Courtesy of Heather Thomson Heather Thomson is running her fifth marathon this year on behalf of her sister, Tammy, and other sufferers of acquired brain injuries.On Sunday, 47,000 runners will converge in a massive display of human determination, the New York City Marathon. The fastest will be driven to achieve certain times, but crowded on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge behind the elites are some individuals for whom personal causes are the motivating forces spurring them to the finish line.
For Heather Thomson, the finish line in Central Park will mark the end of not just one marathon but five, all run in a series this year.
Heather and her husband, Brian Doan, have already completed four of the five world marathon majors -- Boston, London, Berlin and Chicago -- as part of the Everyman Marathon Grand Slam, their joint campaign to raise awareness and funds for testicular cancer and acquired brain injuries (ABI).
The couple has very personal connections to those causes. Doan was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1997, but thanks to early detection and treatment he has been cancer-free for what will be 15 years this March. A year after his treatment ended, sporting a new outlook on life, Doan entered his first marathon.
Thomson's only sister, Tammy, sustained a traumatic brain injury during a 2005 car crash. Doctors gave Tammy very little hope, expecting that, at best, she would survive in a vegetative state. That Tammy has since progressed far beyond those grim initial expectations is, for Heather, a sign of how little is still known about the brain's healing processes. But Tammy is still confined to a wheelchair, her brain functioning at the level of a 4-year-old.
Courtesy of Althea Pomerleau
For Emily Reichley, 27, the marathon finish line will mark the end of a journey during which she lost 200 pounds."Tammy's on my mind every day," Thomson said. "Particularly during the marathons, I draw strength from knowing if she could do even a fraction of what I am doing, her life would be better."
The five-marathons-in-a-year feat is not the couple's first foray into extreme endurance challenges. In 2008, Heather and Brian embarked on their first major awareness campaign, Tri-The-World, during which they did 16 Half Ironman triathlons, located in 11 different countries, in just less than eight months.
"We were on such a high coming off of that we thought about, well, what do we want to do next?" Heather said. "Doing the five majors was one of my lifelong goals and we thought, why not do them all in one year -- it will certainly bring attention to our charities."
"Finding out that Boston and London were one day apart brought that over the limit of craziness," Brian added. Their T-shirts that weekend -- reading "Today London/Tomorrow Boston" and "Yesterday London/Today Boston" -- certainly attracted lots of attention from spectators, as well as the BBC, which interviewed the couple at the starting line.
To guarantee entry into the London marathon, Thomson, who lives with Doan in Ottawa, Canada, partnered with the UK-based Leonard Cheshire Disability. "Their whole mission is to give people with a disability the opportunity to live as full a life as possible, and I don't think there could have been a better match for me," Thomson said.
Doan and Thomson have "upped [their] game for race No. 5, the grand finale in New York City" by joining Team Livestrong NYC, too. Both runners have entered the marathon before, but Thomson is particularly excited at a second chance after a difficult experience in 2003, when she ran with an excruciating iliotibial band injury. She plans on enjoying the race this time around, savoring the last mile through Central Park with thoughts of Tammy, as always, propelling one foot in front of the other.
UPDATE: Thomson finished the race in 3:27:21, and her husband finished in 4:19:56.
Marjorie Kagan, 81 and running strong
Marjorie Kagan went for her first run in March, but "this whole thing," as the 81-year-old New Yorker refers to her first marathon attempt, began a few years earlier.
Shortly after her husband of 33 years, Harvey, died in 2007, Kagan got a dog to keep her company, a puggle she named Tzvi. In addition to taking long walks along Manhattan's Upper West Side with her new companion, Marjorie also frequented a local dog park, where she met and quickly befriended Yumi Ogita, an avid marathoner who has finished the New York City Marathon eight times.
After cheering her friend on from the sidelines in 2009 and 2010, Kagan decided to run a marathon of her own, calling it "the challenge of my life." She began by following a training plan from Yumi and then began working with a coach in July. Together they have come up with a marathon plan that includes a mix of walking and running.
"At my age, you know, you really can't expect to run the whole thing," Kagan said, but perhaps she doesn't give herself enough credit. In the five road races she has entered since March, Kagan has finished first in her age group in all but one -- a half marathon she completed in an impressive 2:46:48.
A retired teacher who worked with special needs students, Kagan entered the marathon with the New York Road Runners' Team for Kids, which raises funds for health and fitness programs in underserved schools and communities.
Kagan will be supported from the stands by her two sons and her friends from the dog park. Of her newfound interest, she said, "Harvey wouldn't believe it."
UPDATE: Kagan finished the marathon in 6:36:20.
Emily Reichley, running 200 pounds lighter
Emily Reichley is defying extraordinary odds by running in the New York City Marathon. The 27-year-old from Seattle entered this year's entry lottery on a whim, cajoled by her older sister and convinced she would never be picked given that acceptance rates are low. That Reichley was in a position to enter the lottery at all is perhaps more amazing still.
Reichley grew up in a family of runners. Her parents and all three of her siblings have completed marathons. Reichley was involved in sports, too, running cross-country and playing basketball throughout high school. During her 20s, however, social drinking and eating replaced an active lifestyle. By the time she reached 340 pounds, Reichley felt her life slipping completely out of control as obesity left her unable to perform the simplest physical activities. She felt like she was being strangled by her body, and felt like a black sheep in her active family.
Wanting to lose 200 pounds and to return to running, an activity she truly enjoyed in the past, Reichley sought medical help, undergoing Lap-Band surgery in October 2008. While the surgery aids weight loss, it was only the first step in a long and difficult transformation.
"Each stage in the process had difficulties of its own," Reichley said. The doctor wouldn't allow Reichley to run one step before she lost her first 100 pounds. "I had to change my entire diet because of the surgery and the weight eventually came off, but even then, I was still trying to run with a 200-pound body. It was exhausting!"
By concentrating on her achievements and small steps, Reichley kept herself from being overwhelmed by the task ahead of her. In the past 18 months, she has worked up in distance from a 5K to a half marathon, depending on her fit family members to answer her various training questions and losing about 80 more pounds in the process. When she found out that she would be joining her older brother and sister in running the New York City Marathon this year, she cried.
Reichley is aiming for a 4:30 effort in her first marathon on Sunday. But no matter what the clock reads when she crosses the line, it will be an emotional day. Reichley treasures every mile she is able to run. The pride and joy in her voice is obvious, even over the phone, as she describes being overcome by emotion after a 21-mile training run, her longest to date.
"This is really just putting a stamp on what I've done over the past couple of years," she said, the joy and pride evident in her voice. "I've really done it. I really have my life back in control."
UPDATE: Reichley finished the marathon in 4:36:25.
Caitlin N. Kelly is a New York City-based editor and contributor for espnW.
