Fall marathon season is in full swing and the ZAP Endurance team is descending on New York City in full force this weekend. Dan Schaffer will kick off the festivities on Saturday, November 2 when he toes the line at the US 5k Championships. And then on Sunday, Tristin Van Ord Colley, Josh Izewski, and Ryan Ford will take to the main stage in the marathon.
Dan was 4th at this race a year ago where he found himself kicking for the US title in the final meters of an exciting men’s race. He’ll be back this year coming off his debut 10 Mile Race at the Twin Cities 10 Miler where he ran 47:17. The race will be shown live and free on USATF.TV with the broadcast starting at 8:20am and the men’s race beginning at 8:30am. After the race you’ll be able to view the results here.
With a USATF title at stake the 5k is far from an appetizer for the weekend, but there’s no doubt that the highlight of marathon weekend is the New York City Marathon on Sunday. Tristin and Josh, both marathon veterans, will be racing New York for the first time in their careers, while Ryan will be making his marathon debut in the Big Apple.
Tristin is coming off a difficult 2024 after struggling to recover from her 2:30, 17th place finish at the US Olympic Marathon Trials in February. However, she has found her footing this summer and fall. She has put together a buildup that has seen her tackle some of her highest mileage weeks and strongest workouts. And as fall sets in Tristin is ready at the right time to finish her year on a high note.
Josh Izewski ran the best marathon of his life at the US Olympic Trials in February. His 8th place, 2:11:09 performance established a new personal best and ZAP club record. He felt confident in being able to improve upon that time, run under the hot Orlando sun, at the Gold Coast Marathon in July. However, race week sickness robbed him of that opportunity.
Since recovering, Josh has been a man on a mission, winning the Philly 10k and Wyoming Valley 10 Miler. His strong performances at both the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Trials highlight just how good of a championship style runner Josh is. That strength will be an asset on the New York course where there are no pacemakers and the course itself presents more variation and challenge to the athletes.
Ryan Ford, fresh off his 9th place finish at the US Olympic Trials 10k this summer, is making his marathon debut. The gap between the 10k and the marathon is large, but Ryan does have some marathon experience to lean on, despite never having raced one. At the Chicago Marathon in 2023, Ryan paced a group through 30k at 2:08:00 pace. As part of that experience Ryan learned a lot, including how you can feel amazing at 25k and then tired and ready to quit by 30k. He did a phenomenal job with his pacing and being able to rabbit 30k at that pace highlights the promise Ryan has at the distance.
There are many ways to follow along live with the marathon. Click here to review how to watch the local coverage, the national coverage on ESPN 2, and download the app for live tracking during the race.
And for those who will be in New York Coach Ryan will be hosting a cheer zone for the 5k and shakeout run to follow for anyone who wants to join. See below for details:
5k Cheer Zone
- We will meet at the intersection of 58th St and 6th Ave on the west side of 6th Ave.
- Once Dan goes by on 6th Ave we will jog across 58th St to 7th Ave and into Central Park where we will catch him again at the intersection of West Drive and Central Drive.
Shakeout Run
- We will meet at 9:00am in the southwest corner of Central Park at the Columbus Circle entrance to begin the run.
- The planned loop will be approximately 3 miles. This is will be very informal – if you meet us to start and would rather run a different route that’s completely fine!
- In order to avoid the closures for the 5k and marathon we will run north up Central Park West and enter Central Park at 72nd St and run up around The Great Lawn and back to 72nd and back down Central Park West to finish at Columbus Circle.
- And if anyone wants to grab a cup of coffee from the Central Park Cafe on the corner we’ll hang out for a bit afterward!
Even if you can’t make it to the group run, let us know if you’ll be in town racing so we can keep an eye out for you on the course!