto and others planning to run this year are already training hard, even in summer’s wilting heat. 

Many runners, like Coduto, turn to a running club to help them stay motivated during the dog days of summer. 

The Upper West Side Run Club, which meets for runs three times per week in the neighborhood, is a popular choice for many locals. More than 100 members of the group are participating in this year’s marathon. 

Beyond the club’s neighborhood runs, members help each other through a WhatsApp group where they can share support and advice.

“Everyone has talked about their training plans, complaining about the weather,” said Coduto. “‘What are the best shoes to wear?’ ‘How many bagels do you eat before a long run?’ All those kinds of questions.”

Coduto and Madeline Frankel, another member of the club, each run around 30 miles per week. As training ramps up, they’ll spend more time on their favorite routes. Frankel likes to do long runs along the West Side Highway up to The Met Cloisters, the museum near the northern tip of Manhattan.

But as training intensifies, so does the risk of injury. The months leading up to the marathon are an especially busy time for Brendan Martin, a physical therapist and running coach with a practice at West 72nd Street. 

Martin commonly sees runners experiencing pain in the shins, knees, and hips. “Those are the big three,” he said on a call with the Rag. “A lot of the folks stepping up their volume and long runs for the very first time are going to be the most susceptible to getting banged up during training.”

To prevent this, he recommends lifting weights to strengthen those areas. Other injury-avoidance techniques include increasing weekly mileage gradually and scheduling “down weeks,” in which you intentionally run fewer miles to let your body recover and adapt. 

Martin ran cross country and track at Columbia University and went on to become an elite marathoner, finishing as high as 14th in the NYC Marathon in 2016. For an advanced training tip, he suggests practicing going over the city’s bridges, since this is unlike anything local runners might experience on their normal runs in Riverside or Central Park.

“In the race, you’re going a mile or two of a consistent grade uphill, followed by like a mile or so of consistent downhill. And that repetitive stress is different than just running a punchier, hilly course,” he said. “Having a long grind of a climb, there’s nothing quite like that, aside from running the bridges itself.”

But more important than any one intense session is consistency, Martin said. 

Maddy Nguyen, founder of the Upper West Side Run Club, hopes that the group helps make running consistently easier by establishing a social community around the sport. “We usually meet up for a coffee or a beer, depending on what day we run,” said Nguyen. “So everybody gets to chitchat for a bit after, too.” 

This year will be her fifth NYC marathon and her third as part of the Upper West Side Run Club. “[With] the run club itself, you meet folks from all walks of life. So that’s how I feel really connected to the running community,” she said. “And then the marathon just feels so special because it enhances all of that by just being such a big party.”

For some, part of the reward for the months of effort preparing for the race is the trek through the Upper West Side afterward. 

“Wearing my medal and leaving the park and going through the Upper West Side to meet my family and friends, just the amount of people that would stop you and congratulate you,” said Frankel. “The neighborhood completely shows up for that day, and everyone is a really wonderful neighbor, and is truly so excited for one another.” 

Read more:

• A Guide to Running Clubs on the Upper West Side; ‘There’s a Group for Runners of Every Level’

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