Robyn Pohrebniuk was among the local competitors to race through New York City on November 3, 2019 among over 53,000 runners from around the world.
She finished in 7,483th place, with a time of three hours, 35 minutes and 42 seconds.
Describing the Marathon as a “bucket list kind of event,” Pohrebniuk says the opportunity to compete in New York City was an experience of a lifetime. With her best friend Lindsay in attendance, and family and friends cheering at home, she describes the support as heart-warming.
The New York City Marathon is one of six premiere races held worldwide, the others taking place in Boston, Tokyo, Berlin, London, and Chicago. The course tracks through New York City’s five boroughs, spanning more than 42 kilometres in total.
Pohrebniuk says she has been running off and on since 2002.
“I started running mostly 5K and 10K events,” she says, “gradually working towards half-marathons and more recently full marathons.”
Full marathons are 26.2 miles, whereas half-marathons are… well, half that: 13.1 miles.
While scrolling through her Facebook feed one afternoon in 2018, Pohrebniuk noticed an advertisement for a virtual marathon sponsored by Strava, a popular social fitness network, which would qualify runners to compete in the 2019 New York City Marathon.
“Runners were required to run the full 26.2 miles to guarantee their entry to the marathon,” she says. “Runners had to finish the virtual marathon in six hours and 30 minutes to guarantee their entry. This was my first full marathon. I ran it locally around Niverville and Ste. Agathe and finished in 3:39:11. Once I submitted my results, I was given entry to run the 2019 NYC Marathon.”
Pohrebniuk is now looking ahead toward the 2021 Boston Marathon, another prestigious international competition. With registration for Boston set to open in late-2020, she hopes her 2019 NYC Marathon time of 3:35:42 will be fast enough to guarantee her entry.
In terms of the training required for Boston, Pohrebniuk says she plans to begin this upcoming October.
“Blood, sweat, and tears for six months,” she says. “The training is the hard part. The race itself is the reward.”
