Sarah McKetta: The NYC Marathon is a Love Letter to the City

Sarah McKetta, 30, an MD/PhD student, who runs in part for the time it gives her to reflect and meditate, is running to raise money for Girls on the Run, a nonprofit that offers wellness and fitness programs to vulnerable young women.

When did you start running, and why? And what’s the longest distance you’ve run? 

I started running with my mom when I was a little girl. I hated it! It was so hard and it felt like it took me so long to see any progress. It wasn’t until my early twenties that I started really committing to running.

At that point, I realized running wasn’t just a physical activity, but a mental activity. I realized it can be an opportunity to set goals against myself, to reflect, to have a private moment, and to meditate. As I began running for reasons unrelated to fitness, I found it increasingly rewarding, and only then did I begin to start thinking about running in races or training for long distances.

This will be my third marathon. In 2013, I ran my first one out of state, and last year I ran New York for the first time. It was breathtaking. I hope I get to do it every year!

Why are you running the NYC Marathon? I’m running the marathon to raise funds for an organization called Girls on the Run. Here’s my little plug that I’ve been sending out to family and friends, to give a sense of why I’m running and what the organization does: An estimated 45% of the people in New York are living in poverty, and many of these folks can't access safe, clean outdoors space for exercise or recreation. Of course this problem isn’t unique to New York: access to outdoor space is linked closely to both poverty status and racial minority status throughout the United States. This unmet need is a contributor to both obesity and poor mental health. Women in particular are sensitive to availability of outdoor space—the impact of their neighborhood poverty level is a bigger predictor of physical activity than their income. There are a lot of ways that I lead a lucky life, but the ability to hone this skill in a safe space is one that I don’t often appreciate.

This year I’m raising funds for young women who don’t have these advantages: Girl on the Run is an organization that targets low-income, vulnerable young women and provides programming that fosters mental wellness through training in athletics, in particular running. Multiple studies have shown that promoting physical fitness among young people leads to better mental health outcomes, and this program has helped promote a better self image, empowerment, and confidence in young women who have otherwise limited opportunities. These are girls living in tough neighborhoods who didn’t grow up playing sports or even really playing outside, and whose curriculums at school don’t typically include room for self-esteem building or other activities that promote mental wellness.

What’s your goal on race day?   Every marathon I run, my goal is to finish!

Does this distance— or this particular race— have any special meaning for you? I ran this marathon last year for the first time, having only moved to New York months before. Running that race felt like a very meaningful event to commemorate moving to my new home.

The NYC Marathon is like a love letter to the city: it goes though all five boroughs, and it does so much to bring awareness to philanthropic efforts in the city. Running the marathon is a celebration of this space and this community.

What gets you through your long training runs?  This is going to sound cheesy, but on my long training runs, I try to think about the people who have supported me—by donating to my fundraising campaign, by sending me supportive thoughts and words, by helping me deal the day to day minutiae of preparing for such a taxing event. Long runs can be glorious but they can also be a slog, and thinking about the support around me can really motivate me to keep going.

Also, lots and lots of terrible early-2000’s pop music, especially after I hit mile 15.

Have you had any particularly special moments during your runs?  I try to work interesting spaces and locations into my run, so I feel excited to hit certain landmarks and because it’s a reminder of how cool it is to get to live in New York. Right now I’ve been trying to run both along the East River and the Hudson. When I lived in Brooklyn last year, I would always try to run across the Brooklyn Bridge around sunrise—it felt like I had a private viewing of the Statue of Liberty. This past weekend, I ran along First Avenue right as Obama’s motorcade was passing. Sometimes I run in Central Park and accidentally end up involved in some kind of charity race! These experiences just contribute to my feeling connected and plugged into my community here.

Do you see any relationship between your work and your running? I do! Increasingly, I see my work and my running as connected. A major part of it is that I feel like running is a way to do good work through fundraising and increasing awareness of organizations who serve the community.

Running also provides a lot of clarity for me around the kinds of class and privilege that can be easy to ignore or take for granted. A major component of my research is understanding social disparities, and my ability to run—and to train for an event like this—is a reminder of what it means to have this kind of privilege. It is also a demonstration of the role of local social systems in either fostering or suppressing routes to privilege. The fact that I have a lifestyle that accommodates long weekend runs, and mid-size hour long runs most days a week, speaks to the kind of economic and social privilege that I have that many people do not.

In order to train for a marathon, for example, a person needs to have a certain kind of work schedule and be able to account for things like childcare, an increased grocery bill, and the necessary gear for exercising. However, the fact that there are so many public spaces — parks, wide sidewalks, well-lit streets — where I can run without fearing for my safety speak to the kinds of resources that a city can invest in so that more and more people can access these privileges.

Running requires inputs that are both personal and structural, and training for a marathon has really brought that into focus for me.