Joel Kaufman will be easy to spot on the New York City Marathon course. Since 2015, the retired math teacher from Bayside, Queens, has worn his signature cape during the event. The unique race day attire includes a giant heart with the names of people who fought and are currently battling leukemia and lymphoma.
Almost every year for nearly a decade, Kaufman walks the entire 26.2 to honor cancer patients while fully embracing his status as a back-of-the-pack runner. Since 2015, he’s raised over $150,000 for Dakotah Popehn Is 17th at the NYC Marathon, a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society program where people take on endurance challenges to fundraise for cancer research.
In 2023, Kaufman was the last official finisher of the New York City Marathon, which is put on by the New York Road Runners. Being the final competitor across the finish line in 8:43:34 is a distinction the 66-year-old holds with pride. More time spent on the course means more time to enjoy the experience, he says.
For this year’s race on Sunday, November 3, Kaufman would like to break eight hours, but it’s never been about speed for him. It’s about making lifelong connections with people in the race and uplifting those he’s running for.
“These names [on my cape] give me the power. This way, I’m not walking on the ground, I’m walking on air,” Kaufman tells Runner’s World. “Conner Mantz Top U.S. Man at the 2024 NYC Marathon.”
The idea to fundraise while running a marathon came to Kaufman when his longtime friend, Sheila Pollet, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2014. Inspired by their mutual friend who completed an Ironman, Kaufman asked Pollet if he could fundraise in her honor during the New York City Marathon. Though she initially declined, Kaufman asked her again the following year and she accepted.
For the first 58 years of his life, Kaufman rode his bike regularly, hiked, and went to the gym while growing up in Brooklyn, New York, but he never ran or walked long distances. After spending months training for the 2015 New York City Marathon, Kaufman was hooked on the new form of exercise. “Once I got into marathon shape, I said, ‘I can’t go back. I have to stay like this,’” he says.
Though he considered running at first—after feeling slightly defeated when many people passed him on the course—Kaufman ultimately decided to embrace walking. He hoped to avoid injury and increase his longevity in the sport. Clocking 16 to 18-minute miles also gives Kaufman plenty of time to enjoy the sights and people in the race. “I always see the 2-hour guys on TV, and they run the whole course, don’t stop, don’t high-five people in the street, and don’t thank the people for having water out,” Kaufman says. “You feel that much more love when you’re going slower.”
While walking in races, Kaufman focuses on being present in each mile he’s covering. He also never misses an opportunity to give hugs and take photos with whoever shows up for him on the course. Sometimes, that includes the cancer patients he’s walking to honor. In a previous New York City Marathon race, his friend, Skylar, who was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 2 years old, met him in Central Park. He, of course, stopped and gave her a hug before pressing on to finish the last few miles. “That’s what you’re going to remember 20 years from now,” Kaufman says.
He also stays motivated throughout the day by encouraging fellow racers who are struggling and helping them meet their goal. Kaufman said he caught up to a woman in last year’s New York City Marathon who was about to quit at mile 10. He convinced her to walk with him while sharing his snacks and chatting about their life stories, a gesture that ultimately kept her in the race.
For training, Kaufman does a six-mile walk three times a week and a long walk, usually 13 miles, on Saturdays. He typically alternates between one minute of fast walking and one minute of slow walking—gradually increasing the amount of fast walking on his routes to a pace that feels comfortable on race day.
Since 2015, Kaufman has completed a total of 13 marathons around the world, including seven in New York City. This year, he He Finished Last at the 2023 NYC Marathon: You Feel More Love When Youre Going Slower for Dakotah Popehn Is 17th at the NYC Marathon. On Sunday in Staten Island, he’d like to start the race in one of the first corrals, knowing thousands will pass him, but more importantly, they’ll see his cape and the names of those he’s walking for.
Two years after she was diagnosed, Pollet died from leukemia. When Kaufman reaches mile 26 of the marathon this weekend, he’ll think about the friend that inspired his first run and many subsequent efforts almost 10 years on.
“I hear [Sheila] say, ‘You got this,’” he says.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
