I'm running the NYC marathon

The Brief

On Sunday, November 1, I’ll be running the 2026 TCS New York City Marathon as a member of Team Brooklyn Book Bodega. As a charity runner, I have a goal of raising $5,000 to support Brooklyn Book Bodega’s mission of increasing the number of 100+ book homes with a focus on reaching readers ages 0-18 through free events and literacy-centered programming. I have until Monday, October 26 to reach this $5,000 funding goal and would so appreciate it if you're able to donate or share my campaign page!

The Story

At the end of last year when I thought about what I wanted to do in 2026, an idea that came up was running miles equivalent to the number of audiobook hours I listened to in 2025: 453. Now, I’m not a runner. I would say I’ve never been a runner, but I did one (1) season of track in middle school where they placed me in long distance (1500m and 3000m) because I wasn’t good at anything else. Aside from that, though, I have never felt called to running nor felt proficient in it. Throughout middle and high school, running the mile in P.E. always felt like a humiliation ritual. 

Aside from some sports I did growing up, I never chose to exercise voluntarily. It wasn’t until my second year of college that I started going to the gym regularly. Even then, I pretty exclusively lifted weights and the closest I got to cardio were a few HIIT boxing classes I took. I was, unintentionally, pretty reckless with my body during this period. My nutritional intake was definitely inadequate, and I ended up popping one of my wrists as a result of increasing weight too quickly. I very likely would’ve continued on this poor gym trajectory, too, if not for lockdown.

I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I say my memory of 2020 is hazy. One thing I can say for certain, though, is that I went on many walks. Living with family outside of NYC, but maintaining a schedule tied to Eastern Time, meant I wrapped up around midday. With social distancing—and adherence to it—in full effect, I spent many afternoons out on walks in my neighborhood. By the end of lockdown, I emerged with a thorough appreciation of a good, long walk.

Once I moved back to NYC, this newfound love served me well. I started walking a lot more and it swiftly became my preferred mode of transit. I didn’t get back into boxing, but about a year after returning to the city, I did get into climbing (bouldering). I enjoyed that it was essentially a full-body puzzle workout that was lower impact. I climbed for about a year and a half before canceling my gym membership; the cost wasn’t one I wanted to continue paying, and the commute back to my apartment became too inconvenient. 

Fast forward to the top of 2026. I’m a hybrid office worker who commutes into work twice a week, but the most walking I do is between my desk and the water cooler. I probably take more steps a day than the typical U.S. worker who drives to work on account of the city I live in, but it’s still pretty low. That is, my baseline level of fitness is incredibly average. So, when I started on this running journey, I had zero intentions of signing up for any races, let alone a marathon. 

Entirely by accident, I stumbled across the fact that Brooklyn Book Bodega had a Google Form open to apply to be part of their team running the 2026 TCS New York City Marathon. I filled it out because, “Why not? They’ll probably reject me anyway.” I mean, the first several questions asked if I’d ever run a marathon (no) or participated in a sports charity fundraiser (no, unless we’re counting the walk for a cure for breast cancer I did when I was eight.) Of course, by filling out a form, clearly a part of me actually wanted this. 

I submitted my application and a week passed. I’m sure they were going through many applications and figured they’d send out the rejections after the acceptances. Color me surprised when I received an email with the subject line: “You’re Invited to Run with Us – 2026 TCS New York City Marathon 📚” I had 24 hours to respond and started spiraling. Again, by submitting the application, part of me wanted to run this marathon, but I also didn’t think I’d actually make it this far—shoutout to my friends who were hearing from me during this window of time.

Inevitably, I love a bit, and this is a good bit. So, yes, I accepted the offer. Thus bringing us to now, where I’m committing to the bit of training for a marathon over the next 30 weeks. It’s absurd, I know, tremendously so. But, of the twenty-something-life crises to choose of starting grad school, traveling to Japan, or picking up running, this is where I landed. I’ll probably talk about it more throughout the year, but I’ll try to not make it my whole personality! That said, I would really appreciate it if you donate or share my campaign page to help me reach my $5,000 funding goal (you can also share this short link which Beehiiv wouldn’t let me hyperlink: http://bit.ly/bbbmarathon). As always, thanks for your time and attention.