Running and Representing with the Flyers

MELIDA BARBOSA

Several years ago I was looking for a group of runners to share in the pain of completing long runs together. During races I spotted many runners wearing NY Flyers gear, and I knew one of my Hunter College classmates had run with the Flyers in the past, so I signed up for my first NY Flyers Three Bridges Run and that’s how it all started. 

Since that day I have gained a family! In all the years that I had been running I had never shared it with more than three friends. Sadly, all three of the women that I have run with consistently have moved out of NYC. The first was a childhood friend who relocated to Seattle, Washington 17 years ago, the second was a mommy friend who helped me survive the first few years of motherhood and who moved about 7 years ago, and lastly my dearest friend who was parenting teenagers at the same time as me moved almost a year ago. Since then the Flyers have helped me mourn the departure of my running buddies while creating new memories. 

RUNNING BUDDIES

QUEENS GIRL

WHY I RUN 

My “why” is simply to stay sane. When I started running two decades ago, my friend Claudia who lived just a couple of blocks away would ring my bell and say “let's go Mel.” I would begrudgingly throw on shorts and slide into my sneakers and run the streets of Woodside, Queens. In my twenties it was more for vanity than anything else but we got it done. 

PURE JOY! 😍

Fast forward to 2009 and I found myself completing 9 races with NYRR and decided I might as well volunteer and get guaranteed entry to the NYC Marathon. I ran my very first NYC Marathon in 2010 and it was magically painful. 

NYC MARATHON 2010

Since then I have run nine more NYC Marathons and I had the fortune of also running the Berlin Marathon in September this year -- where I ran a personal best marathon and achieved a Boston qualifying time for the 2024 Boston Marathon. Six weeks later I ran my 10th NYC Marathon where I finished just 20 seconds behind my Berlin finish time and set a new course record for myself for NYC 😊 An important contributor to these recent racing achievements was my participation in the Flyers Marathon Training Program (MTP) -- doing speedwork alongside Flyers friends including Jennifer Coyne, and receiving the advice and support of MTP Coach Amy Sitar proved integral to my progress and made marathon training extra fun! 🥳 🎉

FUN WITH FLYERS

All these years later I still run to keep sane. As a wife, mom of three and teacher, life pulls me in a million directions every day, and running helps keep me steady. I am now looking ahead to future marathons with the end goal of one day completing the Abbott World Marathon Majors. Next is Chicago in 2023 and Boston in 2024. Then Tokyo and London remain for me to complete all six of the World Marathon Majors!

 

REPRESENTATION MATTERS

What is representation and why does representation matter? As a Colombian woman living in the Borough of Queens here in NYC -- the most diverse place in the world -- diversity has always been a reality. However, as I got older and entered certain institutions I realized there were less people that looked like me than I expected. When I started running more regularly outside of my neighborhood and in organized settings this was definitely more apparent. Then in the wake of incidents including the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbury and Breonna Tayler, the running community began to more fervently discuss representation and its importance in helping build a community that embraces and uplifts diversity. 

This is around the time when some members of the Flyers started talking about starting a Diversity Inclusion and Belonging Committee. In June of 2020, the Flyers Executive Board announced that the club would:

 

• Examine and revise the club's Code of Conduct to express the club's anti-racist commitment, and require all members to sign and adhere to it.

• Form a Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DIB) Committee to explore a variety of tangible, sustainable ways to be better citizens of the running community, support Black runners and the larger Black community and be more welcoming of everyone.

In my short-lived experience with the Flyers I recognized that although welcoming, the group was in its majority white and male with white women a close second, and with relatively few Asians, Blacks and Latinos. Within the DIB Committee we discussed how we could begin working to make our organization more representative of the rest of the city. 

Based on the results of the 2021 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, the race and ethnicity makeup of NYC is as follows: White (not Hispanic or Latino) 31.9%, Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 28.9%, Black or African American 23.8%, and Asian 14.3%.  Surveys such as this one highlight that we have lots of work to do -- but we are optimistic that through continued efforts we will be able to reach our goal of having a membership that is truly representative of the great city we live in! 

As a component of the Flyers DIB initiatives, the club conducted a membership survey in 2021. Survey results and analyses are available at the following two links -- click HERE for the survey results and HERE for comments and analyses.

 

Various initiatives have emerged within the Flyers since the formation of the DIB Committee in June 2020 and a Flyers Town Hall Meeting in June 2021. The Flyers:

• Examined and revised the Flyers Code of Conduct. Click HERE to review the new Flyers Code.

• Appointed a BIPOC member to the Flyers Advisory Board. After leading the DIB Committee since its inception in 2020, I was pleased to accept the position.

• Began to seek to Increase the geographic diversity of the Flyers by conducting some runs throughout the five Boroughs, with the intention of increasing awareness of the club and its prominence in other areas of NYC.   

• Commemorated Juneteenth 2021 in partnership with Harlem Run by supporting the group's 5K run/walk BBQ where Flyers served as volunteers on the course to help keep the route safe and runners hydrated.

• Sponsored its first Queens Run on August 8, 2021, and a Staten Island Run in 2022 -- a 17-mile run spearheaded and led by Bradford Goz on Sept 3, 2022, and that included participating in a nested SITRAC-sponsored 5K race!

• Promoted in December 2021, with the help of the DIB Committee, the Extend Your Run Fam event in the Bronx with other running clubs.  Special thanks to the co-leaders -- Tim Decker and Bradford Goz who co-led this initiative with me.😊

• Promoted in April 2022 an annual Bronx Community College event that included a 10K, 5K run and a two mile walk to help raise money and promote health and fitness in the community. A great family event!

DIB Extend Your Run Fam Event

The DIB Committee has held monthly meetings for the past two years. We usually take a hiatus for the Summer months and return in the Fall. We meet monthly via Zoom, so if you would like to get involved -- OUR NEXT EVENT IS THE HARLEM HEROES RUN ON DECEMBER 11TH, COME JOIN US! -- you can email me directly at melida.barbosa@yahoo.com

 

-Melida Barbosa

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Cathy’s NYC Marathon Mania: From Spectator to Streaks, Peaks … and More!

Cathy C.

A Note from Co-Blogkeeper Melissa:

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Flyer Cathy Caulfield, a retired NYC Department of Education school teacher who now teaches pre-school and religion for her own enjoyment.  Cathy says that running the NYC Marathon is the second best thing she’s done in life, after marrying her husband (which takes first place). 😍

Cathy will tell you that her favorite holiday is Marathon Sunday. Is it mere coincidence that her birthday, November 5th, often falls on this cherished day? Maybe her love for this “national holiday” is innate. See what you think when you read what Cathy has to say about her love of running, the NY Flyers, and her marathon mania!

 

Melissa: Hi Cathy! Tell us about your NYC Marathon journey … from the beginning!

 

Cathy: Sure! In 1976, my parents drove my brothers and me into the city from Long Island to watch the first time that the NYC Marathon left Central Park to run through all five boroughs. At the time, there were so few runners compared to today, and they didn’t even close off the streets to traffic. While crossing the 59th Street Bridge in our station wagon, we picked up a runner who needed assistance, and I remember thinking how fascinating it was to have a “real marathon runner” in our own car! 

Over the years, I lived in three different apartments along First Avenue just to be on the marathon course. I became obsessed with the NYC Marathon, and every year I would host a “watch party” where we would cheer on the runners as they passed by.

 

Melissa: Wow! I love that. And what led you to start running marathons?

 

Cathy: I was always a big cyclist. In 1997, I rode my bike across the country. I raised money for my friend, Dennis, who is a quadriplegic. When I thought about his situation, I felt tremendous gratitude and appreciation for God and for everything I was able to do. So, despite being known as someone who hated running, I put my name in the lottery in 1998 and won an entry to my first NYC Marathon!

As soon as I found out that I was “in” for the marathon, I started running and training with Bob Glover of NY Road Runners (NYRR) for 16 consecutive weeks before the big day. 

 

 

Melissa: Rumor has it that you’ve got quite a marathon streak. How many NYC Marathons have you run in a row?

 

Cathy: Well, I did take some breaks throughout the years. Initially, I ran seven in a row, but then I took off while I was trying to start a family. It turned out that we were fortunate to adopt two children from Guatemala. My husband and I chose Guatemala since we both speak Spanish and we wanted the children to share our religion, which is Catholic. 

Then I took a break, and I didn’t run while our children were young. Eventually, my husband encouraged me to return to marathon running on my birthday, November 5, 2006.

 

Melissa: How was your first marathon back after your long break? And did you start a new streak?

 

Cathy: I had a great new experience. I ran with Team for Kids, the charity running team of NYRR, which was the first time I ever ran with a group of other runners. I used to train by myself, and joining Team for Kids made me open my eyes to the joy of group training runs. I used to think group runs were only for the pros.

And to answer your question, yes! I started a new streak. This year will mark my 18th consecutive NYC Marathon!! 🎉

 

Melissa: How long have you been with the NY Flyers?

 

Cathy: I have been a NY Flyer for approximately three years. I wasn’t very active at first, but once I joined the SpeedPass and Marathon Training Programs (MTP), I became more involved within the club. I loved MTP so much that I trained for the Providence, Rhode Island Marathon last spring. I will join this winter’s MTP group while training for Nashville for the spring of 2023. MTP has really inspired me to train for marathons throughout the cold winter months.

Sometimes, I join the FlyersThursday Night Fun (TNF) gang for a loop with the Run-Walk group.

Oh, and here’s a fun fact. I am a Double-Flyer — A NY Flyer and a Dayton Flyer from my college days, both sharing red as their main color. 

 

Melissa: Do you belong to any other clubs?

 

Cathy: I’m a member of the Kidney Donors Athletes (KDS). I donated a kidney to a woman in Georgia in 2019. I don’t know her name, so I gave her the nickname “Peaches!” 🍑

After I donated a kidney, I did not want to break my marathon streak again! So, getting back to running after my surgery made for a good recovery goal.

 

Melissa: One last question: Do you have any other goals that you would like to share?

 

Cathy: Yes! My long-term running goal is to stay healthy so I can qualify and run Boston at age 90! 🦄

Melissa: You are very inspiring, Cathy!  It was a pleasure chatting with you.  Wishing you a fantastic 2022 NYC Marathon, and many more to come!!

-Cathy Caulfied with Melissa Slobin

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My Redemption Marathon

Lindi B

This spring, I surprised myself with a personal best in a redemption marathon.  After DNF'ing in the heat at mile 17.5 of the Boston Marathon, my soul needed another chance to finish a marathon with a positive experience.  Initially, I thought I would wait until August or September (just prior to the 2017 Boston Marathon application deadline); I knew from my own experience at Rehoboth five weeks after the NYC Marathon last year that it was something of a long shot for a revenge marathon to turn out as well as I hoped.  But by the weekend after Boston, I was not sore, appeared to have most of the fitness from my training build up and was itching to give it another try.

A few hours of online searches yielded the May 1, New Jersey Marathon as a good choice. The race had scenic stretches along the ocean, was a few hours from home and still had available entries and places to stay. I was moved by my husband Michael’s willingness to go with me and cheer me on, and his encouragement that I try again. We discussed doing it in low key way, not broadly announcing my plans in advance so that my disappointment would not have to be too public if it didn’t work out.

We settled on race goals together. My primary goal was to finish the marathon feeling strong, with a smile on my face. My second goal was to run a few minutes faster than the 3:45, Boston Marathon qualifying time. I would only try to run a personal best, faster than 3:38, if I was confident that I was accomplishing the first two and not risking melting down or an unhappy ending.

In the time between marathons, I tried to correct the fueling problems that plagued me in Boston. During Boston, my water canteen had blown up from the Nuun tablets I needed for electrolytes on a hot day. I learned that I could solve that problem by filling my water carrier less full. During Boston, I was nauseous for 10 miles. I decided to try to solve it by modestly increasing my gel intake, from four to five gels, after listening to a Runners Connect podcast by a fueling expert who said that nausea was caused by the stomach emptying and blood flow then needing to be rediverted from the muscles to the stomach. I planned and memorized the mile markers where I would refill water, take gels and see my husband. I visualized staying calm through anything that could go wrong, and the last miles being very windy and hard, yet pushing through.

Our trip to the Jersey shore was easy and uneventful. It took only a few minutes to pick up my number at the expo, take a cheesy photo with my remarkably tolerant teenaged daughter Kira, and head for a pre-race dinner. We were pleasantly surprised to be able to get a same day reservation at Piccola Italia, a restaurant with good, homemade pasta and swift service. I was unfortunately too nervous to be able to eat very much. We stayed at Cedars & Beeches, a lovely, Victorian bed and breakfast located a few miles from the finish line and near where the marathon route would pass twice.

Cheesy Expo Photo with My Daughter

The night before the race, I was worried. Not only was I going into the race with a poor track record, but I was worried that I had not been able to adequately rebuild my carb stores after getting food poisoning on the Tuesday night before the marathon. It didn’t help that I had felt too nervous to eat much at dinner time. I did my best to fuel on juice, bananas and whatever my body would accept. When pre-race nerves woke me at 3 am, I downed a sesame bagel with almond butter and a banana. At 4:30 am, I managed another banana and the overnight oatmeal I had brought. I started to relax.

My pre-race experience was almost perfect.  After imprinting the image of my sleeping daughter curled up like a cat in her bed in my mind, I arrived an hour before the 7:30 am start. I managed a wobbly smile to Michael when he dropped me off and wished me luck.  got a little thrill that my predicted finishing time got me a number near the front and elite baggage check. Mercifully, we were allowed to stay warm and use the restrooms inside the Monmouth Track/expo building. I ventured into the cold rain 9 minutes before the start and jogged five minutes to my corral. I stepped across the starting line three and a half minutes after the leaders. I’ve got this, I thought. Cold rain, can do.

The first five miles were hard. My Garmin shut down and refused to give any reading for almost the first mile. I wanted to run conservatively, but the large, 3:40 pace group ahead of me was slower than I wanted to start, so I weaved around them. My body was in flex between feeling too hot in the rain coat I was wearing and feeling grateful for when the wind gusted. I felt some relief after unbuttoning it. I struggled with a sinking feeling of defeat in the fourth mile when I started to feel nauseous. Here it is again. How would I be able to manage it for 21 miles? I took a gel, thinking that trying the frequent fueling strategy advocated by the podcast couldn’t hurt. 7:45, 7:55, 7:58, 8:06.

Almost immediately after taking the gel, I felt better. I settled in with the 3:30 pace group and my music. I decided that I would not look at my watch. I would run however felt comfortable, take a gel every four miles, stop for water as I had planned and enjoy my music. So long as I did not let the 3:40 group pass me and get out of sight, I would accomplish my pre-race goals.  I appreciated the spectators who had come out in the cold rain and smiled at their signs:  “Gu now, brews later.”  “You’re running better than the government” and “Touch here for power.” As planned, I stopped for water at mile 9.8 and got a huge lift from seeing Michael and Kira in the 13th mile.  7:56, 7:51, 7:54, 7:56, 8:10, 7:56, 7:57, 7:48

At around that time, we split from the half marathon runners, who turned in to finish. It was a bit hard to see them go, knowing we were really only getting started. When the pace started to feel hard in the 15th mile, I remembered my goal of finishing with a smile on my face, and let the 3:30 pace group go. I coasted along comfortably and happily until my next planned water stop at mile 17, where I tried to make a brief bathroom stop to relieve my full bladder. Ugggh!  Both portapotties were full and did not vacate.  I soldiered on. 7:55, 8:11, 8:14, 8:15, 8:37

Despite some physical discomfort, I started to feel much better when I got to mile 18, past the point where I had dropped out of the Boston Marathon and Rehoboth the prior December. I felt strong. “Nine more miles,” I told myself. “Let’s do it.” Miles 19-21 were mostly along the boardwalk. The winds were gusty, and the surface harder to run on than the road, but I kept thinking that running through it was an amazing, spiritual experience.  This is why I run! I decided that small, scenic marathons were the best for me. My body greedily and gratefully accepted my fifth gel. 8:35, 8:28, 8:25

When the course turned inland, I felt my form starting to degrade, but decisively put one foot in front of the other. I thought of the water stop planned at mile 23 and seeing my husband and daughter again just before mile 25. The 3:35 pace group caught up with me at the mile 23 water stop. A peek at my watch showed my heart rate plodding along at 166. My muscles were getting tired, but I had no excuse not to stay with them and dog it too much. I took a final, sixth gel and felt better. My heart soared when I saw my husband and daughter, telling me that I looked strong and cheering me on. I turned onto the final leg of the race along the ocean. 8:27, 8:14, 8:13

On the homestretch, I realized that I would meet my goals: finish with a smile on my face, BQ, plus get a healthy PR to boot. I choked back tears of joy and gratitude. My music play list cycled to a spiritual song, “Here I am to Worship,” and a flock of geese flew overhead in a perfect “V.”  8:11, 8:13

A few moments later, I saw the finish line ahead. I picked up the pace and couldn’t stop smiling.

I crossed the finish line in 3:34:33. A healthy PR, and 11th in my age group.

I was redeemed.

A few minutes later, I was thrilled to see fellow NY Flyers Nick B, Denise I, and Dana M at the finish line. These connections with wonderful people are also why I run. 

-Lindi B

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Dopey Challenge

Jo R

RunDisney races are fun and known for their endurance challenges that combine multiple running events over several days. Last January I ran the Dopey Challenge: a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, and Marathon over four days for a total of 48.6 miles. 

The 2016 Dopey Challenge was an event I was looking forward. The previous fall I ran Chicago in 3:44:19, New York in 3:47:55, and the NYRR 60K in 5:50:55. Dopey would be a challenge but with the right training I felt I could still run a good marathon.

 

Running through ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex during last 10K of the the Walt Disney World Marathon

One thing that I like about the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend is that it motivates you to run through the holidays. I followed the New York Flyer’s Run SMART Project Marathon Training Program that Head Coach Brian Rosetti had composed for my fall marathons and used it to train for Disney. My plan was to run the 5K fast, take the 10K easy, run the Half extremely gently, and then race the Full. However, as John Lennon has said “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” The 5K started at 6am with more than ten thousand participants and was a very crowded race. It was hard to run fast during the first two miles and during the start of all races due to crowding. The 10K also had ten thousand participants and started a 5:30am. The Half and Full started at 5:30am and had about twenty thousand participants with the Half being more popular at 21,505 runners.

With Flyer Anick J after running the 5K.

 

Running into a runner dressed as Peter Pan during the Half.

A runner with tattoos on his calves of every runDisney event series.

Yet, despite the crowds and early starts I still enjoy runDisney events. Many runners dress in costume and there are characters on the course that add to the carnivalesque atmosphere. When it was time to run the Half I enjoyed being able to stop, take pictures, and soak it all in. Often other costumed runners provide the most entertainment. There was the man dressed as Ariel the Mermaid, Peter Pan, and the man with the tattoos on his calves of every runDisney race series.

Marathon runner Heather Schulz (heather_runs74) who placed 6^th in the marathon. Her Instagram posts are very inspiring. 

However, when it came time to run the Full I was influenced by the running attire of HeatherSchulz who I follow on Instagram. Heather is a professional runner from Orlando who placed third in the 2015 WDWM. When running the race this year and I looked forward to cheering her on during the out and back section of the course.  

  

With my Dopey Challenge finisher’s medal

The WDWM is one of my favorite marathons to run. The course is mostly flat and I enjoyed running through all four Walt Disney World parks and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. There are also a lot of stretches on the highways between the parks that are easy to run on. Unfortunately, the weather was a very hot and humid 70 degrees the day of the race and my legs felt tired from the 10K and Half. When I started running I knew the race was not going to be a PR and it was a real challenge to finish the last 10K. But I did it and finished in 3:49:05- about three minutes slower than my goal time but five minutes and fifty seconds faster than when I ran the Goofy Challenge in 2015. According to the Orlando Sentinel the marathon winner Fredison Costa had the slowest time in the 23-year-old race history in 2:33:24. Natasha Yarmeczuk finished in 2:52:23 and was the only woman to run a sub-three hour marathon.  

 

A whole lot of bling! Dopey Challenge finisher’s medals.

After completing the marathon, I was awarded a Goofy Challenge medal for running the Half and Full along with the Dopey medal for finishing all four races. The Dopey series is a great endurance challenge that’s also good training for the Comrades Marathon in South Africa this spring. If I have one regret it’s that I didn’t train with Goofy Inspired long runs over the weekend: running 10 on Saturday and the 20 on Sunday. Next year I’ll be back but this time only Goofy. 

-Jo R.

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