Direct from Kyoto, Japan, Rob hosts Set the Pace just a few days after he ran the Tokyo Marathon with Team for Kids. He’s joined by NYRR Chief Commercial Officer Christine Burke who has all the information you need about what it takes to run with one of the Official Charity Partners of the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon. The 2025 program just launched and the spots fill quickly so tune in to learn everything you need to know! Then Christine turns the table on Rob and interviews him about his experience running Tokyo, specifically if he followed some of Becs’ training tips. Tune in to hear about the uniqueness of the course and how NYRR may incorporate some local flavors to the TCS New York City Marathon experience. Plus, Meb interviews NYRR member Grace Bradley of Crown Heights Running Club who ran her first half marathon in 2023 and quickly got swept up in the magic of NYC’s running scene.
Charity Partner Program Info: (05:24)
Rob's Tokyo Marathon Recap: (20:29)
NYRR Member Grace Bradley: (38:26)
Today's Meb Minute: (49:43)
LINKS:
2025 TCS New York City Marathon Official Charity Program - https://events.nyrr.org/events/e7b83eb64fed68fd1a02/charity_partners
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christine Burke (00:00):
The TCS New York City Marathon at mile 17 runs
(00:03):
past Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and the hospital actually brings
down patients and nurses and doctors to be right there
on the sidelines on Marathon Sunday, cheering the runners along
and thanking the Fred's Team runners for the work they do. So it is really a powerful moment
on a racecourse.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thank you, New York. Today, we're reminded of the power of community and the power of coming together.
Athletes, on your mark.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The first woman to finish for the second straight year
here in the New York City Marathon is Miki Gorman, a smiling
Miki Gorman and why not, 2
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Look at the emotion of Shalane Flanagan as she comes
to the line. Pointing to his chest, pointing to the
USA he so proudly wears across his chest. A great day for Matt Kowalski.
Rob Simmelkjaer (01:09):
Hey everybody, and welcome to Set the Pace, the official
podcast of New York Road Runners, presented by Peloton. I'm
Rob Simmelkjaer, the CEO of New York Road Runners, and
I am flying without Becs today. She's off, but I'm
recording this directly from my hotel in Kyoto, Japan where
I came down last night. It is Wednesday morning actually
(01:32):
as I record this in Kyoto, Japan. We usually record
Tuesdays. I'm a little mixed up between my Tuesdays and
Wednesdays right now, but anyway, I'm still in Japan after
running the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday. It was an incredible experience
and we'll talk about that a little bit more later in
the show. I just have to start by congratulating everybody
(01:53):
who ran in Tokyo. I saw so many people from
New York in Tokyo, New York Road Runners members, an
incredible team for kids group that we had over there,
friends from New York, Road Runners staff, our board, and
just all kinds of folks. It was really a special
day in Tokyo this past Sunday. 37,000 finishers on a
(02:17):
beautiful if maybe slightly warm day in Tokyo. The high
was just under 70 degrees, so it was a sunny
and beautiful day. Definitely, a little warm for some of
the runners, myself included. But I had a great day.
As many of you know if you listen to the
podcast, I ran the race with our board chair, Nnenna
(02:38):
Lynch. The two of us ran together and we stayed
together step- for- step the entire way through. It was
a great team effort. We had a really terrific time.
Ended up finishing at about 3
happy with. I was not expecting any sort of PR
for this race. I was kind of joking around with
people I was going to be happy if it wasn't
(02:59):
the personal worst, given the kind of training I had
had over the cold winter we've had in New York,
and I did accomplish that. So that was good. But
more importantly, just had a great time experiencing the city
of Tokyo, experiencing this great race. It's the first Abbott
World Marathon Majors of the year and my favorite thing
(03:19):
about it was getting to spend some time at the
end at the Abbott Six Star Finishers tent and just
being there for that moment for so many people. There
are thousands of Six Star Finishers in Tokyo, which is
typically the case because it's such a hard race to
get into and so many people are showing up in
Tokyo to get that Six Star. And it was so great
(03:40):
to see that moment for thousands of people, the emotions,
the joy, the incredible pride that people had in getting
that Six Star medal. It's really a special thing. And
so congratulations especially to everybody out there who got their
Six Star this past weekend. It's just an amazing accomplishment
(04:03):
and we are thrilled for all of you. So I'll talk
a bit more about Tokyo in a little while, but today
we've got a big, big day and it's a big
week in New York Road Runners of course because this
is the week of our non- guaranteed entry drawing. So
by the time you all listen to this podcast, I
(04:24):
believe it will be the 6th, and so that will have
passed and you'll know if you got in or you didn't
get in. So if you got in, congratulations, can't wait
to see you at the starting line in Staten Island.
For more of you, however, it will mean that you
did not get in because the odds of getting in
through our non- guaranteed drawing are pretty steep. And so
today we're going to talk about the incredible opportunity that
(04:47):
all of you who did not get in have to
run the TCS New York City Marathon for one of
the many amazing causes that we have registered for our
official charity program, which is just about to launch. If
you're not familiar with it, New York Road Runners' official
charity partner program gives organizations a chance to raise funds
(05:10):
for their causes by offering guaranteed entry into the TCS
New York City Marathon for athletes who fundraise on their
behalf. I actually did that in Tokyo for New York
Road Runners Charity Program Team for Kids. And so we're
going to talk about the amazing charity program that we have
this year and joining me to talk about all of
that is our very own New York Road Runners Chief
(05:33):
Commercial Officer, Christine Burke, who is backed by popular demand
here on Set the Pase. I actually just asked her
if she would come on, so I have someone to
talk to today.
Christine Burke (05:46):
Thanks, Rob.
Rob Simmelkjaer (05:46):
Christine, thanks for coming back to Set the Pace. How are you?
Christine Burke (05:49):
I'm great. Happy to be here. And so nice to
talk to you tomorrow morning over in Kyoto.
Rob Simmelkjaer (05:55):
Yes, my sleep is just a complete hot mess over
here. I don't know what day it is most of
the time. I woke up at 4
so I'm feeling peppy here, it's 6
thank you for that. So Christine, obviously as we drop
this podcast, it'll be past the date of the non-
(06:16):
guaranteed entry drawing and we had incredible registration, incredible number
of people applied for the drawing this year, over 2,
00,000 applications for the non- guaranteed drawing, up 22% just
from last year, which is incredible to see. It just
goes along the lines of all the things we're seeing
(06:38):
with the incredible popularity of running marathons, but it also
means only about 2% to 3% of people who entered
the drawing are going to get a bib. So it's
a very tall order to get in through that drawing.
So now for those who didn't get in, they still have a chance to
run through so many different entry methods, including of course
the charity program. We're going to drop a link to
(06:58):
that program in the show notes. But Christine, you're here
to talk about the results of last year's charity program.
We'll start with that, which was incredible in terms of
the impact that we made.
Christine Burke (07:09):
Yeah, so Rob, we're so proud of our official charity program here at
New York Road Runners. It's been around since 2006 and
every year it's increased its impact and raised more money
for really important causes. So last year, 2024, it was
another record- breaking year. We had just over 600 charities
(07:32):
raise a record- breaking $ 70 million for those important causes.
Rob Simmelkjaer (07:38):
It's amazing. You think about that number, that is a
staggering amount of money for one event to raise. And
my understanding since 2006, it's been over $ 600 million raised
for our causes through this program, which is just incredible.
So it's been special and we love to see it
(08:01):
grow. So all right, with that in mind, what do
runners now who just found out they didn't get in
through the drawing, what do they need to know about
the charity program this year and how to find a
charity to run for?
Christine Burke (08:15):
Well, the great news is that the charity entries opened up
yesterday, so that would be Wednesday, the 5th of March
and runners can research charities they may be interested in
running for. If there is a cause you care about,
there is likely a cause you can run for. And
(08:36):
so after the drawing, runners are really running out of
different ways to run this marathon. It's one of the
few ways left to run the marathon in November. And
so if you're interested in running and want to run
for a cause, I would strongly recommend you jump on
it quickly 'cause similar to the demand that we're seeing
(08:58):
for all of our races and for the drawing, Rob,
as you just mentioned, the demand for our charity entries
has been unprecedented over the last few years as well.
And anecdotally, we hear from our charities that they're selling
out of their entries in just a few days after
the drawing. So if you're interested, don't hesitate, do some
(09:20):
research, reach out to them, indicate your interests, get on
a wait list, but there are so many good causes
that you can run for.
Rob Simmelkjaer (09:29):
And how important is it for both the runner and
the charity to have that connection to the actual cause?
Of course, everybody wants to run the marathon and any
way to get in, of course, is appreciated, but can
you talk about why it's so much better for both
organizations, the charity that's doing the fundraising and of course
(09:50):
the runner if it's not just a way to get
in, but if there's really a connection the runner has
with that cause?
Christine Burke (09:56):
It's so true. We talk about adding meaning to your miles.
And as you can relate, Rob, running the last five,
six miles of the Tokyo Marathon, probably more than very
easy, and so if you're running for a cause that's
meaningful to you and you have the power of that
charity behind you and counting on you to finish, you're
(10:20):
going to finish. So adding meaning to the miles is
really important. I would also say that these charities, many
of them have been working with New York Road Runners
with our official charity partner program for many years, and
they have training programs, they have community that you can
be a part of and they support you every step
(10:43):
of the way. And so I'll just mention a couple
that are celebrating big anniversaries this year. We have the
Michael J. Fox Foundation. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary of
working with our program in 2025, and they have incredible
(11:04):
support from coaches to folks who are mentors for the
runners who are first- timers. We also have Project Purple,
also celebrating 15 years of raising money for pancreatic cancer
research. So those are just 2 of 600, but they
(11:25):
have between them 35 years of experience in supporting runners
to get to the starting line and get from the
starting line to the finish line, and you'll feel so
connected to those charities and supported by them when you're
running to support something bigger than yourself.
Rob Simmelkjaer (11:44):
Christine, you mentioned the community aspect of it and I just want
to echo that and how special it is to be
a part of a community or team when you run one
of these races. It takes a lot to run a
marathon. You need a lot of support, you need a
lot of motivation, and it's just so much better, as
(12:04):
an experience, when you have people around you to train
with and go through the experience with. I can think
of two elements of it from my experience. First, you
know this, when I ran my second New York City
Marathon back in 2013, I did that through Fred's Team,
which is really our top non roadrunner's charity, our gold-
(12:27):
level partner that supports Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in
New York and they do an incredible job. I had
such an amazing experience running the marathon with Fred's Team.
I was running to raise money in memory of my
aunt who had passed away from breast cancer within a
couple of years of that and it was an incredible experience,
(12:51):
the training, the coaching, the friends I met and many
of whom, more than a decade later, I'm still in
touch with from that team, the race day experience. It
was a totally different experience than the first time I
ran when I got in through the drawing and I
was like all by myself out there in Staten Island-
Christine Burke (13:11):
Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer (13:11):
.... waiting for the race to start. It's just so
much more fun. And then, the second example for me
was the Team for Kids group that I see at all
of our races and here in Tokyo, it was an
incredible group and for those who don't know, of course,
Team for Kids is New York Road Runner's own charity
program that raises money for our youth and community programs.
(13:33):
And we had a great breakfast the day before the
marathon and everybody knows each other and they're all donating
to each other's fund to raise money for the race
and a lot of them go back multiple marathons. It's
like a family. So it was so much fun for me to be
running as a part of that team as well. So
(13:53):
it's just a really different experience.
Christine Burke (13:55):
Yeah, for sure. You speak about Fred's Team and Memorial
Sloan Kettering, so the race, the TCS New York City Marathon
at mile 17 runs past Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and
the hospital actually brings down patients and nurses and doctors
to be right there on the sidelines on Marathon Sunday
(14:17):
cheering the runners along and thanking the Fred's Team runners
for the work they do and the funds that they've raised to
support finding cures for their cancers. So it is really
a powerful moment on our racecourse.
Rob Simmelkjaer (14:35):
And we love to highlight so many of the stories
that we will be talking about leading up to the
marathon this year of people who are running for these causes
and the inspiration that they had to do that. So
it's great. So Christine, we talked about Team for Kids,
which is our longstanding charity program here at New York Road
Runners, but we have one that's still fairly new. Last
(14:59):
year, we launched a very new initiative to grant entry
into the New York City Marathon called Team for Climate
and this was a really exciting initiative last year. It's
coming back again this year. Can you talk about that?
Christine Burke (15:13):
Yeah, so I'm really excited about this. It was, as
you mentioned, the inaugural year in 2024. Our team for
climate had 250 runners who participated and they helped to
raise and offset the carbon footprint of the race. And
(15:34):
similar to our charity teams, they got to know each
other, they were supported by our sustainability team here at
New York Road Runners. So there was a great community
built within that small team, but those who are running
for this Team for Climate, they're there and running because
(15:55):
they feel passionate about making sure that the TCS New
York City Marathon is a sustainable race and are putting
their miles to a good purpose.
Rob Simmelkjaer (16:06):
So if you're interested in being a part of Team
for Climate, definitely get on the ball. They sold out
very quickly last year and applications for Team for Climate
this year are going to open up in April. So
keep an eye on that because we want to make
sure that we get a great group running again for us
this year, but they went very quickly. So make sure
(16:28):
you're ready to go when the team for climate spots
open up. All right, well Christine, it's a very big week
for us when we open these charity applications. I guess
the other question I'll ask you is just what to
say to all the folks out there who didn't get
into the drawing. And this is a question, as you
(16:51):
can imagine, I know you get on a very regular
basis, it's really hard to get in. We're seeing these
numbers of applications go up and up and up and
yes, there's the nine plus one program for those in
the New York area, which is a terrific guaranteed entry
program. There's the charity program we talked about, there are
(17:11):
other ways to get in, but it's hard. It's really
hard to get in. And so what I try to tell people is, "
Hey, there are ways to run this race. You have
to really be focused and organized. And if you are
in the New York area, nine plus one is a
great option." So I want to keep giving people hope
they can get into the race because I know it's
(17:31):
frustrating when you don't get in that fourth, fifth, sixth
year in a row through the drawing.
Christine Burke (17:36):
It's so frustrating. The acceptance rate of being less than
3% yesterday is really hard. We broke a lot of
hearts and at the same time, we made the day and
the year of a few thousand people. And so we're
really excited about that. But you're right, Rob, there are
ways to run this race if you're not able to
be in New York and run our nine plus one
(17:58):
program, charity is a really good path to do that. And
so I'd strongly encourage anyone to explore that path if
they've never done it, talk to some friends and family,
who maybe have in the past, to learn more about
it. But I think that is a great path forward
if you were one of the thousands of people who didn't receive
(18:20):
great news from us yesterday.
Rob Simmelkjaer (18:22):
Yeah, and one other tip that I can give is
that if you are a New York Road Runners' member, right
now, as of the date of the drawing, you would've
gotten a second chance as well because last year we
instituted a New York Road Runners' member Second Chance drawing,
which significantly improved the odds of Road Runners' members to
(18:44):
get in because you got a second bite at the
apple. We put thousands of entries into that Second Chance
drawing. So I had so much fun last year calling
people, telling them they got into the Second Chance drawing.
I can't do it because of the time difference this year,
but if you didn't get in this year and you're
not a member, I really encourage you to become a
member. You have to be a member a bit in advance
(19:07):
of the application for the marathon because it will give
you a better chance to get in next year. So
that's another little tip we can give.
Christine Burke (19:15):
Yes.
Rob Simmelkjaer (19:16):
Coming up in just a moment, Christine is going to turn
the tables on me. She's going to interview me about
my Tokyo Marathon run. So stay tuned to find out
what I learned about the distance, the course, and myself
running this 26. 2- mile race this past Sunday in
Japan. And our Med Minute this week is with Grace
Bradley, a member of the Crown Heights Running Club, who
(19:39):
is training to run the United Airlines NYC Half and
then later on in today's Med Minute, Nev is going
to give us his best advice for how to train
for the United Airlines NYC Half, the one to run
only two weeks until race day. Stay tuned for that.
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(20:00):
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(20:26):
trainingPeloton, the official digital fitness partner of New York Road Runners.
Christine Burke (20:30):
So Rob, before you headed to Tokyo, you got a
lot of great advice on Set the Pace from Becs who
earned her Six Star medal last year in Tokyo. So
I thought it would be fun to turn the tables
here and to run through some of Becs' advice and
have you share with us what now as the Tokyo
(20:52):
expert you found to be good advice, what you followed,
what you'd recommend, so that when folks listen to this,
if they're hoping to run Tokyo in 2026, they can
take your advice, take Becs' advice, and it's all fresh
in your mind. So that sound good?
Rob Simmelkjaer (21:10):
It sounds great. It is definitely still fresh. Let's do it.
Christine Burke (21:13):
All right. So as I recall, one of the first things
that Becs recommended was doing a shakeout run at the
palace in Tokyo. Did you do that?
Rob Simmelkjaer (21:24):
So I got into Tokyo a little late the day
of my arrival, and it was just too late to
run and I really wanted to run. I had Becs in
my mind to get that run in late. I was
starving. We went out and got some food and then
I just passed out. The next day, I did get
up and had a nice little three- or- so- mile
shakeout run. We didn't get to the palace that day.
(21:48):
I did end up getting to the palace later in
my trip, but there was a park in the Shinjuku
area of Tokyo, which is where we were staying very close
to the starting line. And I got a nice run
in that day. Actually, I ended up going, I should
take that back, I ended up going about six miles that day, which is probably,
(22:08):
that was Friday, it was probably a little more than
I was supposed to run, but it was so cool.
The air felt great and I had those legs that
were dying to move after the fourteen- hour flight, plus
the hours of driving to and from airports. My legs
were just dying to move, so I couldn't quite stop
myself from running, but it felt great. And then Saturday,
(22:33):
they also had a 5K, like a Fun Run, the
Tokyo arranged. It's kind of like their version-
Christine Burke (22:38):
They call it the Friendship Run, right?
Rob Simmelkjaer (22:39):
It's called the Friendship Run, exactly. And it's definitely like
a casual event. It's not a timed race. You get a
bib and everything, but people show up, there's a little
opening ceremony, and then you run a fun loop in
a part of Tokyo where you see the really tall
(22:59):
tower that's out there. It was fun to just go
out and run. That one, Nnenna and I took that
very easily. Nnenna and I, by the way, did everything
together. We did our shakeout runs together, we did the
Friendship Run together. We actually did a great job sticking
together for everything. So yeah, I think I followed some
of Becs' advice on that, but I did also do my
(23:21):
own thing a little bit because I just was doing
whatever I could to stay energized and awake given the
time difference.
Christine Burke (23:29):
Right, yeah, that jet lag is a real thing. Did
you get to go to an onsen before the race?
So one of those typical Japanese hot springs and baths,
did you get the opportunity to experience that before the
race or I guess even after the race?
Rob Simmelkjaer (23:50):
I did not before the race, but I have done
it since the race, and it's amazing. In fact, I
took a train, so I stayed in Tokyo Monday and
Tuesday and Monday, the weather, by the way, was crazy.iit was
68 degrees on race day, beautiful day for spectators, a
little warm for the runners. And Christine, the next day
(24:10):
in Tokyo, when of course I'm trying to cover and
maybe tour around a little bit, I think the high
was like 35 degrees Fahrenheit and it snowed. It snowed
in Tokyo. One of my cab drivers was using the
Google Translate app to ask me, " This is crazy, it's
snowing in Tokyo." He's like, " I've never seen snow before."
(24:32):
I guess he'd seen it, but it was like really
rare. So I ended up having an easy day Monday,
toured around a bunch on Tuesday, saw a lot of
Tokyo Tuesday, and saw one of those public baths, but
didn't have a chance to use one. And then I
came down to Kyoto on the evening of Tuesday, and
then that night I did have a chance. The hotel
(24:54):
I'm staying in here in Kyoto has their own, what
they call, public bath. And I had never done something like
this before. Kyoto is known for having these amazing waters, natural
waters underneath the city. And so I went to one
last night at 10:00 PM, just getting ready for bed
and just checked it out and it was so relaxing.
And I have to say my legs feel so much better
(25:16):
from having had that experience. It really is such a Japanese
thing and it's a tradition. I'd never done anything like
that before. There's a men's bath and a women's bath
and you just have this incredibly calming experience. So I
really recommend anybody who comes over, if you can't get
it in before, I think it's a great recovery tool after
the race as well.
Christine Burke (25:36):
Yeah, do it both before and after.
Rob Simmelkjaer (25:39):
Absolutely.
Christine Burke (25:42):
So the last recommendation or the comment that Becs made was
she described that the last six miles of the Tokyo
course with the undulating hills will feel like Mount Kilimanjaro.
How did they feel?
Rob Simmelkjaer (25:58):
Becs was 100% right. It was really a difficult last six miles.
Now, I felt good and I think Nnenna and I,
I'm very proud of the race that we ran. We
went out very conservatively and we actually managed a negative
split in this race by about three minutes. And I
(26:19):
think that was in large part because of how conservatively
we went out. It's very easy to fly and die
as they say in this race because it starts kind
of downhill and a lot of people went out very
fast. A lot of our friends that you and I
know in common, board members and other runners went out super-
fast, and then it does get harder. It's not super-
(26:41):
hilly, but the out and backs definitely start to wear
on you. I'd say the first one or two are
fun, Christine, because we saw the leaders. The first time
they came back, we got to see the elites go by.
Christine Burke (26:56):
That's so fun.
Rob Simmelkjaer (26:56):
And that was really cool. Yeah, it was so fun
to see them. And then we also saw friends and
friends saw us and there's so many shout- outs of like, "
Hey, go Rob, go Team for Kids." So that part
of the out and backs was awesome. But by the
time you get to 20, 21, 22, now you're seeing the 42-
(27:16):
kilometer mark go by on the other side and you
can't even see where you have to turn around to
get back to that thing. And so it starts to
play with your mind a little bit and really does
get to you. And I have to say, those last, those last four
miles, it felt like another marathon. It really felt like
(27:39):
we were never going to see the end of it.
So it was definitely a mental challenge and Christine, my
one piece of advice for people coming from New York
to go get a star, whether it's their third, fourth,
fifth or sixth star, if that's what they're going to
do, just go with the mindset of having fun in
this race. Do not go over there with the mindset
(28:01):
of setting a PR. Even though it's a fairly flat
course between the jet lag, the travel time, the out
and back course, the unfamiliar everything that you're surrounded by,
it's just, I don't think it's the race to go try to
do that in. So I took the mentality of having
fun and I'm really glad I did because Nnenna and
I did have a great time and I think it
(28:22):
made it a much better experience.
Christine Burke (28:24):
Good. So you ran the Berlin Marathon six months ago.
Do you think that having run that just six months
ago helped you or was it harder because your legs
were tired, you weren't fully recovered, you weren't ready for
(28:44):
another marathon?
Rob Simmelkjaer (28:45):
I was thinking about that a fair amount actually before,
during and after the race. And this is the first
time I was joking with people that I've ever run
two marathons separated by less than a decade. I am
not someone who goes and runs lots of marathons back- to-
back. I think generally it helped me because I couldn't
(29:09):
have run a marathon even in the time I did
with the training block that I had 'cause I did
not have a particularly strong training block leading into Tokyo.
I ran three days a week, like five miles on
Tuesday, five miles on Thursday, and then a long run
Saturday and just between the holidays, work, the weather, the
(29:32):
lack of light, the lack of daylight around New York
and Connecticut-
Christine Burke (29:37):
The hard time to train for a marathon in New York.
Rob Simmelkjaer (29:39):
And my, I'm not going to use too strong a
word, but let's just say my evolving relationship with treadmills,
it was just not easy for me to get in
a lot of running. So I think that the fitness
level that I had still left over from Berlin did
allow me to get through a marathon in pretty decent
form. I think the thing I did that was the
(30:01):
biggest difference for me this time, Christine, was my long
runs. I ran 22 as my longest run before Tokyo.
I had never run that long as a long run
before. I'd always done like 19 or maybe 20, and
I did feel much better with my legs the last
couple of miles in Tokyo than I did in Berlin
where I had to stop a couple times and stretch
(30:21):
my hamstrings. I had no stoppages, no major issues on
the course. It was a pretty clean race for me.
Christine Burke (30:28):
Yeah, it was fun to watch you and Nnenna. I
was tracking you on the app and your splits were
really good, they were really solid. And so there was
some smart running happening in Tokyo, you could tell.
Rob Simmelkjaer (30:42):
I appreciate that, and I did it without Roberto, by
the way. Roberto, of course, was my pacer and my
metronome in Berlin, but Nnenna and I did it on our own
and yeah, we felt really good about it. Thank you.
Christine Burke (30:55):
Let's not understate Nnenna's professional running experience. You were running
with a professional runner, former professional.
Rob Simmelkjaer (31:04):
This is true. This is 100% true. Absolutely.
Christine Burke (31:08):
So one of our occupational hazards is anytime we go
to another race, we see things that we like or
we don't like or we want to bring back to
our races. Was there anything that you saw in Tokyo
that you thought, " Yes, I want to do that in
New York?"
Rob Simmelkjaer (31:29):
Yeah, that's a really good question. I think that what
makes Tokyo special, what makes this marathon special is Tokyo.
I just think it's the culture of Japan and the culture
of Tokyo that makes it so unique. And I think
(31:50):
that's what I really, we can't do that in New
York. I think that we can only be New York
in New York, and so I think they're just so
different. I think the one thing that I saw was
they had some little unique delicacies out there on the
course, things that people could stop and nibble on that
(32:12):
I will admit I did not partake in-
Christine Burke (32:13):
Race (inaudible) .
Rob Simmelkjaer (32:14):
I stuck to the water. Yeah, the whole nothing new
on race day thing, but I know there were baked
goods and there were little different things you could eat
along the way. And I think for people who are out there
for longer times, more back- of- the- pack runners who
were out there for five, six, seven hours, having some
(32:37):
sustenance out there that's not just gel-
Christine Burke (32:39):
Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer (32:39):
... it's actually a really good thing. And I like
that there were some local things that you could get
and eat along the way. So we in New York,
Christine, obviously we have the fluids and all that, we also
have bananas and things. Maybe we could have a little
fun with some cut- up bagels, like quarter bagels maybe
(33:01):
along the route-
Christine Burke (33:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:02):
... or some very New Yorky-
Christine Burke (33:03):
New York City delicacy.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:03):
... kind of things.
Christine Burke (33:03):
Right.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:05):
We talked about like apple cider donut holes. Listen, those
things can get a little bit dodgy and they're sitting
past, and thousands of runners are passing them-
Christine Burke (33:16):
Right, but carbs are carbs.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:17):
But carbs are carbs, so I think that's something that we could have
fun with. I think Japan, the food is such a
big part of the experience there and I would like to
make food, we've talked about this, more a part of
the experience of running the TCS New York City Marathon
because New York is obviously a food capital. And I'd
love to see us integrate food into more ways in
(33:41):
our event.
Christine Burke (33:42):
Yeah, you haven't lived and run a marathon until you've
eaten a Haribo gummy bear at 20 miles. They taste pretty amazing.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:51):
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I didn't do that.
Christine Burke (33:56):
All right, so now you have completed New York, Berlin,
Tokyo. You are three away from your Six Star medal
and four away from completing all Abbott World Marathon Majors
races. Which is next?
Rob Simmelkjaer (34:14):
Who told you to ask me that question? It's too soon.
Christine Burke (34:17):
It's the obvious next question.
Rob Simmelkjaer (34:17):
... Just too soon. It's too soon for me to
say about that. We all go through this cycle. If
you'd asked me that day after the race, I would've said, "
I just don't need to run a marathon again anytime soon."
Christine Burke (34:39):
Stopping at three.
Rob Simmelkjaer (34:39):
They're just really, really long. It's just such a long,
everybody out there who runs marathons, obviously this is our
world, let's never discount what an accomplishment it is to
ever run a marathon. It is a really hard thing
to do and I just can't really say, I tried
(35:02):
to run Chicago, as you know, a couple of years ago
and got hurt. I don't know how my body is
kind of hanging together the way it has hung together
for these last couple of marathons. It seems like my
knee is strangely getting better over time, even though that's
not supposed to be happening, like what's wrong with my
knee should not be getting better, but it seems like
(35:24):
it's hanging in there. I didn't have any knee pain
at all during this race. I haven't had pain since
the race. It's crazy. It must be the baths, must
be the onsens that are helping. I don't know what's
going on. So Chicago is the one I was thinking
about a couple years ago. It's there, it's doable for
me potentially. I will go to the Chicago Marathon for
(35:45):
sure this year. So check in with me this summer,
Christine. We'll see how it feels. I'm going to take
a break from running now. I saw a sign.
Christine Burke (35:52):
Smart.
Rob Simmelkjaer (35:53):
Yeah, I saw a sign in Tokyo as I was
touring one of the shrines, one of the Shinto shrines
yesterday that said, " No running." They didn't want people running around,
kids or whatever. And I saw the sign and I took
a picture of it and I was like, " Yeah, that works for me,
no running." If I could not run for a while
and I'll be fine. So I'm going to play some tennis and
kind of catch up with some of other things and then
(36:14):
this summer I'll see how I'm feeling.
Christine Burke (36:16):
Well, as you know, we have all kinds of distances at
New York Road Runners.
Rob Simmelkjaer (36:19):
And I love them.
Christine Burke (36:20):
So you can drop way down to the New Balance
Fifth Avenue Mile the first weekend of September and be
done in just a few minutes.
Rob Simmelkjaer (36:31):
Do you know... My favorite distance of the one, and we have
a lot of distances, the four- mile distance is not
a distance you see a lot and we have a
lot of four- mile races because of the way the
Central Park is laid out. And I love four miles.
It's such a great distance. My best pace in my
Road Runners' account every year is a four- mile race.
(36:54):
The Runners won actually two years in a row that
event, it has been my best pace. There's something about
that distance that just works for me. So I'm going
to go out and enjoy some four- mile runs.
Christine Burke (37:04):
Very smart. And the last mile of that course is
a nice downhill, so that doesn't hurt either.
Rob Simmelkjaer (37:10):
It's so good. It feels good to be running so fast.
You can feel the air kind of going through your
hair. I don't have that much hair to go through,
but you know what I mean. It just feels good to run
fast. So I think I'll go out and run fast a little bit.
Christine Burke (37:22):
Well, Rob, it's been so fun turning the tables on
you, the professional interviewer being interviewed by somebody who is
not a professional interviewer. But thank you for giving us
a recap, while it's fresh in your mind, of your
experience in Tokyo. And I think you've provided some great
tips to anyone who's thinking about running that race in 2026.
Rob Simmelkjaer (37:41):
All right. Thank you, Christine. Thanks for filling in, you did a great job.
Appreciate it.
Christine Burke (37:46):
Happy to.
Rob Simmelkjaer (38:00):
New York Road Runners is a nonprofit organization with a
vision to build healthier lives and stronger communities through the
transformative power of running. The support of members and donors
like you helps us achieve our mission to transform the
health and wellbeing of our communities through inclusive and accessible
running experiences, empowering all to achieve their potential. Learn more
(38:22):
and contribute at nyrr. org/ donate. One of the thousands
of runners currently prepping for the United Airlines NYC Half is
New York Road Runners' member Grace Bradley. Grace has three
main passions, her job as associate director of admissions at
Barnard College, dishing up sharp, insightful takes on food culture
(38:43):
in her Substack, Dining Dates, and of course, running. Grace
found running during the pandemic trading in her background as
a dancer for a more forgiving community- driven relationship with
movement. She ran her first half- marathon in 2023, expecting
a chill race and instead finding herself swept up in
the magic of New York City's running scene. Now, a
(39:04):
proud member of Crown Heights Running Club, she runs not
for pace, but for people. Welcome, Grace.
Nev (39:12):
Thanks, Rob. Grace, how are you doing today?
Grace Bradley (39:15):
I'm doing well, Nev. Thank you so much for having me.
Nev (39:17):
Glad to have you. Let's go back. When you were young,
you were a dancer and as a result developed a complicated
relationship with your body. How has running helped you to
change that for you?
Grace Bradley (39:31):
Yeah, so growing up as a dancer, I was very
much ingrained in that culture of your performance was very
much dictated by how you looked and that sort of
gave you that reward of being featured more in dance.
And so that was very quickly ingrained in me. And
so I grew up dancing professionally. I went to college
(39:52):
for dance, but when I graduated I was just looking
to continue to move, but in a much more forgiving
way, but also still maintain that community. I did love
the community of dance. I loved growing up with the same
people in my dance classes and really getting to know
my teachers. And when I moved to New York City
(40:13):
and I was really looking for that community and I
eventually found Crown Heights Running Club, I was blown away
by how different it was. There were people, and still
are people in the club, who are going on to
get their Six Star this year in Tokyo or in
Boston. There are people who have never run a marathon,
(40:33):
will never ever run a marathon if they can avoid it.
There are people who have lived in the area for
decades. There are people who just moved here straight out
of college and I was just amazed by how kind
everyone was, not just to each other but to their
bodies and that was huge. Being a part of this
(40:55):
running culture that Crown Heights Run Club in particular has
set is one that is really about longevity and about
really appreciating your body and the people around you and
really taking care of yourself so that you can take care
of those around you as well. And that seamlessly really
translates to the running culture that the Club in particular
(41:16):
has provided me. I love that I'm now a leader
in the club and I can really sort of embrace
that and share that with others, but I really stuck
to their idea of nourishing yourself and taking care of
yourself for longevity. That is something that... I'm only 29,
so I'm not the oldest member of the club, but
I'm also not a spring chicken either, and that's something
(41:38):
that I really hadn't thought about. And I think back
to my younger self and wish I could tell her
the things that I've learned in the past couple years
of being in this run club and being a part
of the running community here in New York. And just would
tell her, take care of yourself and take care of
your body because it can do so much that you
just didn't even know it was capable of. And I really
(41:59):
have my people at Crown Heights Running Club to thank
for that.
Nev (42:02):
Well, running is keeping you young for sure, but tell
us about a little bit, I want to go back.
The first time you ran with them, but you also,
you never thought you would run a marathon. Did you know
how far a marathon was and what was your mind
of frame and when you ran the United Airline NYC
Half and you had a change of heart, tell us
what happened.
Grace Bradley (42:23):
Yeah, I was saying to a friend the other day... So
I grew up in New Jersey. I grew up right outside
New York City and then I moved to New York
City at the end of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. And
I didn't watch the New York Marathon for the first
time until 2022 when I moved here to Prospect Heights.
(42:43):
And I remember going with a friend, we were on
Fourth Ave and watching all the runners. I remember seeing
someone, a woman who was very, very pregnant and I
remember it was so hot that day and I was just like, "
How are people doing this? This is insane. This is
so crazy." But then I just heard people screaming people's
names. I was turning to people and be like, " Do you know
(43:05):
that person who you just screamed for?" They were like, " No,
I'm just guessing that their name is John or whatever."
And people were just so kind and I was like
this is insane. And so I went home and immediately
started searching. I had never run with other people before
in my life and I was like let me just
see what a run club looks like. I went to the New York
(43:26):
Road Runners website, found Crown Heights, and I was like okay,
they're free to join and they meet right outside my
apartment. So if I don't like it, no harm, no
foul. And so when I joined, I had only ever
done two races in my life. I had done a
(43:46):
5K in my hometown of Harrington Park, and then I
had done a 3K Santa Run in Stockholm, Sweden where
everyone was dressed up as Santa Clauses.
Nev (43:58):
That's awesome.
Grace Bradley (43:58):
So those were the only experiences I ever had with
races. And so I joined Crown Heights Running Club and
was hearing from people who had run the New York
City Marathon every single year, people who had done the
United Half, everything in between. And I figured okay, let
me just start small. And for some reason, my starting
(44:20):
small was the half- marathon, the United Half in 2023.
And I was like sure, we'll start with this. And
it was just so much fun. I love that my
entire family and my friends treated it like a marathon.
People were planning to come in. I remember telling my family, "
(44:43):
Oh, I think I'll be done in four hours." I
had no idea how long a half- marathon would take.
I was done long before four hours and my parents
were still driving over the GW Bridge to get here.
But it was just such a fun day. And I have a
friend who she lives right off the FDR. I saw
(45:04):
her coming off the highway and it was just incredible.
And I was like okay, I guess if we could do this,
maybe we'll amp it up a little bit. And I
think being someone who grew up dancing and was always
sort of in that mindset of I'm rehearsing for something
and then I'm going to perform, I kind of found
(45:27):
that parallel to running where I would run every couple
of days with the club and I was like okay,
these are my rehearsals, but then the next half- marathon
will be my performance or the next 10K will be
my performance and then eventually, the marathon will be my
performance. And I just love having that routine and the
people to do it with. And also just getting to
(45:51):
meet so many people that I otherwise would never meet
and seeing so many parts of the city was absolutely
crazy to me and just such a privilege to get
to do it.
Nev (46:00):
That's wonderful. You went big, go big or go home,
but you run the half- marathon, you learn a lot. That's awesome.
And then also I know you are a former dancer, you probably
love music.
Grace Bradley (46:11):
Yes.
Nev (46:12):
How was that, to have the Crown Height Running Club
energy and music energy. Tell us about your run playlist.
Grace Bradley (46:22):
Yeah, absolutely. So I love making my little playlist for
each race. I kind of see them as different little
time capsules. My Spotify Wrapped every year has been super-
warped because of all the songs that I play just
for running and races. I think my top 10 songs
(46:43):
last year on Spotify Wrapped were either Chappell Roan or
Skrillex, really intense running music. But no, I love that
they sort of serve as time capsules. And there have
been two really distinct moments I can think of where
a song has come on at a really pivotal part and
(47:05):
I just sort of put it on shuffle, like whatever
happens, happens. And I remember for my first ever half-
marathon for United, Don't Take The Money By The Bleachers
came on at the very end and that's a song
that one of my best friends from college and I share
as our favorite song. We love that band. And she
(47:26):
had just moved away. And so I came on at the
end, I immediately texted her after I crossed the finish
line and I was like, " This came on." She was like, "
That's a sign." She was like, " You absolutely killed it.
The universe knew you needed that at the end." And
then during the New York City Marathon this year, my
family was waiting for me right inside Central Park when
(47:47):
you first come in. And I had just done the
Fifth Ave hill, which was not my favorite part, but I had
just come off the Fifth Ave hill and into the
park and my dad's mom, who I was very close
with growing up, she loved ABBA, my whole family is
a huge ABBA fan and Dancing Queen came on just
(48:09):
as I was seeing my parents coming into the park
and I started sobbing. I was so happy to see
them. It just felt like a sign that Dancing Queen
came on and it was just so much fun up
until the very end. I kind of wanted to quit
right then, but then that song came on and I was like, " All right.
This is the moment that I needed it, getting to
see my family." So yeah, they're just nice little relics
(48:32):
and I still have my playlist from the New York
City Marathon that now I can listen to it and
say, "Okay, now I remember crossing the Verrazano Bridge for the
first time. I can remember when this song came on and I was climbing up the Queensboro Bridge
for the first time," and all that sort of stuff.
So I love that they're like these little time capsules
that I get to keep for myself.
Nev (48:53):
Running music and time is everything seems like.
Grace Bradley (48:56):
Yes.
Nev (48:56):
So have you finished your playlist for the 2025 United Airlines
NYC Half yet?
Grace Bradley (49:03):
I haven't even started, to be honest. I feel like I need to give it a week and then I always, actually,
I feel like I need to do it maybe the three days leading
up when things are really bubbling up and I'm like, "All right, what am
I going to need in a couple of days?" I think
that will be sort of my primetime to make the playlist.
Nev (49:27):
Well, sounds great. And we are so grateful that you are here and sharing your story
and be able to just change from a dancer to running
a marathon, which is a big, big difference.
Grace Bradley (49:38):
Thank you so much for having me, Nev. I appreciate it.
Nev (49:40):
No problem. Good luck at the NYC Half.
Grace Bradley (49:42):
Thank you.
Rob Simmelkjaer (49:43):
All right. Thanks for joining us, grace and for being
a member of New York Road Runners. Now, it's time
for today's Med Minutes.
Nev (49:50):
You are just about two weeks out from the United
Airlines NYC Half. Your training should be winding down. This is the
time to sharpen your fitness, not to add any more
workouts. Focus on shorter, faster intervals at race pace and
keep your legs quick and responsive. The key now is
to stay fresh, both physically and mentally, as I like
(50:12):
to say, the hay is in the barn. Make sure
you are prioritizing rest, sleep, and nutrition. Avoid any long
runs or hard workout at this point as you want
your legs to be fully recovered and ready to perform
on race day. If you're feeling any aches and pains, take
the time to address them and give your body the
(50:33):
recovery it needs. Even sometimes for me, within a week
or two weeks, taking a day off is going to
serve you a better than try to, " Hey, I was
going to get better when it warms up." Don't do
that mentality, just stick to the plan. If you have
to take a day off, it's going to serve you better on race day.
So be mentally prepared to be able to just be
(50:53):
ready on race day.
Rob Simmelkjaer (50:55):
All right. That does it for another episode of Set
the Pace. If I've sounded a little unusual in this
episode, it's 'cause I'm sitting in a hotel room in
Kyoto, Japan, not with my usual microphone set up, but
hopefully it all sounded okay. I want to thank our
guest today, our Chief Commercial Officer at New York Road
Runners, Christine Burke and New York Road Runners' member, Grace
(51:17):
Bradley. If you liked the episode, please make sure you
leave a five- star rating. Subscribe, so you don't miss
an episode, and tell all your friends as well. I'll
be back stateside for next week's episode. Can't wait to
see everybody next week and to see you at the
starting line of the United Airlines NYC Half. Until then,
from Japan, enjoy the miles.
The TCS New York City Marathon at mile 17 runs
(00:03):
past Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and the hospital actually brings
down patients and nurses and doctors to be right there
on the sidelines on Marathon Sunday, cheering the runners along
and thanking the Fred's Team runners for the work they do. So it is really a powerful moment
on a racecourse.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thank you, New York. Today, we're reminded of the power of community and the power of coming together.
Athletes, on your mark.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The first woman to finish for the second straight year
here in the New York City Marathon is Miki Gorman, a smiling
Miki Gorman and why not, 2
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Look at the emotion of Shalane Flanagan as she comes
to the line. Pointing to his chest, pointing to the
USA he so proudly wears across his chest. A great day for Matt Kowalski.
Rob Simmelkjaer (01:09):
Hey everybody, and welcome to Set the Pace, the official
podcast of New York Road Runners, presented by Peloton. I'm
Rob Simmelkjaer, the CEO of New York Road Runners, and
I am flying without Becs today. She's off, but I'm
recording this directly from my hotel in Kyoto, Japan where
I came down last night. It is Wednesday morning actually
(01:32):
as I record this in Kyoto, Japan. We usually record
Tuesdays. I'm a little mixed up between my Tuesdays and
Wednesdays right now, but anyway, I'm still in Japan after
running the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday. It was an incredible experience
and we'll talk about that a little bit more later in
the show. I just have to start by congratulating everybody
(01:53):
who ran in Tokyo. I saw so many people from
New York in Tokyo, New York Road Runners members, an
incredible team for kids group that we had over there,
friends from New York, Road Runners staff, our board, and
just all kinds of folks. It was really a special
day in Tokyo this past Sunday. 37,000 finishers on a
(02:17):
beautiful if maybe slightly warm day in Tokyo. The high
was just under 70 degrees, so it was a sunny
and beautiful day. Definitely, a little warm for some of
the runners, myself included. But I had a great day.
As many of you know if you listen to the
podcast, I ran the race with our board chair, Nnenna
(02:38):
Lynch. The two of us ran together and we stayed
together step- for- step the entire way through. It was
a great team effort. We had a really terrific time.
Ended up finishing at about 3
happy with. I was not expecting any sort of PR
for this race. I was kind of joking around with
people I was going to be happy if it wasn't
(02:59):
the personal worst, given the kind of training I had
had over the cold winter we've had in New York,
and I did accomplish that. So that was good. But
more importantly, just had a great time experiencing the city
of Tokyo, experiencing this great race. It's the first Abbott
World Marathon Majors of the year and my favorite thing
(03:19):
about it was getting to spend some time at the
end at the Abbott Six Star Finishers tent and just
being there for that moment for so many people. There
are thousands of Six Star Finishers in Tokyo, which is
typically the case because it's such a hard race to
get into and so many people are showing up in
Tokyo to get that Six Star. And it was so great
(03:40):
to see that moment for thousands of people, the emotions,
the joy, the incredible pride that people had in getting
that Six Star medal. It's really a special thing. And
so congratulations especially to everybody out there who got their
Six Star this past weekend. It's just an amazing accomplishment
(04:03):
and we are thrilled for all of you. So I'll talk
a bit more about Tokyo in a little while, but today
we've got a big, big day and it's a big
week in New York Road Runners of course because this
is the week of our non- guaranteed entry drawing. So
by the time you all listen to this podcast, I
(04:24):
believe it will be the 6th, and so that will have
passed and you'll know if you got in or you didn't
get in. So if you got in, congratulations, can't wait
to see you at the starting line in Staten Island.
For more of you, however, it will mean that you
did not get in because the odds of getting in
through our non- guaranteed drawing are pretty steep. And so
today we're going to talk about the incredible opportunity that
(04:47):
all of you who did not get in have to
run the TCS New York City Marathon for one of
the many amazing causes that we have registered for our
official charity program, which is just about to launch. If
you're not familiar with it, New York Road Runners' official
charity partner program gives organizations a chance to raise funds
(05:10):
for their causes by offering guaranteed entry into the TCS
New York City Marathon for athletes who fundraise on their
behalf. I actually did that in Tokyo for New York
Road Runners Charity Program Team for Kids. And so we're
going to talk about the amazing charity program that we have
this year and joining me to talk about all of
that is our very own New York Road Runners Chief
(05:33):
Commercial Officer, Christine Burke, who is backed by popular demand
here on Set the Pase. I actually just asked her
if she would come on, so I have someone to
talk to today.
Christine Burke (05:46):
Thanks, Rob.
Rob Simmelkjaer (05:46):
Christine, thanks for coming back to Set the Pace. How are you?
Christine Burke (05:49):
I'm great. Happy to be here. And so nice to
talk to you tomorrow morning over in Kyoto.
Rob Simmelkjaer (05:55):
Yes, my sleep is just a complete hot mess over
here. I don't know what day it is most of
the time. I woke up at 4
so I'm feeling peppy here, it's 6
thank you for that. So Christine, obviously as we drop
this podcast, it'll be past the date of the non-
(06:16):
guaranteed entry drawing and we had incredible registration, incredible number
of people applied for the drawing this year, over 2,
00,000 applications for the non- guaranteed drawing, up 22% just
from last year, which is incredible to see. It just
goes along the lines of all the things we're seeing
(06:38):
with the incredible popularity of running marathons, but it also
means only about 2% to 3% of people who entered
the drawing are going to get a bib. So it's
a very tall order to get in through that drawing.
So now for those who didn't get in, they still have a chance to
run through so many different entry methods, including of course
the charity program. We're going to drop a link to
(06:58):
that program in the show notes. But Christine, you're here
to talk about the results of last year's charity program.
We'll start with that, which was incredible in terms of
the impact that we made.
Christine Burke (07:09):
Yeah, so Rob, we're so proud of our official charity program here at
New York Road Runners. It's been around since 2006 and
every year it's increased its impact and raised more money
for really important causes. So last year, 2024, it was
another record- breaking year. We had just over 600 charities
(07:32):
raise a record- breaking $ 70 million for those important causes.
Rob Simmelkjaer (07:38):
It's amazing. You think about that number, that is a
staggering amount of money for one event to raise. And
my understanding since 2006, it's been over $ 600 million raised
for our causes through this program, which is just incredible.
So it's been special and we love to see it
(08:01):
grow. So all right, with that in mind, what do
runners now who just found out they didn't get in
through the drawing, what do they need to know about
the charity program this year and how to find a
charity to run for?
Christine Burke (08:15):
Well, the great news is that the charity entries opened up
yesterday, so that would be Wednesday, the 5th of March
and runners can research charities they may be interested in
running for. If there is a cause you care about,
there is likely a cause you can run for. And
(08:36):
so after the drawing, runners are really running out of
different ways to run this marathon. It's one of the
few ways left to run the marathon in November. And
so if you're interested in running and want to run
for a cause, I would strongly recommend you jump on
it quickly 'cause similar to the demand that we're seeing
(08:58):
for all of our races and for the drawing, Rob,
as you just mentioned, the demand for our charity entries
has been unprecedented over the last few years as well.
And anecdotally, we hear from our charities that they're selling
out of their entries in just a few days after
the drawing. So if you're interested, don't hesitate, do some
(09:20):
research, reach out to them, indicate your interests, get on
a wait list, but there are so many good causes
that you can run for.
Rob Simmelkjaer (09:29):
And how important is it for both the runner and
the charity to have that connection to the actual cause?
Of course, everybody wants to run the marathon and any
way to get in, of course, is appreciated, but can
you talk about why it's so much better for both
organizations, the charity that's doing the fundraising and of course
(09:50):
the runner if it's not just a way to get
in, but if there's really a connection the runner has
with that cause?
Christine Burke (09:56):
It's so true. We talk about adding meaning to your miles.
And as you can relate, Rob, running the last five,
six miles of the Tokyo Marathon, probably more than very
easy, and so if you're running for a cause that's
meaningful to you and you have the power of that
charity behind you and counting on you to finish, you're
(10:20):
going to finish. So adding meaning to the miles is
really important. I would also say that these charities, many
of them have been working with New York Road Runners
with our official charity partner program for many years, and
they have training programs, they have community that you can
be a part of and they support you every step
(10:43):
of the way. And so I'll just mention a couple
that are celebrating big anniversaries this year. We have the
Michael J. Fox Foundation. They are celebrating their 20th anniversary of
working with our program in 2025, and they have incredible
(11:04):
support from coaches to folks who are mentors for the
runners who are first- timers. We also have Project Purple,
also celebrating 15 years of raising money for pancreatic cancer
research. So those are just 2 of 600, but they
(11:25):
have between them 35 years of experience in supporting runners
to get to the starting line and get from the
starting line to the finish line, and you'll feel so
connected to those charities and supported by them when you're
running to support something bigger than yourself.
Rob Simmelkjaer (11:44):
Christine, you mentioned the community aspect of it and I just want
to echo that and how special it is to be
a part of a community or team when you run one
of these races. It takes a lot to run a
marathon. You need a lot of support, you need a
lot of motivation, and it's just so much better, as
(12:04):
an experience, when you have people around you to train
with and go through the experience with. I can think
of two elements of it from my experience. First, you
know this, when I ran my second New York City
Marathon back in 2013, I did that through Fred's Team,
which is really our top non roadrunner's charity, our gold-
(12:27):
level partner that supports Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in
New York and they do an incredible job. I had
such an amazing experience running the marathon with Fred's Team.
I was running to raise money in memory of my
aunt who had passed away from breast cancer within a
couple of years of that and it was an incredible experience,
(12:51):
the training, the coaching, the friends I met and many
of whom, more than a decade later, I'm still in
touch with from that team, the race day experience. It
was a totally different experience than the first time I
ran when I got in through the drawing and I
was like all by myself out there in Staten Island-
Christine Burke (13:11):
Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer (13:11):
.... waiting for the race to start. It's just so
much more fun. And then, the second example for me
was the Team for Kids group that I see at all
of our races and here in Tokyo, it was an
incredible group and for those who don't know, of course,
Team for Kids is New York Road Runner's own charity
program that raises money for our youth and community programs.
(13:33):
And we had a great breakfast the day before the
marathon and everybody knows each other and they're all donating
to each other's fund to raise money for the race
and a lot of them go back multiple marathons. It's
like a family. So it was so much fun for me to be
running as a part of that team as well. So
(13:53):
it's just a really different experience.
Christine Burke (13:55):
Yeah, for sure. You speak about Fred's Team and Memorial
Sloan Kettering, so the race, the TCS New York City Marathon
at mile 17 runs past Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and
the hospital actually brings down patients and nurses and doctors
to be right there on the sidelines on Marathon Sunday
(14:17):
cheering the runners along and thanking the Fred's Team runners
for the work they do and the funds that they've raised to
support finding cures for their cancers. So it is really
a powerful moment on our racecourse.
Rob Simmelkjaer (14:35):
And we love to highlight so many of the stories
that we will be talking about leading up to the
marathon this year of people who are running for these causes
and the inspiration that they had to do that. So
it's great. So Christine, we talked about Team for Kids,
which is our longstanding charity program here at New York Road
Runners, but we have one that's still fairly new. Last
(14:59):
year, we launched a very new initiative to grant entry
into the New York City Marathon called Team for Climate
and this was a really exciting initiative last year. It's
coming back again this year. Can you talk about that?
Christine Burke (15:13):
Yeah, so I'm really excited about this. It was, as
you mentioned, the inaugural year in 2024. Our team for
climate had 250 runners who participated and they helped to
raise and offset the carbon footprint of the race. And
(15:34):
similar to our charity teams, they got to know each
other, they were supported by our sustainability team here at
New York Road Runners. So there was a great community
built within that small team, but those who are running
for this Team for Climate, they're there and running because
(15:55):
they feel passionate about making sure that the TCS New
York City Marathon is a sustainable race and are putting
their miles to a good purpose.
Rob Simmelkjaer (16:06):
So if you're interested in being a part of Team
for Climate, definitely get on the ball. They sold out
very quickly last year and applications for Team for Climate
this year are going to open up in April. So
keep an eye on that because we want to make
sure that we get a great group running again for us
this year, but they went very quickly. So make sure
(16:28):
you're ready to go when the team for climate spots
open up. All right, well Christine, it's a very big week
for us when we open these charity applications. I guess
the other question I'll ask you is just what to
say to all the folks out there who didn't get
into the drawing. And this is a question, as you
(16:51):
can imagine, I know you get on a very regular
basis, it's really hard to get in. We're seeing these
numbers of applications go up and up and up and
yes, there's the nine plus one program for those in
the New York area, which is a terrific guaranteed entry
program. There's the charity program we talked about, there are
(17:11):
other ways to get in, but it's hard. It's really
hard to get in. And so what I try to tell people is, "
Hey, there are ways to run this race. You have
to really be focused and organized. And if you are
in the New York area, nine plus one is a
great option." So I want to keep giving people hope
they can get into the race because I know it's
(17:31):
frustrating when you don't get in that fourth, fifth, sixth
year in a row through the drawing.
Christine Burke (17:36):
It's so frustrating. The acceptance rate of being less than
3% yesterday is really hard. We broke a lot of
hearts and at the same time, we made the day and
the year of a few thousand people. And so we're
really excited about that. But you're right, Rob, there are
ways to run this race if you're not able to
be in New York and run our nine plus one
(17:58):
program, charity is a really good path to do that. And
so I'd strongly encourage anyone to explore that path if
they've never done it, talk to some friends and family,
who maybe have in the past, to learn more about
it. But I think that is a great path forward
if you were one of the thousands of people who didn't receive
(18:20):
great news from us yesterday.
Rob Simmelkjaer (18:22):
Yeah, and one other tip that I can give is
that if you are a New York Road Runners' member, right
now, as of the date of the drawing, you would've
gotten a second chance as well because last year we
instituted a New York Road Runners' member Second Chance drawing,
which significantly improved the odds of Road Runners' members to
(18:44):
get in because you got a second bite at the
apple. We put thousands of entries into that Second Chance
drawing. So I had so much fun last year calling
people, telling them they got into the Second Chance drawing.
I can't do it because of the time difference this year,
but if you didn't get in this year and you're
not a member, I really encourage you to become a
member. You have to be a member a bit in advance
(19:07):
of the application for the marathon because it will give
you a better chance to get in next year. So
that's another little tip we can give.
Christine Burke (19:15):
Yes.
Rob Simmelkjaer (19:16):
Coming up in just a moment, Christine is going to turn
the tables on me. She's going to interview me about
my Tokyo Marathon run. So stay tuned to find out
what I learned about the distance, the course, and myself
running this 26. 2- mile race this past Sunday in
Japan. And our Med Minute this week is with Grace
Bradley, a member of the Crown Heights Running Club, who
(19:39):
is training to run the United Airlines NYC Half and
then later on in today's Med Minute, Nev is going
to give us his best advice for how to train
for the United Airlines NYC Half, the one to run
only two weeks until race day. Stay tuned for that.
Ready to hit your stride. Whether you're training for your
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(20:00):
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(20:26):
trainingPeloton, the official digital fitness partner of New York Road Runners.
Christine Burke (20:30):
So Rob, before you headed to Tokyo, you got a
lot of great advice on Set the Pace from Becs who
earned her Six Star medal last year in Tokyo. So
I thought it would be fun to turn the tables
here and to run through some of Becs' advice and
have you share with us what now as the Tokyo
(20:52):
expert you found to be good advice, what you followed,
what you'd recommend, so that when folks listen to this,
if they're hoping to run Tokyo in 2026, they can
take your advice, take Becs' advice, and it's all fresh
in your mind. So that sound good?
Rob Simmelkjaer (21:10):
It sounds great. It is definitely still fresh. Let's do it.
Christine Burke (21:13):
All right. So as I recall, one of the first things
that Becs recommended was doing a shakeout run at the
palace in Tokyo. Did you do that?
Rob Simmelkjaer (21:24):
So I got into Tokyo a little late the day
of my arrival, and it was just too late to
run and I really wanted to run. I had Becs in
my mind to get that run in late. I was
starving. We went out and got some food and then
I just passed out. The next day, I did get
up and had a nice little three- or- so- mile
shakeout run. We didn't get to the palace that day.
(21:48):
I did end up getting to the palace later in
my trip, but there was a park in the Shinjuku
area of Tokyo, which is where we were staying very close
to the starting line. And I got a nice run
in that day. Actually, I ended up going, I should
take that back, I ended up going about six miles that day, which is probably,
(22:08):
that was Friday, it was probably a little more than
I was supposed to run, but it was so cool.
The air felt great and I had those legs that
were dying to move after the fourteen- hour flight, plus
the hours of driving to and from airports. My legs
were just dying to move, so I couldn't quite stop
myself from running, but it felt great. And then Saturday,
(22:33):
they also had a 5K, like a Fun Run, the
Tokyo arranged. It's kind of like their version-
Christine Burke (22:38):
They call it the Friendship Run, right?
Rob Simmelkjaer (22:39):
It's called the Friendship Run, exactly. And it's definitely like
a casual event. It's not a timed race. You get a
bib and everything, but people show up, there's a little
opening ceremony, and then you run a fun loop in
a part of Tokyo where you see the really tall
(22:59):
tower that's out there. It was fun to just go
out and run. That one, Nnenna and I took that
very easily. Nnenna and I, by the way, did everything
together. We did our shakeout runs together, we did the
Friendship Run together. We actually did a great job sticking
together for everything. So yeah, I think I followed some
of Becs' advice on that, but I did also do my
(23:21):
own thing a little bit because I just was doing
whatever I could to stay energized and awake given the
time difference.
Christine Burke (23:29):
Right, yeah, that jet lag is a real thing. Did
you get to go to an onsen before the race?
So one of those typical Japanese hot springs and baths,
did you get the opportunity to experience that before the
race or I guess even after the race?
Rob Simmelkjaer (23:50):
I did not before the race, but I have done
it since the race, and it's amazing. In fact, I
took a train, so I stayed in Tokyo Monday and
Tuesday and Monday, the weather, by the way, was crazy.iit was
68 degrees on race day, beautiful day for spectators, a
little warm for the runners. And Christine, the next day
(24:10):
in Tokyo, when of course I'm trying to cover and
maybe tour around a little bit, I think the high
was like 35 degrees Fahrenheit and it snowed. It snowed
in Tokyo. One of my cab drivers was using the
Google Translate app to ask me, " This is crazy, it's
snowing in Tokyo." He's like, " I've never seen snow before."
(24:32):
I guess he'd seen it, but it was like really
rare. So I ended up having an easy day Monday,
toured around a bunch on Tuesday, saw a lot of
Tokyo Tuesday, and saw one of those public baths, but
didn't have a chance to use one. And then I
came down to Kyoto on the evening of Tuesday, and
then that night I did have a chance. The hotel
(24:54):
I'm staying in here in Kyoto has their own, what
they call, public bath. And I had never done something like
this before. Kyoto is known for having these amazing waters, natural
waters underneath the city. And so I went to one
last night at 10:00 PM, just getting ready for bed
and just checked it out and it was so relaxing.
And I have to say my legs feel so much better
(25:16):
from having had that experience. It really is such a Japanese
thing and it's a tradition. I'd never done anything like
that before. There's a men's bath and a women's bath
and you just have this incredibly calming experience. So I
really recommend anybody who comes over, if you can't get
it in before, I think it's a great recovery tool after
the race as well.
Christine Burke (25:36):
Yeah, do it both before and after.
Rob Simmelkjaer (25:39):
Absolutely.
Christine Burke (25:42):
So the last recommendation or the comment that Becs made was
she described that the last six miles of the Tokyo
course with the undulating hills will feel like Mount Kilimanjaro.
How did they feel?
Rob Simmelkjaer (25:58):
Becs was 100% right. It was really a difficult last six miles.
Now, I felt good and I think Nnenna and I,
I'm very proud of the race that we ran. We
went out very conservatively and we actually managed a negative
split in this race by about three minutes. And I
(26:19):
think that was in large part because of how conservatively
we went out. It's very easy to fly and die
as they say in this race because it starts kind
of downhill and a lot of people went out very
fast. A lot of our friends that you and I
know in common, board members and other runners went out super-
fast, and then it does get harder. It's not super-
(26:41):
hilly, but the out and backs definitely start to wear
on you. I'd say the first one or two are
fun, Christine, because we saw the leaders. The first time
they came back, we got to see the elites go by.
Christine Burke (26:56):
That's so fun.
Rob Simmelkjaer (26:56):
And that was really cool. Yeah, it was so fun
to see them. And then we also saw friends and
friends saw us and there's so many shout- outs of like, "
Hey, go Rob, go Team for Kids." So that part
of the out and backs was awesome. But by the
time you get to 20, 21, 22, now you're seeing the 42-
(27:16):
kilometer mark go by on the other side and you
can't even see where you have to turn around to
get back to that thing. And so it starts to
play with your mind a little bit and really does
get to you. And I have to say, those last, those last four
miles, it felt like another marathon. It really felt like
(27:39):
we were never going to see the end of it.
So it was definitely a mental challenge and Christine, my
one piece of advice for people coming from New York
to go get a star, whether it's their third, fourth,
fifth or sixth star, if that's what they're going to
do, just go with the mindset of having fun in
this race. Do not go over there with the mindset
(28:01):
of setting a PR. Even though it's a fairly flat
course between the jet lag, the travel time, the out
and back course, the unfamiliar everything that you're surrounded by,
it's just, I don't think it's the race to go try to
do that in. So I took the mentality of having
fun and I'm really glad I did because Nnenna and
I did have a great time and I think it
(28:22):
made it a much better experience.
Christine Burke (28:24):
Good. So you ran the Berlin Marathon six months ago.
Do you think that having run that just six months
ago helped you or was it harder because your legs
were tired, you weren't fully recovered, you weren't ready for
(28:44):
another marathon?
Rob Simmelkjaer (28:45):
I was thinking about that a fair amount actually before,
during and after the race. And this is the first
time I was joking with people that I've ever run
two marathons separated by less than a decade. I am
not someone who goes and runs lots of marathons back- to-
back. I think generally it helped me because I couldn't
(29:09):
have run a marathon even in the time I did
with the training block that I had 'cause I did
not have a particularly strong training block leading into Tokyo.
I ran three days a week, like five miles on
Tuesday, five miles on Thursday, and then a long run
Saturday and just between the holidays, work, the weather, the
(29:32):
lack of light, the lack of daylight around New York
and Connecticut-
Christine Burke (29:37):
The hard time to train for a marathon in New York.
Rob Simmelkjaer (29:39):
And my, I'm not going to use too strong a
word, but let's just say my evolving relationship with treadmills,
it was just not easy for me to get in
a lot of running. So I think that the fitness
level that I had still left over from Berlin did
allow me to get through a marathon in pretty decent
form. I think the thing I did that was the
(30:01):
biggest difference for me this time, Christine, was my long
runs. I ran 22 as my longest run before Tokyo.
I had never run that long as a long run
before. I'd always done like 19 or maybe 20, and
I did feel much better with my legs the last
couple of miles in Tokyo than I did in Berlin
where I had to stop a couple times and stretch
(30:21):
my hamstrings. I had no stoppages, no major issues on
the course. It was a pretty clean race for me.
Christine Burke (30:28):
Yeah, it was fun to watch you and Nnenna. I
was tracking you on the app and your splits were
really good, they were really solid. And so there was
some smart running happening in Tokyo, you could tell.
Rob Simmelkjaer (30:42):
I appreciate that, and I did it without Roberto, by
the way. Roberto, of course, was my pacer and my
metronome in Berlin, but Nnenna and I did it on our own
and yeah, we felt really good about it. Thank you.
Christine Burke (30:55):
Let's not understate Nnenna's professional running experience. You were running
with a professional runner, former professional.
Rob Simmelkjaer (31:04):
This is true. This is 100% true. Absolutely.
Christine Burke (31:08):
So one of our occupational hazards is anytime we go
to another race, we see things that we like or
we don't like or we want to bring back to
our races. Was there anything that you saw in Tokyo
that you thought, " Yes, I want to do that in
New York?"
Rob Simmelkjaer (31:29):
Yeah, that's a really good question. I think that what
makes Tokyo special, what makes this marathon special is Tokyo.
I just think it's the culture of Japan and the culture
of Tokyo that makes it so unique. And I think
(31:50):
that's what I really, we can't do that in New
York. I think that we can only be New York
in New York, and so I think they're just so
different. I think the one thing that I saw was
they had some little unique delicacies out there on the
course, things that people could stop and nibble on that
(32:12):
I will admit I did not partake in-
Christine Burke (32:13):
Race (inaudible) .
Rob Simmelkjaer (32:14):
I stuck to the water. Yeah, the whole nothing new
on race day thing, but I know there were baked
goods and there were little different things you could eat
along the way. And I think for people who are out there
for longer times, more back- of- the- pack runners who
were out there for five, six, seven hours, having some
(32:37):
sustenance out there that's not just gel-
Christine Burke (32:39):
Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer (32:39):
... it's actually a really good thing. And I like
that there were some local things that you could get
and eat along the way. So we in New York,
Christine, obviously we have the fluids and all that, we also
have bananas and things. Maybe we could have a little
fun with some cut- up bagels, like quarter bagels maybe
(33:01):
along the route-
Christine Burke (33:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:02):
... or some very New Yorky-
Christine Burke (33:03):
New York City delicacy.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:03):
... kind of things.
Christine Burke (33:03):
Right.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:05):
We talked about like apple cider donut holes. Listen, those
things can get a little bit dodgy and they're sitting
past, and thousands of runners are passing them-
Christine Burke (33:16):
Right, but carbs are carbs.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:17):
But carbs are carbs, so I think that's something that we could have
fun with. I think Japan, the food is such a
big part of the experience there and I would like to
make food, we've talked about this, more a part of
the experience of running the TCS New York City Marathon
because New York is obviously a food capital. And I'd
love to see us integrate food into more ways in
(33:41):
our event.
Christine Burke (33:42):
Yeah, you haven't lived and run a marathon until you've
eaten a Haribo gummy bear at 20 miles. They taste pretty amazing.
Rob Simmelkjaer (33:51):
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I didn't do that.
Christine Burke (33:56):
All right, so now you have completed New York, Berlin,
Tokyo. You are three away from your Six Star medal
and four away from completing all Abbott World Marathon Majors
races. Which is next?
Rob Simmelkjaer (34:14):
Who told you to ask me that question? It's too soon.
Christine Burke (34:17):
It's the obvious next question.
Rob Simmelkjaer (34:17):
... Just too soon. It's too soon for me to
say about that. We all go through this cycle. If
you'd asked me that day after the race, I would've said, "
I just don't need to run a marathon again anytime soon."
Christine Burke (34:39):
Stopping at three.
Rob Simmelkjaer (34:39):
They're just really, really long. It's just such a long,
everybody out there who runs marathons, obviously this is our
world, let's never discount what an accomplishment it is to
ever run a marathon. It is a really hard thing
to do and I just can't really say, I tried
(35:02):
to run Chicago, as you know, a couple of years ago
and got hurt. I don't know how my body is
kind of hanging together the way it has hung together
for these last couple of marathons. It seems like my
knee is strangely getting better over time, even though that's
not supposed to be happening, like what's wrong with my
knee should not be getting better, but it seems like
(35:24):
it's hanging in there. I didn't have any knee pain
at all during this race. I haven't had pain since
the race. It's crazy. It must be the baths, must
be the onsens that are helping. I don't know what's
going on. So Chicago is the one I was thinking
about a couple years ago. It's there, it's doable for
me potentially. I will go to the Chicago Marathon for
(35:45):
sure this year. So check in with me this summer,
Christine. We'll see how it feels. I'm going to take
a break from running now. I saw a sign.
Christine Burke (35:52):
Smart.
Rob Simmelkjaer (35:53):
Yeah, I saw a sign in Tokyo as I was
touring one of the shrines, one of the Shinto shrines
yesterday that said, " No running." They didn't want people running around,
kids or whatever. And I saw the sign and I took
a picture of it and I was like, " Yeah, that works for me,
no running." If I could not run for a while
and I'll be fine. So I'm going to play some tennis and
kind of catch up with some of other things and then
(36:14):
this summer I'll see how I'm feeling.
Christine Burke (36:16):
Well, as you know, we have all kinds of distances at
New York Road Runners.
Rob Simmelkjaer (36:19):
And I love them.
Christine Burke (36:20):
So you can drop way down to the New Balance
Fifth Avenue Mile the first weekend of September and be
done in just a few minutes.
Rob Simmelkjaer (36:31):
Do you know... My favorite distance of the one, and we have
a lot of distances, the four- mile distance is not
a distance you see a lot and we have a
lot of four- mile races because of the way the
Central Park is laid out. And I love four miles.
It's such a great distance. My best pace in my
Road Runners' account every year is a four- mile race.
(36:54):
The Runners won actually two years in a row that
event, it has been my best pace. There's something about
that distance that just works for me. So I'm going
to go out and enjoy some four- mile runs.
Christine Burke (37:04):
Very smart. And the last mile of that course is
a nice downhill, so that doesn't hurt either.
Rob Simmelkjaer (37:10):
It's so good. It feels good to be running so fast.
You can feel the air kind of going through your
hair. I don't have that much hair to go through,
but you know what I mean. It just feels good to run
fast. So I think I'll go out and run fast a little bit.
Christine Burke (37:22):
Well, Rob, it's been so fun turning the tables on
you, the professional interviewer being interviewed by somebody who is
not a professional interviewer. But thank you for giving us
a recap, while it's fresh in your mind, of your
experience in Tokyo. And I think you've provided some great
tips to anyone who's thinking about running that race in 2026.
Rob Simmelkjaer (37:41):
All right. Thank you, Christine. Thanks for filling in, you did a great job.
Appreciate it.
Christine Burke (37:46):
Happy to.
Rob Simmelkjaer (38:00):
New York Road Runners is a nonprofit organization with a
vision to build healthier lives and stronger communities through the
transformative power of running. The support of members and donors
like you helps us achieve our mission to transform the
health and wellbeing of our communities through inclusive and accessible
running experiences, empowering all to achieve their potential. Learn more
(38:22):
and contribute at nyrr. org/ donate. One of the thousands
of runners currently prepping for the United Airlines NYC Half is
New York Road Runners' member Grace Bradley. Grace has three
main passions, her job as associate director of admissions at
Barnard College, dishing up sharp, insightful takes on food culture
(38:43):
in her Substack, Dining Dates, and of course, running. Grace
found running during the pandemic trading in her background as
a dancer for a more forgiving community- driven relationship with
movement. She ran her first half- marathon in 2023, expecting
a chill race and instead finding herself swept up in
the magic of New York City's running scene. Now, a
(39:04):
proud member of Crown Heights Running Club, she runs not
for pace, but for people. Welcome, Grace.
Nev (39:12):
Thanks, Rob. Grace, how are you doing today?
Grace Bradley (39:15):
I'm doing well, Nev. Thank you so much for having me.
Nev (39:17):
Glad to have you. Let's go back. When you were young,
you were a dancer and as a result developed a complicated
relationship with your body. How has running helped you to
change that for you?
Grace Bradley (39:31):
Yeah, so growing up as a dancer, I was very
much ingrained in that culture of your performance was very
much dictated by how you looked and that sort of
gave you that reward of being featured more in dance.
And so that was very quickly ingrained in me. And
so I grew up dancing professionally. I went to college
(39:52):
for dance, but when I graduated I was just looking
to continue to move, but in a much more forgiving
way, but also still maintain that community. I did love
the community of dance. I loved growing up with the same
people in my dance classes and really getting to know
my teachers. And when I moved to New York City
(40:13):
and I was really looking for that community and I
eventually found Crown Heights Running Club, I was blown away
by how different it was. There were people, and still
are people in the club, who are going on to
get their Six Star this year in Tokyo or in
Boston. There are people who have never run a marathon,
(40:33):
will never ever run a marathon if they can avoid it.
There are people who have lived in the area for
decades. There are people who just moved here straight out
of college and I was just amazed by how kind
everyone was, not just to each other but to their
bodies and that was huge. Being a part of this
(40:55):
running culture that Crown Heights Run Club in particular has
set is one that is really about longevity and about
really appreciating your body and the people around you and
really taking care of yourself so that you can take care
of those around you as well. And that seamlessly really
translates to the running culture that the Club in particular
(41:16):
has provided me. I love that I'm now a leader
in the club and I can really sort of embrace
that and share that with others, but I really stuck
to their idea of nourishing yourself and taking care of
yourself for longevity. That is something that... I'm only 29,
so I'm not the oldest member of the club, but
I'm also not a spring chicken either, and that's something
(41:38):
that I really hadn't thought about. And I think back
to my younger self and wish I could tell her
the things that I've learned in the past couple years
of being in this run club and being a part
of the running community here in New York. And just would
tell her, take care of yourself and take care of
your body because it can do so much that you
just didn't even know it was capable of. And I really
(41:59):
have my people at Crown Heights Running Club to thank
for that.
Nev (42:02):
Well, running is keeping you young for sure, but tell
us about a little bit, I want to go back.
The first time you ran with them, but you also,
you never thought you would run a marathon. Did you know
how far a marathon was and what was your mind
of frame and when you ran the United Airline NYC
Half and you had a change of heart, tell us
what happened.
Grace Bradley (42:23):
Yeah, I was saying to a friend the other day... So
I grew up in New Jersey. I grew up right outside
New York City and then I moved to New York
City at the end of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic. And
I didn't watch the New York Marathon for the first
time until 2022 when I moved here to Prospect Heights.
(42:43):
And I remember going with a friend, we were on
Fourth Ave and watching all the runners. I remember seeing
someone, a woman who was very, very pregnant and I
remember it was so hot that day and I was just like, "
How are people doing this? This is insane. This is
so crazy." But then I just heard people screaming people's
names. I was turning to people and be like, " Do you know
(43:05):
that person who you just screamed for?" They were like, " No,
I'm just guessing that their name is John or whatever."
And people were just so kind and I was like
this is insane. And so I went home and immediately
started searching. I had never run with other people before
in my life and I was like let me just
see what a run club looks like. I went to the New York
(43:26):
Road Runners website, found Crown Heights, and I was like okay,
they're free to join and they meet right outside my
apartment. So if I don't like it, no harm, no
foul. And so when I joined, I had only ever
done two races in my life. I had done a
(43:46):
5K in my hometown of Harrington Park, and then I
had done a 3K Santa Run in Stockholm, Sweden where
everyone was dressed up as Santa Clauses.
Nev (43:58):
That's awesome.
Grace Bradley (43:58):
So those were the only experiences I ever had with
races. And so I joined Crown Heights Running Club and
was hearing from people who had run the New York
City Marathon every single year, people who had done the
United Half, everything in between. And I figured okay, let
me just start small. And for some reason, my starting
(44:20):
small was the half- marathon, the United Half in 2023.
And I was like sure, we'll start with this. And
it was just so much fun. I love that my
entire family and my friends treated it like a marathon.
People were planning to come in. I remember telling my family, "
(44:43):
Oh, I think I'll be done in four hours." I
had no idea how long a half- marathon would take.
I was done long before four hours and my parents
were still driving over the GW Bridge to get here.
But it was just such a fun day. And I have a
friend who she lives right off the FDR. I saw
(45:04):
her coming off the highway and it was just incredible.
And I was like okay, I guess if we could do this,
maybe we'll amp it up a little bit. And I
think being someone who grew up dancing and was always
sort of in that mindset of I'm rehearsing for something
and then I'm going to perform, I kind of found
(45:27):
that parallel to running where I would run every couple
of days with the club and I was like okay,
these are my rehearsals, but then the next half- marathon
will be my performance or the next 10K will be
my performance and then eventually, the marathon will be my
performance. And I just love having that routine and the
people to do it with. And also just getting to
(45:51):
meet so many people that I otherwise would never meet
and seeing so many parts of the city was absolutely
crazy to me and just such a privilege to get
to do it.
Nev (46:00):
That's wonderful. You went big, go big or go home,
but you run the half- marathon, you learn a lot. That's awesome.
And then also I know you are a former dancer, you probably
love music.
Grace Bradley (46:11):
Yes.
Nev (46:12):
How was that, to have the Crown Height Running Club
energy and music energy. Tell us about your run playlist.
Grace Bradley (46:22):
Yeah, absolutely. So I love making my little playlist for
each race. I kind of see them as different little
time capsules. My Spotify Wrapped every year has been super-
warped because of all the songs that I play just
for running and races. I think my top 10 songs
(46:43):
last year on Spotify Wrapped were either Chappell Roan or
Skrillex, really intense running music. But no, I love that
they sort of serve as time capsules. And there have
been two really distinct moments I can think of where
a song has come on at a really pivotal part and
(47:05):
I just sort of put it on shuffle, like whatever
happens, happens. And I remember for my first ever half-
marathon for United, Don't Take The Money By The Bleachers
came on at the very end and that's a song
that one of my best friends from college and I share
as our favorite song. We love that band. And she
(47:26):
had just moved away. And so I came on at the
end, I immediately texted her after I crossed the finish
line and I was like, " This came on." She was like, "
That's a sign." She was like, " You absolutely killed it.
The universe knew you needed that at the end." And
then during the New York City Marathon this year, my
family was waiting for me right inside Central Park when
(47:47):
you first come in. And I had just done the
Fifth Ave hill, which was not my favorite part, but I had
just come off the Fifth Ave hill and into the
park and my dad's mom, who I was very close
with growing up, she loved ABBA, my whole family is
a huge ABBA fan and Dancing Queen came on just
(48:09):
as I was seeing my parents coming into the park
and I started sobbing. I was so happy to see
them. It just felt like a sign that Dancing Queen
came on and it was just so much fun up
until the very end. I kind of wanted to quit
right then, but then that song came on and I was like, " All right.
This is the moment that I needed it, getting to
see my family." So yeah, they're just nice little relics
(48:32):
and I still have my playlist from the New York
City Marathon that now I can listen to it and
say, "Okay, now I remember crossing the Verrazano Bridge for the
first time. I can remember when this song came on and I was climbing up the Queensboro Bridge
for the first time," and all that sort of stuff.
So I love that they're like these little time capsules
that I get to keep for myself.
Nev (48:53):
Running music and time is everything seems like.
Grace Bradley (48:56):
Yes.
Nev (48:56):
So have you finished your playlist for the 2025 United Airlines
NYC Half yet?
Grace Bradley (49:03):
I haven't even started, to be honest. I feel like I need to give it a week and then I always, actually,
I feel like I need to do it maybe the three days leading
up when things are really bubbling up and I'm like, "All right, what am
I going to need in a couple of days?" I think
that will be sort of my primetime to make the playlist.
Nev (49:27):
Well, sounds great. And we are so grateful that you are here and sharing your story
and be able to just change from a dancer to running
a marathon, which is a big, big difference.
Grace Bradley (49:38):
Thank you so much for having me, Nev. I appreciate it.
Nev (49:40):
No problem. Good luck at the NYC Half.
Grace Bradley (49:42):
Thank you.
Rob Simmelkjaer (49:43):
All right. Thanks for joining us, grace and for being
a member of New York Road Runners. Now, it's time
for today's Med Minutes.
Nev (49:50):
You are just about two weeks out from the United
Airlines NYC Half. Your training should be winding down. This is the
time to sharpen your fitness, not to add any more
workouts. Focus on shorter, faster intervals at race pace and
keep your legs quick and responsive. The key now is
to stay fresh, both physically and mentally, as I like
(50:12):
to say, the hay is in the barn. Make sure
you are prioritizing rest, sleep, and nutrition. Avoid any long
runs or hard workout at this point as you want
your legs to be fully recovered and ready to perform
on race day. If you're feeling any aches and pains, take
the time to address them and give your body the
(50:33):
recovery it needs. Even sometimes for me, within a week
or two weeks, taking a day off is going to
serve you a better than try to, " Hey, I was
going to get better when it warms up." Don't do
that mentality, just stick to the plan. If you have
to take a day off, it's going to serve you better on race day.
So be mentally prepared to be able to just be
(50:53):
ready on race day.
Rob Simmelkjaer (50:55):
All right. That does it for another episode of Set
the Pace. If I've sounded a little unusual in this
episode, it's 'cause I'm sitting in a hotel room in
Kyoto, Japan, not with my usual microphone set up, but
hopefully it all sounded okay. I want to thank our
guest today, our Chief Commercial Officer at New York Road
Runners, Christine Burke and New York Road Runners' member, Grace
(51:17):
Bradley. If you liked the episode, please make sure you
leave a five- star rating. Subscribe, so you don't miss
an episode, and tell all your friends as well. I'll
be back stateside for next week's episode. Can't wait to
see everybody next week and to see you at the
starting line of the United Airlines NYC Half. Until then,
from Japan, enjoy the miles.
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