2025 NYC Marathon Race Report

Me in my happy place

Third time’s a charm, returning to the NYCM course after two years just felt SO! GOOD! It’s been far too long since I’ve enjoyed this pure feeling of being on the course. From the moment I crossed that start line, feeling the motion of my arms, legs, and feet working together to push me forward, I was like:

Damn, I’m ME again.

That ME without any labels or constraints. That LFG version of me. That TRUE SELF.

Training

This training cycle was a bit longer than my Chicago one two years ago. The first half of the year I was mostly doing pull-up-oriented weight lifting to cope with the “impending doom of middle-aged decline”(?) crisis. I knew my running fitness had severely plummeted after nearly a year off… so I spent four weeks base building, going from a running-couch-potato to gradually building my weekly mileage from single digits to 20 miles. Then, I began a 12-week training plan similar to the Hansons method, keeping my weekly mileage between 30–35 miles and peaking at 38 miles.

But tbh… I’m not a big fan of the Hanson approach. Three workouts a week (speed, tempo, long) were a bit too much for me with a demanding full-time job. Doing speed on Wednesday and tempo again on Friday often took so much mental effort that I ended up cutting them short (you know…after various justifications). And the Sunday easy long run also felt too long and kinda boring. Next cycle I’ll probably go back to two workouts per week, weaving MP tempo into speed or long runs. I still prefer longs with progression or MP intervals, which feel more efficient and effective to me.

Race

Since I realized I didn’t do enough tempo runs this cycle (aside from one half marathon tune-up six weeks out and a 6-mile MP in peak week, I never ran any longer steady runs at or faster than MP), I felt it would be tough to hold my original 3:45 goal pace for the full 26.2 miles. Therefore, my race goals were set as: A+ Goal 3:45 (aka. the Marathon God blesses me with superpowers) and A Goal 3:50. My race strategy was to run the first 16 miles before coming down the Queensboro Bridge all at 3:50 pace, then only pick up if I feel really good from head to toe after the bridge.

Turns out I really didn’t have that 3:45 fitness this cycle – after the Queensboro Bridge I felt like I could hold the current pace to the finish, but didn’t have the juice to pick it up anymore.

Because I ran the first 20 miles pretty conservatively, without that “I GOT THIS” premature confidence after the half or even 6 miles like my previous two NYCMs, so the infamous Fifth Avenue climb felt really strong this time! Although it was still hard and tiring, it was that sustainable hard — the kind of tiredness you expect in “the last 6 miles of a marathon”, not that feeling from before where I wanted to stop and walk every second, like a toddler at daycare crying for mommy to pick her up. Having another dose of positive-experience exposure therapy (?), my fear of the distant sight of the Fifth Avenue incline has lessened a bit ✌️

Philosophy™️ & Feelings™️

This stream of consciousness brings me back to why I love the whole cycle of marathon training + racing. I always feel that in this fast-paced era obsessed with rocket growth, many things give us the illusion that “taking a shortcut seems fine” or “gaming the system worked again yay”. But marathon racing (including all those “one minute on stage, ten years of work backstage” things) let me see and accept again and again:

If you want to run 3:45, you have to train for 3:45.

HOWEVER, if your current fitness is too far away from 3:45, training for 3:45 is a recipe for injury.

ANNNNND if you haven’t trained for 3:45, trying to cram in the last two taper weeks or expecting to take a leap of faith on race day…good luck with that – even if the first 23 miles give you that illusion, the last 3.2 miles will still humble you hard AF.

Many people say running a marathon is a middle-aged way of reclaiming a sense of control through a quantifiable goal, to fight against the feeling of nihilism — well, somehow true. But what I love even more is the sense of groundedness that comes from this humbling experience: put down the ego, put in the work, and trust the process.

One last bit of philosophizing in this stream of consciousness…Marathon is hard, but c’mon real life is sooo much harder. Life off the course has so much more uncertainty and ambiguity. No one designs a training plan for you — you have to design your own. And sometimes you encounter scenarios where you need to play Go against aliens, and no plan works — you can only improvise as you go, one move at a time.

But on the other hand, the marathon course really is a mirror of life. A microcosm.

It shows me clearly that I thrive with a rhythm of “hard days hard, easy days easy, and rest days full-on horizontal” work-rest balance .

It shows me I love that solitary and free-bird feeling when running, that drive to be my very own best cheerleader when things get tough, to push through darkness and fear and grind things out. But at the same time, it also shows me how much I appreciate the tenderness and warmth of having teammates giving me that “Good job! Looking great!” pep talks on the track, and blasting Stefanie Sun’s songs as we run the last lap should to shoulder; having friends on the sidelines holding up my fat-head signs, cheering and high-fiving; and having my emergency-contact bestie waiting for me at the finish line, giving me a big, tight hug — that sincere longing for community, support, and connection.

And maybe that’s why I always get teary-eyed at the start line.

Tbh I didn’t even plan to train for or run a marathon this year. I still remember the moment last summer when I decided to drop out. I had just gone through so much work exhaustion, and what I really wanted — and needed — was rest. To slow down. To go on a yoga retreat, not another marathon cycle. But my ego kept pushing. So I kept showing up, even when I didn’t want to — and that’s when the resentment started to grow. I was forcing myself to do something my heart wasn’t in anymore. I also remember how lonely it felt dragging myself up those hill repeats alone - especially when my legs and lungs were about to explode, and I thought, what’s the point? No one will be waiting for me at the finish line anyway. In that instant, it felt like all the air just went out of me. Everything just piled up, and in that one moment, mid-climb on Cat Hill, I suddenly felt I had nothing left in the tank. It wasn’t just physical. It was a burnout that collapsed from the inside out.

I knew I needed a break — to step back and re-examine my relationship with running and racing.

But back in May this year, while I was traveling in Stockholm, I stumbled upon the Stockholm Marathon. I stood on the sidewalk as a tourist, cheering for strangers, and suddenly my eyes welled up again — just like the time I ran my first marathon four years ago, and the first time I cheered for my friends at NYCM. That instant connection — that almost magical pull — was something visceral, something that came straight from the body, almost instinctive. It reawakened something in me. I knew then I wanted to do this again.

And now, I can’t be more grateful for every day I can run, and for every encounter along the way.

More to come 🥰

See you on the road 👋

Appendix

Race Information

• Name: TCS New York City Marathon
• Date: November 2, 2025
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: New York, NY
• Website: https://www.nyrr.org/tcsnycmarathon
• Time: 3:49:54

Goals

Splits