From an Olympian to a 45-race veteran: New York Marathon runners’ hopes | New York City marathon

New York is a city built on detours. Even the most straightforward journey can turn a dime – whether it’s an unexpected road closure, unreliable metro or a taxi driver’s unorthodox navigation – into a lengthy, often painful, expedition.

The city’s marathon is no exception.

When the sun rises on Sunday, more than 50,000 runners will descend on Staten Island with their sights set on reaching Central Park. While the most direct route to the finish line would cover just over 16 miles, a 26.2-mile ride goes through the city’s five boroughs, over five bridges and a host of rolling hills lie ahead of the runners.

The New York City Marathon is broadly considered the hardest world major for a reason.

Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia and Hellen Obiri of Kenya, who each won a year ago, are back to defend their titles. They will face stiff competition: Other former winners returning to the fray include Evans Chebet, Albert Korir and Geoffrey Kamworor in the men’s field; and Sharon Lokedi and Edna Kiplagat in the women’s side.

ONE a number of American hopefuls are also in the mix, with Olympians Conner Mantz, Clayton Young and Dakotah Popehn returning from Paris; CJ Albertson competes just a few weeks after one strong performance in Chicago; and 2018 Boston Marathon winner Des Linden returns for the fifth time.

But the pack of the world’s biggest marathon is as wide as it is deep. The former champions and Olympians who tackle this course will also lead a legion of runners – novices, fundraisers and eight-year veterans among them – on this intricate ride.

The Guardian spoke to four athletes as they prepared for Sunday’s race.

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Menters the race as the elite pack scales the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the course’s highest point Linden allows herself a brief glance to her left. “I always take a moment to appreciate the view going into the city,” she said. “It’s just spectacular.”

By weaving through each neighborhood and experiencing each unique community, “the roads are shut down so you can be downtown, have a parade and get this tour of the city,” says Linden, a two-time Olympian.

The bridges are steep, but the chance to run across them — and enjoy the view — is “pretty special,” she adds. New York “is the center of the universe, especially on marathon weekend.”

Linden, 41, represented Team USA at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics. She has run Boston 11 times and New York four times. This time they are aiming for a “same day completion”, she says with a laugh.

The hot favorites, including some of the dominant artists in Paris this summer, might be “a bit too rich for me at this point in my career,” she admits. “I still enjoy and love running, but I don’t necessarily have anything to prove at this point.”

But you never know how the race will develop. “Anything can happen,” says Linden. “We’ll see how it plays out.”

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Connie Brown, 80, has run this race more than any other woman: 44 times. For several months, she has been training for 45.

She remembers finishing for the first time in tears as her hope that she could do it gave way to the realization she had. She remembers the live bands, witty signs and kind words that have helped her come to Central Park so many times since.

And she remembers celebrating those early years by dancing the night away, including a post-race party at a Broadway nightclub.

Brown has driven New York through heat waves and showers, under sunshine and lightning – the latter more likely to hit a building than a person, she told herself as it cracked overhead – and past crowds of cheering onlookers.

Days before she was due to fly up to this weekend’s race, personal circumstances forced Brown to stay home. in Sarasota, Florida. She still plans to run a marathon on Sunday and heads out around 3 a.m. to beat the heat.

At this stage, the endeavor is “part of who I think I am,” she says. “I’m the person who runs at least one marathon a year.”

Over the decades, running has “given me confidence,” Brown says. “Anything you set your mind to – make a goal, make a plan, follow through – you can do. If you can do this, you can do anything.”

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Thousands of runners travel around the world to battle New York. Nate Kahaiali’i, 33, has flown nearly 5,000 miles from Hawaii.

When the teacher and his neighbors were evacuated when wildfires swept Maui last summer, he figured he’d be back soon. Kahaiali’i picked up a few, not realizing what he chose would be all he had left from his house.

Like so many others, he lost his home.

Among the small collection he had saved was his trusty pair of bright orange Nike Vaporfly running shoes. For him, they have become “symbolic in a way” of his hometown Lāhainā.

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Wearing them the way he wants on Sunday is “a way for me to honor, but also represent, the community,” says Kahaiali’i, who has raised nearly $7,000 (and counts) for the rebuilding effort by selling T-shirts with the words “Lāhainā Strong”.

“The main hope — whether they buy the shirt or not — is just to keep Maui in people’s minds,” he says. “It’s been a year, but there’s still a lot of work for many families out here in Lāhainā.”

Kahaiali’i, who teaches health, also hopes his marathon will inspire his students, who call him Mr K. “Every time I come back, they say, ‘Did you win? Did you win?'” he says. “I’m like, ‘No, I’m not to fast’.”

He plans to wear his Vaporflys at all six of the world’s major marathons. With four to go, “they’re still in pretty good shape.”

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Concepcion Gonzalez, 65, hadn’t run “another mile” before this summer. She is about to run her first marathon.

For years, Gonzalez — who has lived in New York for more than three decades — has sat in the stands and cheered on her daughter, Teresita, and son, Luis.

She watched as hundreds of people, of all levels and from all walks of life, crossed the finish line. “I saw people who look like me and I thought I could do it one day.”

Gonzalez has no illusions that it will be easy. “Everyone goes through hard times,” she says. “People fall down. They can get up. I can go on this journey too.”

For many who tackle it, this course is less a race than it is a feat of resilience; more a test of endurance than pace. But she is prepared.

Gonzalez, who will run alongside Teresita, 29, and Luis, 32, on Sunday, is excited to see her city from a new angle. “I feel a sense of pride in being from New York City,” she says, “in being able to represent New York City.”

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Brown, who first ran New York in 1978, has plenty of advice for beginners. “Don’t eat anything you haven’t eaten before” the night before, for one thing. Also, don’t worry too much about sleeping well. And if one of your knees starts to feel dodgy, “think about your other knee.”

Linden recommends treating the first two miles—a steep climb on Verrazzano, setting up a sharp descent—as a warm-up and not worrying too much about pace. “Really, it’s amazing,” she says, “because New York is only a 24-mile marathon when you take those two out.”

Conversely, when you reach Manhattan in the second half, try not to push too hard. The crowd is “just electric,” says Linden, “and you get to feel like, ‘I’ve got to win,’ because they’re going so crazy. But you still have a long way to go.”

Just soak it all up, adds Brown. “Don’t miss things,” she says. “Don’t be so self-absorbed and focused on your race that you don’t see the neighborhoods, that you don’t see the people that are there.”

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Some people run New York to show the world. Others are out to show off.

As elite marathon times get faster and faster, they run completely against the clock. But the majority of runners who progress through the five districts run before something.

For some, this marathon is a grueling physical test. Others will encounter the mental challenges that materialize when your body is pushed to its limits. Many, if not most, will be forced to contend with both.

Regardless of the journey that led them here; whether it’s their first time, or 45th; whether they are a few thousand miles, or a stone’s throw, from home; around 50,000 will gather in the early hours of Sunday with the same basic goal.

Central Park awaits.