When Pat Donadio was about nine years old, he lived in Brooklyn and he and his younger brother heard about a new road race called the New York City Marathon.
Since the route went past his home, they decided to head down to watch. They stood near the fence and high-fived the runners as they went past.
Fast forward decades later to today’s 50th anniversary NYC 26.2-miler and what do you know? Donadio, now living in Bensalem, was running the race with his training partner, Kevin McKale of Feasterville – both NYC Marathon first-timers — and they slowed as they reached the 11.5-mile mark.
Let Pat take it from there:
“It was sort of a homecoming for me,” the 57-year-old Donadio said in a telephone interview. “In the early 1980s, my family relocated to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, N.Y. I was around nine years old, my brother and I would high-five the runners, just a block from our house.
“I never thought close to 50 years later, I would be running this marathon and see my brother at the same spot where we hung out. It was a dream come true.”
Donadio went on to run a time of 3:20 and that was with a hamstring injury.
McKale enjoyed an even better day, completing the five-borough course in a personal record time of 3:08.
“My brother and I high-fived as many runners as we could find back then,” Donadio said. “Today I had the opportunity to return the favor with the other little kids who were around that area.
“So it was a very joyful event for me. I loved it. The weather was perfect.”
Both Donadio and McKale credited their noteworthy times to regimented training with teammates from the Bucks County Roadrunners Club. McKale is also a member of the Bucks County Triathlon Club.
“We’re out there 4:30, 5 o’clock in the morning training,” Donadio said. “We’re very committed with the Roadrunners, getting up on those cold, dark mornings, but a very wise man named Dr. Johnny King-Marino (club president) once told me, ‘if you’re going to race in it, you’d better train in it.
“So we’re out there in the rain, the snow, the ice, you name it, we’re out there.”
Donadio’s personal best is a 3:09 at Boston several years ago.
“The New York course is much more challenging,” Donadio noted. “Just the Verrazzano Bridge at the start, going down it, what it does to your quads. Me with a pulled hamstring, it was kind of tough. But I was committed to get this done. I wasn’t walking away without a medal.”
Pat’s girlfriend, Regina Hastings, was on hand to lend support and take photographs.
McKale experienced a perfect trip on Sunday and eclipsed his former record of 3:10.
He said the energy generated by the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the event plus the record turnout of some 60,000 runners helped the cause.
“All week long, in the expos (expositions) they were playing videos on big screens about the 50th,” McKale said. “They had interviews, like with the guy who has run all 50 of them. And they talked to the people, like the mayors, who made all this possible. It definitely made it part of everything.”
McKale, 53, is quite active in the Bucks County Triathlon Club. He said it helps to have like-minded training partners who are willing to go above and beyond when it comes to training.
“We had a couple people training for Steamtown (Marathon near Scranton) and some training for Philadelphia,” McKale said. “We did a lot of long runs together, like 21 miles leading into it. Trying to push marathon pace, more than we normally would have.”
McKale was raised in Langhorne, lived in Fairless Hills for awhile and has been in Feasterville the past 23 years.
In the NYC, he reached the halfway point in 1:31, so he pretty much knew he was on schedule for a personal best.
“I felt really good at the beginning, so I had to keep on looking at my watch,” he said. “I had to slow down or I was going to blow myself up.”
Wary of big crowds, McKale and Donadio caught an early shuttle and arrived at the staging area in Staten Island well before sunrise. There was a lot of relaxing on the lawn and swapping more than a few laughs.
On hand to witness the historic occasion were his wife, Karen, along with son, Ethan, and daughter Saige.
Other Bucks County runners competing in New York were Marco Giallela, Tony Pereira, Bharat Dixit, Justyna Wilson (3:06) and Gwen Kranzle (3:43).
Be the first to comment