“It was the best!” said Kelly Brandt after she had completed the New York Marathon on November 7. “I had never been to a party quite like that. 26.2 miles…it was so loud it was rumbling. I’m surprised it wasn’t felt all the way up here.”
Brandt took on the New York course only five weeks after running a marathon in Berlin,
Germany, a remarkable feat for the Woodstocker, as well as for anyone.
“It was nice to see New York back to being New York. I expected spectators, but not at that level.” The New York Road Runners, longtime organizers of the race (this year’s was the 50th) estimated one million spectators along the course that ran through the five boroughs of the city, to go along with 10,000 volunteers and 33,000 runners.
“My legs are sore,” she said a few days after the race. “It was a very challenging course much more than Berlin. That took a toll on my legs, but the crowd helped everybody along.”
Berlin, she said was a relatively flat course. But the hills in New York presented a big challenge.
“The first mile was up the Verrazano Bridge, then it was pretty flat in Brooklyn. We started climbing at about mile 15; the Queensborough bridge was a mile up…all the bridges were climbs…there were five bridges…Once we hit Fifth avenue between maybe 95th and 101st, it was a mile and a half — mile 22 until 24 — it was all uphill until we got to [Central] Park…”
Such tasks as running two marathons in close time proximity are not done off the cuff.
“I’ve been training since the beginning of 2020. I started to get into the thick of marathon training in June 2021. I have a trainer and we decided to use Berlin as my long training for New York. That meant we still had to fit in recovery times after Berlin and get in a long run.”
She beat her Berlin time.
“After New York, I called Ed (her husband) immediately when I finished, when I got through the corral. I was in tears, but they were happy tears…I wish I ran faster on both races, but I ran three and a half minutes faster than Berlin and I think I’m on a real runner’s high still…I feel really good. I Can’t wait to get back out there and see what else is possible to do.
“New York City was the 50th so it was a big celebration after last year’s cancellation. It was double the celebration. I got to eat all the pasta…”
And she said she’ll be back. “I’ll run it again definitely. And there’s a half marathon in New York in March, and I have an application in for the London Marathon, but I don’t know if I’ll get in.”
She took a moment to reflect.
“I’m very grateful to have had it, it was a wonderful experience…Two back to back I didn’t know what to expect and didn’t want to hurt myself.
“I won’t do it again…but I probably will.”
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