2017 New York City Marathon Race Recap & The Last 10 Miles with a Side of Picnic

On an overcast and humid day on November 5th, after an early morning wake-up to go to Staten Island by ferry or bus (or Uber and ferry), over 50,000 athletes cruised over the Verrazano Bridge to start the NYC Marathon. Here is PPTC by the numbers: 170 total PPTC members in NYC Marathon 16 PPTC members BQ'd 16 PPTC members completed their FIRST marathon. Of those, 4 PPTCers BQ'd in their first marathon (Do we call this a running hat trick - PR, BQ,  & first marathon?).

Top 3 Men in PPTC

1. Shan Haq (2:52:47)
2. Ben Collier (2:57:20)
3. Sean Quealy (2:58:05)

Top 3 Women in PPTC

1. Jana Trenk (3:07:50)
2. Katie Poor (3:10:47)
3. Mary Johnston (3:15:40)

Congratulations to our Michael Ring for completing his 30th marathon with his son, Nicholas!!!!!!!! It was over 3 years ago when he became paralyzed by Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). After years of excellent medical treatment, hard work, and some setbacks, Mike realized his dream of once again crossing the finish line in Central Park.

Shoutouts

Marcia Brown 3:44:28 BQ 4th in her age group (60-65)

Ben Allison 3:16:01 27-min PR

Nicholas Cohen 3:22:07 0:02:23 PR and BQ I raised $3,000 for my friend Mateo's prosthetic leg

Julie Raskin 5:25 First marathon PR PPTC IS AMAZING! I am so grateful for the support of the club- from the training to the magical tree all the way to the finish line. And walking into PS 87 to the cheers (and the beer) was moving beyond words!

Crystal Cun 3:31:42 50-min PR & BQ Raised money for $4876 for Legal Services Crystal was too modest to say,  but she was the fastest fundraiser that Legal Services has ever had.

Mey Chery 4:03:44 25-min PR & 6-month post-surgery

Sam Smullen 4:05:55 PR

Jimmy Leung 4:04:30 PR & completed 3 of the 6 World Major Marathons

Jennie Matz 4:02:25 PR

Noah Devereaux 3:02:18 PR, BQ, & first marathon!

Shane Shifflett 3:09:20 First marathon PR

Katie Daddaria 4:32:05 5-min PR on her birthday I’ve been dealing with/recovering from PF most of the year. I cannot fathom how I did so well. Also, it was my birthday! Really amazing day. :)

Jana Trenk 3:07:50 PR & BQ Not only the fastest PPTC woman, but 4th fastest overall in PPTC, & 125th American female finisher in the race

Isabel Santiago-Gordon 4:20:33 9-min PR I found NYCM so amazing that I want to do it again.

Jack Coogan 3:44:48 PR, BQ, & first marathon! Thanks to the Tuesday morning MTG and the Last 10 Mile Run for getting me as ready as I could be.

Mary Johnston 3:15:40 6+ min PR & 2nd BQ 14th in her age group (20-25)

Hilary Lawton 4:20:58 First marathon PR Huge thank you to Tony and Charlene- their class was great for helping with my speed work and for meeting other wonderful PPTCers!

Kirsty Carroll 3:54:05 29-min PR & BQ I ran my last marathon 11 years ago.

Aung Barteaux 3:33:05 PR, BQ, & first marathon!

Mike Roberts 4:20:12 First marathon PR

Michael Ring 9:52 Completed his 30th marathon

Robert DeMasco 3:49:42 32-min PR

Stuart Kaplan 3:30:50 First marathon PR Even though I hit the wall, if it wasn't for Matteo and Melissa pushing me along, I might not have finished.

Ricardo Dias 4:04 PR

Pamela Ritchie 3:53:59 PR, BQ, & first marathon! Shoutout to Isaac Josephson for being my running ambassador, and Kristen Uhrich who I feel is my running soulmate.

Adam Iannazzone 3:22:17 First marathon PR

Melissa Lee 5:04:43 First marathon PR

Patrick Huang 4:20:30 20-min PR Thanks for the support from PPTC and teammates

Eric Levenstein 4:59:25 First marathon PR

Lisa Maya Knaur Almost 14-min PR

Carlos Vasquez 3:33:11 20-min PR

Isaac Josephson 4:24 3-min PR & 7-min course PR I beat Ethan Hawke's time.

Sara Devine 5:27:26 First marathon PR

Rachel Pennycuick 4:34:04 PR

Emily Rinehart 3:30:24 BQ

Sarah Singer 3:30:47 BQ

Holly Chase 3:34:49 BQ

Michael Trenk 3:36:17 BQ

Rosalba Perna 3:38:00 BQ

Maggie Carr 4:32:10 First marathon after 2 years of injury Seeing PPTC all over the city, whether as spectators or fellow runners, made my first marathon even more special. Special shoutout to Coaches Missy, Adam, and Michael for organizing MTG - that preparation was key to fighting through the last few miles!

David Hantman 5:44:48 9.5-min course PR He raised $1,600 for the MVRP Foundation and is still accepting donations until 12/31/17 (donate here: https://www.crowdrise.com/nyc-marathon-david-runs-for-mvrp)

Shan Haq 2:52:47 BQ

Mary Turnbach 5:26:20 4.5-min PR

Sarah Bass 6:38:04 First marathon PR

Gabrielle Napolitano 6:41:56 First marathon PR

Jackie James 4:38:46 First marathon PR

Samantha Storey 4:55:28 First marathon PR

Acknowledgments of the volunteers and sponsors Thank you to PPTC for funding the Fall Picnic, to Peter Forgach of Saucony for providing blankets to PPTCers on marathon morning (he drove from Manhattan at 3 am to deliver them!), and to Jackrabbit for letting us use their store.

Fall Picnic Organizers Crystal Cun Adam Iannazzone  Lillian Park

Last 10 Miles Volunteers Sherry Wang Murray Rosenblith Roshan Leslie Adam Devine Melissa Morrison

NYC Marathon Volunteers Janet Gottlieb Anh-Tuan Tran Murray Rosenblith Emma Walker Geoffry Gertz David Coleman Isaac Murchie Fanny Greene Amy Sowder Jane Yau Roshan Leslie James Israel all photos on this page were taken by Marek Stepniowski and of course, to all PPTC members who stood on the sidelines to cheer and cowbell.

Comments and thoughts from our participants

I participated in the Last 10 miles and found it so helpful! Thanks PPTC for all your support and amazing members that inspire us!  ~ Isabel

I also ran the last 10M - it was so helpful knowing what was to come in the later parts of yesterday’s race.  PPTC pacers and volunteers were awesome! ~Kirsty

I thought the Last 10 Mile Run was really helpful. At least during my last 800 meters, I knew where the finish line was going to be and that helped a ton because I knew when I could pick up the speed at the end. ~Aung

Last 10 miles was so useful. 5th ave and CP hills sucked, but I knew they were coming and so I found a final push to get over them! I've been amazed how open, friendly, and encouraging the club has been to all newcomers, knowing that I'm sure most of us will disappear into the ether post marathon. I'm very much going to try not to be one of those people. ~Mike

For the "last 10" I led a pace group (the last one, which collapsed 13:00 and 14:00). I'd originally volunteered for 13:00 but no one volunteered to lead 14:00 so I tried to incorporate anyone who was slower than 12:00, basically. I'd never paced before, and I think I led us a little too fast (our average pace was 12:38 according to my Garmin). So maybe some tips on how to be a successful pace leader would be helpful. Our group did spread out a bit in the last three miles and the person who'd fallen the farthest behind took a wrong turn in the park, but everyone did finish. What I'd have done differently would have been to give out my phone number to everyone in the group in case anyone fell way behind or decided to drop out so that I would know. ~Lisa

I also participated in last 10 mile and the picnic and have to say that both events were awesome.  The last 10 was a great way for me to know what to expect in the Marathon. ~Stuart

I participated in the last 10 miles also. It really helped me learn what to expect, especially the elevation changes. I believe it was part of the reason I didn't hit the wall. ~Carlos

re: Picnic

It's been a bit less than a year since I joined PPTC, and this was the first event I'd organized for the club. In many ways, I still feel like a green member, but it was nice to see so many familiar faces and reflect on all the new runships I've formed over the last year.

re: last 10 miles He doesn't know it, but my marathon training strategy has basically been: 1) Show up every Sat at 8 am. 2) Follow Oren for 20 miles, or until I can't keep up. 3) Repeat.

At the last ten miles, Oren steered our 8:30 pace group like a metronome, nailing every turn in the Bronx and telling us where to conserve energy. He wins my vote for Marathon Sherpa of the Year.

...Also, we can't forget the poncho. When Murray held up a brightly colored wrap and said, "Who wants a serape?" my hand immediately shot up. Now that marathon training is done, my biggest dilemma is whether to use the poncho as throwaway clothing or keep it. #ponchostruggleisreal ~Crystal