Marathon Woman Goes Again

While most people are still snuggled away in bed, enjoying an extra hour's sleep, Karen Greco will be joining thousands of runners headed for Sunday's ING New York City marathon.

Greco will be among the crowd of competitors befitting a mid-sized city (about 45,000 runners are registered this year), taking on her seventh New York marathon and 12th overall of her career.

The Greenlawn resident and mother of three didn't race for nearly 20 months because of knee surgery and other ailments but finished third in October at the Diva's half marathon. That race was won by Centerport's Heather Williams.

Williams was encouraging, Greco said, telling her, "go ahead, you've got it in you."

Greco, a native of West Islip, took up running while a student at St. Bonaventure University as a way of staying in shape. She ran her first New York City marathon in a time of 4:02 but hopes that Sunday she'll be able to hit or break 3 hours and 10 minutes. "If I do 3:05 or less, I'll be very, very happy."

She particularly enjoys the excitement of the massive event in New York. "I just love the race. I'm excited to be back and part of it." She'll be running with the Fast Feet team, part of the Greater Long Island Running Club. She and other Long Island runners will be leaving by bus from Farmingdale.

Mike Polansky of the Long Island club said, "For many Long Island runners, the annual NYC Marathon is almost a religious experience -- a pilgrimage to what has become the Mecca, Rome and Jerusalem of the running community.  You may not go on that pilgrimage every year, but almost everyone does it once, and everyone is quite aware of which of their friends and running buddies is doing it each year."

To ease concerns about starting line congestion, the professional female runners will start at 9:10 a.m., followed by three waves of about 15,000 runners each.

As far as recovering from the brutal five-borough, 26.2-mile run, Greco has a plan. Husband George will "fill the bathtub with ice and when I get out, I'll feel like a brand-new person."