Community Corner

The Marathon's Best 13 Miles

Prospect Heights resident Megan Dee has a home field advantage when she runs through Brooklyn with her family cheering her on.

Megan Dee knew where they'd be waiting. It's where they were waiting last year.

She passed Douglass, Degraw and, finally, Sackett. She started looking around and, at last, spotted them: Her husband, her son and daughter, her sisters, her brother, and her parents. They were waiting at the corner of Union Street and 4th Avenue as Dee approached the 8 mile mark of the New York City Marathon on Sunday.

"The first time I see them it's great," she said. "It's the best that everybody comes out."

She would see her family a few more times before she reached the end. After she passes, they hop on the subway and head to 63rd and 1st street on the Upper East Side. After they cheered her on there, they split up. Her husband and son went to 74th street in Central Park, while everyone else waited for Dee at the finish line.

Dee, a 41-year-old stay-at-home mom who lives on Eastern Parkway, crossed the finish line after 4 hours, six minutes and 55 seconds of running. Dee, who knocked 21 minutes off of the time from her first marathon in 2009, said she could have kept going.

"I had a lot of energy at the end," she said. According to Dee, the marathon is the easy part. "The hardest part is training for it."

Dee trained with Team for Kids, a charitable group run by the New York Road Runners Association. The training lasted four months and included three coached runs a week.

The group started with shorter runs and worked it's way up to three 21 mile runs over a two-month span, the last of which was three weeks before Sunday's 26.2-mile race.

Dee ran with Team for Kids because of the running programs they sponsor in under-served communities. The programs help battle childhood obesity and teach kids about athleticism and sportsmanship.

Once she left Brooklyn, the route led Dee through Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, but she said the best part of the race was the 13 miles she spent in the borough she calls home.

"Running that long through Brooklyn makes the race."


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