Dear to My Heart: NYC Marathon Takes on New Meaning with MTP

Coach Kari
(with Coach Todd in Background)

Up until this past Sunday, the 2005 NYC Marathon has always had the most meaning to me personally. It was the year I completed my first marathon and the day when my love for the sport of running began.  Okay, maybe not immediately after the race, but within a few hours. I remember looking at my mom as she began walking down the stairs into the subway post race as if she had just lost her mind and I remember sitting in the back of my car eating a full bag of cornbread from The Corner Bakery on the Upper East Side.

Of all the marathons I have run to date, I still have the most memories from NYC. I remember feeling like my world was over at the base of the Queensboro Bridge just to hear the roar of Manhattan once I finally made it over, screaming into my step-sister’s camera at mile 18 “I’M DYING” and faking my way through seeing my family at mile 23 just to begin my “I’ll walk/run at that tree” game through the park. I remember most the moment I finished and realized I had just found strength in myself I never knew existed.

Well, on Nov 6, 2011, it was the strength and sheer determination I witnessed in my friends and the NY Flyers Marahon Training Program (MTP) athletes that has made the 2011 NYC Marathon not only the most memorable but the most dear to my heart. This is the first year I cheered as a coach, which was distinctly unlike my experience any year before. Coach is a title I didn’t always know I wanted or deserved, but over the past 19 weeks in working with the amazing athletes of the NY Flyers MTP it has become a title I strive every day to live up to.

As I was leaving my apartment on race morning I had to stop for a moment to check the weather and make sure my favorite Flyer workout accessory wasn’t needed…my umbrella. It was then that I realized it was the PERFECT race day, it was the kind of day that PR’s get set – slightly cloudy with highs in the mid- to upper-50s. Wow, if anyone earned a perfect race day it was the NY Flyers MTP group who ran grueling speed workouts week after week in the rain.


So Many Rainy Runs for MTP that They Became a Blur

Coach Evelyn, Coach Todd and I decided to meet in Brooklyn and head over to mile 10 to watch the first wave of runners come through before trucking back into Manhattan and stationing ourselves at the corner where you enter 5th Avenue, just past mile 22. I saw a handful of MTP athletes at mile 10 – Bill H, Allison B, Coach Will, Mona S, plus more, and of course they all looked GREAT! At that point I think everyone was out too fast…blame it on the excitement and the weather since I knew it was not that they just weren’t following the race plan :)

Then on to Manhattan…. I have always said that mile 22 is where is the race begins as in it’s where it gets tough so I thought my very loud voice could be of good use at this point. The first Flyer I saw fly by was Bill H. I can’t miss his lean, tall build anywhere and he was working hard for that awesome 3:26 finish time. I got so excited in fact that I found myself with my hand over my mouth after screaming out for him to “#$%!ing fight for it!!” I had better stick to words like “great,” “strong” and plain ole “fight” to spare the children around me.


Bill H
Looking  #$%!ing  Strong!

Of course my $3.00 app had failed me and drained my phone so at this point my eyes were glued to the road awaiting who I thought would be the next runner. Dave S came next and looked strong, well on his way to finishing his first marathon in 3:21 – holy smokes! The next stream of runners were fast and furious and with each one I became more and more excited and emotional. Now I always say when the going gets tough in a race you should SMILE…easier said than done, but every Flyer I saw along the course did just that and it was so awesome to see. If you didn’t see me let’s just say I was intensely into this race, so much in fact I had a reporter ask me to do an interview about spectating the marathon and I looked at her and said “I’m watching for my athletes…no time!”


Another One of My Kids
-Bob C-
Complete with Smile :)

We all go into races with goals and expectations and when it all falls into place we end up just where we wanted to be and many of our Flyers did that just that. Sometimes the day isn’t perfect but we fight to the finish and that medal is our proof of our battle (well sometimes it’s our toes, feet, legs and other blistered/chafed areas). The marathon is a humbling distance and sometimes it wins and other days you win… it is just that challenge and uncertainty that seems to keep me coming back for more.

I was so proud watching so many of our MTP Flyers run the 2011 NYC Marathon, and it gives me great honor to be able to associate myself with this group. Congrats to all our runners…you guys are absolute ROCKSTARS in my book! Till next year…

- Kari S, NY Flyers MTP Coach, Coachkarismith@gmail.com