New Training Experience: Kate Myers Journey To The NYC Marathon

Training for a marathon changes you — Kate Myers can attest to that, now finding herself training for a marathon for a second time in a very different chapter of her life story. It would be a new training experience but when she found out she had the opportunity to run the New York City Marathon after years of hoping for it, she knew she couldn’t say no (“I said, ‘Screw it, I’m doing it anyway,’” she recalls) and now she’s using it as an opportunity to empower the next generation of female athletes. 

Like many people, Kate grew up as an athlete, competing in rowing and swimming for her high school teams, and using running as land training during the winter months. She looks back on those seasons as her “first and only exposure to running,” but she ended up sticking with the sport recreationally into adulthood.

“Eventually, I asked myself what’s the point of all of this? I should try to do a race,” she says.

And that was how she came to register for — and train for — her first race: the Los Angeles Marathon in March 2015. “I said that would be my only one, and here I am,” she admits, pointing to the fact that she spent summer 2024 training for New York City and fundraising for charity as part of her entry.

A Different Kind of Training

Myers says it’s been a completely different experience this time around. Back when she was training for the Los Angeles Marathon, she was living there at the time, training through a California winter, when temperatures hovered in the 50s most days. She didn’t have any kids at the time and far fewer responsibilities. In addition to becoming a parent, she’s also made her debut as an author with the national bestseller Excavations, which came out in 2023.

Now she’s training for New York while living in Maryland; she’s in the throes of revisions on her second novel, Salty, slated for a 2025 release with Harper Collins, and she’s juggling her time as a full-time writer and a mom of two while training in the triple-digit heat of summer.

Still, she’s found that running has been an ideal outlet for a busy mom and author. “My life is so much more out of control now, but running gives me a lot of time to think about stuff and come up with solutions for problems,” she says. “I go over ideas for my book. Sometimes it’s just nice to have some alone time and get away.” 

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Bras for Girls

Part of preparing for the New York City Marathon has been fundraising, and Kate considers herself lucky to be hyping up a charity that’s important to her: Bras for Girls, which reduces barriers for girls in sports, who will often find themselves unable to continue participating once they hit puberty and their bodies start changing.

As a female athlete who credits her history in training and competition in shaping her success as an adult, Kate wants to make those opportunities accessible for the next generation. “As a competitive swimmer, rower, runner — all those things were impactful to me,” she says. “Just to feel physically powerful and take up space in a room. It’s important to women. It helps them lean in.” 

Her goal is to raise $5,000 for Bras for Girls, which will then use the money to provide sports bras (which can sometimes run up to $30 each, and which most girls and women need more than one of in their laundry rotation) to middle school girls in underserved communities. (Anyone who wants to help Kate with her goal can visit her fundraising page. If you donate $1,000+, she might be inclined to name a cameo character in Salty after you!) 

Olympic Inspiration 

Kate admits that even when she’s motivated by her charitable efforts, training can get discouraging. A defining moment came this summer when she had the opportunity to visit Paris and watch the Summer Olympics. Around that time, she’d been thinking about dropping her training for New York and resolving to do it another year when maybe the timing in her life is better. But the Olympics changed that.

“After the Olympics, I was like, ‘Oh my God, these women are iconic.’ I was hyped up and inspired by these women,” she says. “I have no comparison to them whatsoever, but it really pumped me up to see them. It came at a good time.” 

She returned home to the states newly motivated and excited. 

Tough as a Mother 

The different experiences of training for the Los Angeles Marathon and the New York City Marathon have come to represent different eras in Kate’s life. There is the time before her kids and her book. Now there is the time after. Although she looks back on the first training era with fond memories of how much easier it was, she recognizes that she’s actually much stronger now.

She credits this philosophy to author and economist Emily Oster. Emily also happens to be a runner (and the person from whom Kate found out about Bras for Girls). Oster has talked about how being pregnant is one of the toughest things a woman goes through.

“I’ve had two kids and I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, because that was really hard,” Kate attests. “Running a marathon feels comparatively easy.”

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