GET MORE RUNNERS WORLD Director of Special Projects, volunteers behind wood tables filled small, white cups with water. As they arranged the cups in neat lines, they chatted—about where they are from, why they chose to volunteer, and mostly about the marathon.
“Have you run this race before?” Claudia Grogean, one of the volunteers in a green New York Road Runners poncho, asked the woman filling up cups on the other side of the table.
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“It’s the greatest race on earth,” Grogean said.
A small smile appeared on the woman’s face. They continued to chat as a few people stopped to give the woman a hug.
“I’m sorry, I feel like I should know you,” Grogean said.
“Oh, sorry. I’m Mary Wittenberg,” the woman said. “I used to be the race director here.”
Im sorry, I feel like I should know you, Grogean said, Mary Wittenberg, who became the race director of the NYC Marathon in 2005, will not be at the finish line to welcome 50,000 runners to Central Park. Instead, in blue rubber gloves, she will hand water to those runners at an aid station in Harlem next to her husband and two sons.
Wittenberg left her job as race director and CEO of the New York Road Runners in May to lead a new lifestyle company, Virgin Sport. After announcing the move, Wittenberg was unsure if she wanted to be in the city during the race.
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“Wittenberg also said she feels the same nerves as she normally would before the race,” she said. “I said I better go to Alaska because I don’t know if I could handle being here.”
Instead, she decided to volunteer. She picked mile 22 to honor Jim Murray, a 38-year volunteer who served as the captain of the same water station and passed away last November. The mile markers on the side of the road bear his name.
Despite having no more official duties with the marathon, Wittenberg said her routine the night and morning before the race this year did not change much. She went to bed at 11:30 p.m. as usual and woke up to run through Central Park to the finish line with a friend as she’s done for the past 17 years.
The only difference: Last night she was able to go trick-or-treating with her son for much longer, and this morning she got 30 more minutes of sleep—heading out for the run at 4:15 a.m. instead of 3:45 a.m.
“I did stop into the command center to wish everyone luck,” she said.
Wittenberg also said she feels the same nerves as she normally would before the race.
“Truth be told, it’s only five months since I have been gone, so I am still so invested,” she said. “I still have those nerves because this is my team. But it’s going to be great. I’m so excited. I feel great. It was never anything but a huge privilege to be part of this.”
As she continued to pour water into the white cups, Wittenberg talked about her new role as the head of Virgin Sport. The company is working on creating race series in regions around the world for runners and cyclists. She said her aim is to mimic the model of New York Road Runners by creating races year-round for runners and cyclists.
As she spoke, a man in a blue sleeveless shirt walked behind the water station and asked several volunteers how much the marathon cost. Wittenberg turned around and gave an answer. She chatted with the man for a few minutes and wrote down some information on how to get involved with New York Road Runners.
Although she’s no longer affiliated with the organization, as she resumed filling cups, she explained her thought process: “I can’t pass up an opportunity to get more recruits.”
Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years. His work has taken him across the country, from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to cover the 2016 Olympic Trials to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine to cover Scott Jurek’s Running in the Cold in 2015.
