The first challenge for many of the 55,000 New York City marathoners on Sunday morning will arrive before they even start running. It is the often agonizing, hourslong wait spent milling around, on a cold morning, in the start village on Staten Island.
Runners are bundled up, doing final warm-ups before rushing to their start corrals. Speakers issue instructions in a variety of languages as cannon blasts announce each starting wave.
Tens of thousands of athletes, bristling with energy after months of training, are spread out as they review their race strategies one final time. The ample hours in Staten Island leave time to stew in their anxieties: Did I train enough? Did I fuel properly? Will I meet my goals? Can I set a personal record? Will I be able to see my friends along the course? Will I finish the race?
To help soothe the athletes’ nerves ahead of the 26.2-mile journey across the five boroughs, the New York Road Runners have for the last several years provided a bit of therapeutic support. Specifically, therapy dogs.
This year, 15 dogs — including Winston, a Cavapoo; Murray, a Golden Retriever; Napoleon, a French bulldog; and Ruby, a Labradoodle — will be on hand for athletes to pet in zones across the start village.
New York Therapy Animals, a nonprofit group, will be providing the dogs for the ninth year. Nancy George-Michalson, the group’s executive director, said that, for the athletes, “it takes their mind off the pressure that they have put on themselves.”
Running the marathon is something the runners have worked hard to prepare for, she said, “so you’re supposed be nervous.”
“And we’re just there to be able to help them,” she added.
Dogs are vetted by veterinarians for health, temperament and good behavior, Ms. George-Michalson said.
Even seasoned marathoners feel the anxiety.
Chad Spielmann, 42, of Red Bank, N.J., will be running his seventh New York marathon on Sunday, and his 31st overall. He acknowledged that, though he’s excited to be in the start village, the chaotic atmosphere can be anxiety-inducing. For the last few years, he said, visiting the therapy dogs has been a key pre-race ritual for him.
“They’re just all so cute,” he said. “It definitely helps calm the nerves before the big event where you’re crowding into the corrals and then just getting herded up to the Verrazano Bridge.”
“My number one tip: Go see the therapy dogs,” he added. (His second piece of advice? Get in the bathroom line as soon as possible.)
For first-timer marathoners, the nerves can be all the more stifling.
Kathy Rosario, 49, traveled to New York from Woodson Terrace, Mo., for her first marathon, and has been anxious about being in the last corral of the final wave of runners.
“Am I going to be supported the way that the other runners were? Is there going to be water at the water stations? Are there going to be people along the sides?” Ms. Rosario said, adding, “You can’t finish a distance this way without some support.”
To help cope, she plans to visit with the dogs and already spent time this week scouting them online.
“I’m especially looking forward to meeting Murray,” she said of the Golden Retriever.
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