Gusts of wind send your hair flying back as the breeze wisps past your face and into the surrounding apartments and skyscrapers. Sounds of shoes hitting pavement and people’s heavy breathing overlap with muddied cheers and words of encouragement from rows of supporters you’ve never met before. You look to your left and then to your right, only to see someone running beside you, looking right back—smiling. It’s 10 a.m. and you’re running the New York City Marathon.
Every year a nonprofit organization called the New York Road Runners organizes a marathon whose track runs across all five boroughs of the city. This year, Nov. 2, 2025, the New York City Marathon raised a record breaking $79 million for hundreds of different local charities.
Almost all participants train throughout the year and especially in the months leading up to the competition, yet each runner has separate goals and motivations for competing.
The New York City Marathon offers a plethora of reasons to participate. Traversing across all five boroughs, runners not only get a sense of the city and its intricacies but also experience beautiful views along the way.
While running across New York City, competitors may find themselves going down new routes they have never walked before or learning of new stores and restaurants in unexplored territories.
“I love side-questing in the city,” senior Lana Goldsmith said. “There’s so much to explore and it seems like there is always something new to find or a new place to go to.”
The marathon’s track is designed to display New York City’s wonders while also introducing participants to new places across the boroughs they haven’t been before.
Of course, a large draw to the New York City Marathon is the challenge that comes with it. Many participants have an idea of how they want to perform, setting goals based not on outperforming others, but on reaching personal milestones.
“When running, I want it to have meaning,” junior Warren Harilal, member of the North High track team, said. “I always strive to hit that goal time, like breaking four minutes and 50 seconds in the mile. But it’s not just about that, it’s about having something to chase—another goal to reach.”
For most, simply completing the marathon is that milestone. Making it to the end without collapsing or giving up is no easy task, and doing so is a feat to relish in. Even after months of training, runners every year are unable to complete the race or lose the will to go on as their body screams at them to stop. Crossing that ribbon is a message to yourself, not for others, saying, ‘you had your mind set on something, and it was hard, yet you did it. Congratulations.’
Passing the finish line means enduring sore muscles and tired joints and running on through potential freezing temperatures with rain, or worse: a nice sunny day. On top of the mental battle to keep running, participants also have to overcome unforgiving weather conditions as yet another obstacle, fueling their elation in eventually completing the race.
The most defining characteristic of the New York City Marathon however, is the community and support it fosters and creates. While your body gives in and starts to shut down, the people around you push you to keep going forward—metaphorically.
“The marathon is a once in a lifetime, and very overstimulating, experience” social studies teacher and New York City Marathon runner Jennifer McKnight said. “It may sound cliche, but people carry you through it. Running alongside a relative or friend or family member as people that you don’t know cheer you on and tell you to keep going is what gets you through,”
From beginning to end there are individuals on the sidelines saying your name and motivating you to continue pushing through. Family members and friends come out to support you and relish in your achievements with you at the finish line.
People participate in competitions for different reasons, with each individual inspired by separate circumstances. Whether you are chasing down a long-standing dream, or chasing down the person in front of you—whether you are there because you wish to prove something to yourself with the rallied support of friends and family, or there because you lost a bet, the New York City Marathon is a race you will never forget.
