This is an abridged version of Brian’s story, for a full version, click here.

I was very excited to run the 2023 New York City Marathon, my 11th NYCM (albeit my FIRST since 1987!), made even more special by the fact that Rod personally invited me to help him celebrate the 40th anniversary of his breathtaking, come from behind victory in 1983, while also running to support his Rod Dixon’s KiDSMARATHON Foundation, and celebrate Saucony’s 125th anniversary. What was extra cool was that my best friend since high school, Jim Stephenson, was on our team, and also ran it, for his first time. 

After 10 consecutive from 1978 through 1987, I’d had my fill. However, I received a telephone call from none other than Rod Dixon. Rod asks me if I remember how he came to Falmouth in 2018 to celebrate my 40th consecutive Falmouth Road Race, then proceeded to ask me: “Would you run the 2023 New York City Marathon for me? We can celebrate my 40th anniversary, Saucony’s 125th anniversary, and help raise money for the Rod Dixon’s KiDSMARATHON Foundation.”

Training for the marathon was smooth and uneventful. I did my workouts and long runs with my many training partners, my wife, Carolyn, usually accompanying me on her bicycle, a rotating cast of about 18 people, and my most consistent training partner is my canine companion named May.

As were a few of my other daily runs. The final week before the marathon had wildly fluctuating temperatures.

Saturday started out almost identically to Friday. Jim and I did a short shakeout run before heading back to the hotel, getting cleaned up, and heading out to breakfast with Rod.  Afterwards, I returned to the hotel room to, once again, try to get caught up on text messages and Facebook. That was no easy task! Carolyn and Ainsley came down to go to the expo with us. The vendors were sold out of so much merchandise that had been overflowing the day before.

Race morning, Jim and I got up, as scheduled, did all of our last minute preparations, and put on our kits. , Rod walked us all over towards the library to board our buses to the start. Jim and I waited on line approximately 45 minutes to get onto the bus. It was then a 75 minute ride over to Fort Wadsworth. After another 20 minute wait for the buses ahead of us to unload, we finally set foot on Staten Island as we did the long walk through security and over to our respective corrals.

At a few minutes past nine, I was finally running in my first New York City Marathon since 1987!

I don’t know what they’ve been doing for the last 35 or 36 years, but man… All of the bridges were so much steeper than they used to be. All of the concrete was so much harder than it used to be. And the November weather was so much warmer than it used to be. The last time I did this race, they had approximately 15,000 runners compared to the almost 52,000 that we had on this day. Even with the benefit of starting relatively early in a reasonable corral, the crowding out on the course became a hindrance. There were many times where I had to stop short or zigzag around the slower runners in front of me.

Coming into Manhattan on fifth Avenue was fun with all of its sights and sounds, but it wasn’t without a little bit of foreboding on my part, knowing that the hills of Central Park awaited me. With almost 100 feet of climbing, my 23rd mile was the slowest of them all. During the 24th mile I saw a large family of my training partners, all heartily cheering me on.

Thankfully, I was able to get back on pace during the 25th and 26th miles. There’s a very special feeling that you get when you exit the park, and start heading towards Columbus Circle on Central Park South.

After crossing the finish line in 3:29:05, with a major case of marathon quads from the heat, and my subsequent dehydration, I began the long trek back to Tavern on the Green by getting my finisher poncho, and goodie bag. Thankfully, Rod had given both me and Jim tickets for the post race banquet. With my ticket in hand, I was able to bring Carolyn and Ainsley to the finish line area, just outside of Tavern on the Green, where all of the cool kids hang out. We hung out there for a while and took quite a few photos.

Afterwards, Rod forced me and Jim to walk the entire 3 miles back to our hotel, as if racing the 26.2 miles of the NYCM wasn’t enough! Once we got back to the hotel, we changed, enjoyed some last-minute conversation, and packed all of our belongings back into my Odyssey. On the sidewalk, outside of the Hilton Garden Inn, we bid our final adieus to Rod, before driving home.

That ends my Magnificent New York City Marathon Saga, but read the full transcript.