The sixth and final Abbott Marathon Major of the calendar year — the New York City Marathon — will run through the five boroughs of the Big Apple on Sunday.
The NYC Marathon is the largest marathon in the world, with 51,402 finishers last year. Runners can secure their spot on the start line by meeting time standards at specific New York Road Runners races, entering a lottery or running for charity. Nearly 165,000 people applied for entry to the 2024 race via the lottery with only four per cent receiving a bib.
This year, the Brainsport Times is speaking to Saskatoonians who’ve completed the World Marathon Majors about their experiences getting into and running these coveted races. Today, 42-year-old Alethea Greyeyes of Muskeg Lake Cree Nation shares her story of running the 2023 New York City Marathon.
Q: Tell me a bit about yourself and your relationship with running.
A: My daughter is 19 and I started running when she was about two years old. I was a university student and I was a single parent and I was looking for something to get into that was cost-effective and I wanted to emulate that behaviour for my child. Once you become a parent, you are looking after another human being, but you’re also having to be very aware of how you live your life.
Indigeneity is synonymous with running. Our Plains people, we are quite athletic. We had to hunt on foot, we had hand games, so it’s within my blood memory. It’s the generational health and wellness that has been passed down, so I really draw on that.
My brother who’s no longer with us, his name was Cole, and he was a very accomplished track athlete. He succame to the same cancer as Terry Fox when he was nearly 15 and I was turning 10. Now, every time I lace up my shoes, and every time I get running he’s beside me. It’s a privilege and an honour for me to run because that’s what he loved to do. I feel that that’s how I am closest to him.
Another important part of me being a runner is that it’s good medicine for me and it’s prayer.
After I started running it brought me to groups of people, which I found so electric. I’m an extrovert and I love people. They energize me. And a colleague said: “Hey, I’m heading to Las Vegas for the Rock and Roll Marathon Series” and I went: “What? You’re actually leaving the country to go run in a race?” That was never something I thought I would do but it kind of lit a fire, and I was like: OK, this is so awesome, running can take me to different countries. I did the half marathon in Las Vegas in 2013 and 2014.
Q: Why did you want to run the New York City Marathon?
A: New York was my very first full marathon.
I had been asked multiple times: “When are you going to run a full?” And I just said: “When I’m ready.”
I’m a certified yoga instructor with a non-for-profit called Native Strength Revolution out of Bessemer, Alabama and NSR is a registered charity partner with the New York City Marathon. In 2023 I decided to run in one of the charity spots. It was some of the hardest work I’ve ever done because I was raising money in Canadian dollars, which means my $3,500 American minimum fundraising amount was about $5,000 Canadian. And then with the plane and hotel it cost me about $9,000. So it’s a pretty beautiful medal for $9,000.
But another way to look at it is that I had this amazing opportunity to allocate funds back to potential yoga instructors all across North America. I received a scholarship to become a yoga instructor and the money I raised is paying for scholarships for other Indigenous wellness leaders who want to have that kind of impact in their community.
Q: Tell me about the race.
A: It was really exciting to hop on the ferry from Staten Island and everybody on the ferry, all of us were runners, and all of us were quiet. There was no cheering. There wasn’t anything because there was this hum of sheer nerves.
One of the most shocking things is that we started at the Verrazano Bridge and they actually set off cannons to start your corral. As if you weren’t already buzzing through your skin to begin with!
The feeling of having over one million spectators on the sidelines through all five boroughs was beautiful. Each borough has different eclectic styles of people. The signs were hilarious. Brooklyn and the Bronx had some of the most electric music: people in choirs, people singing, steel drums. It was just beautiful.
Into mile 20, my body was not used to that and I really had to dig really deep. I had this tunnel vision and I knew: I just need to get to the finish.
I finished in just over six hours and it was dark, but it was beautiful. In Indigenous cultures across the world, you are able to call your spirit across something and I called out for my spirit across the finish line and that was exhilarating. I had my phone out to record myself going over the finish and the response from my community was that they were so excited to hear me call my spirit over that finish line.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who gets into the NYC Marathon?
A: Be very aware of the fact that you need to strengthen your knees, your ankles. A lot of it is incline. I was pretty blown away with how much incline there was. Most of the bridges were just up and down. They were tough.
Just take it in and don’t be afraid to wear your medal after. I wore mine to the airport all the way home. The medal itself is absolutely gorgeous.
Q: Anything else?
A: I was quite impressed that the New York Road Running Club has made the race very accessible for Indigenous people from all over the world. They had us send in our flags from our different communities and lead the parade of nations a couple days before the race. Land acknowledgement happens in the States as well as in Canada and they acknowledged what land we were on. I felt so welcome there. I felt like we were seen and heard even though we were a really small drop in the water of 52,000 participants. I felt included and very honored to be there.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
