West Islip Woman Takes 5th Place At NYC Marathon

West Islip native Allie Kieffer came in fifth place at the New York City Marathon over the weekend.

The 30-year-old finished with a time of 2:29:39, just three seconds behind the fourth place winner, Edna Kiplagatt.

"It was beyond my wildest dreams," Kieffer told Patch of placing fifth while shaving 26 minutes off her personal best in the marathon. "It was amazing."

It was the third marathon for Kieffer who ran in a marathon in Miami in January 2016 and an indoor marathon in New York City in March 2016. During the indoor marathon, she ran a total of 211 laps and set the world record for indoor marathons.

She started running in kindergarten after her sister joined a club and her parents wanted her to have somewhere to be around the same time.

"I was the youngest person ever in the club, my mom convinced them to let me join," she said. "I followed my sister into this sport."

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In 7th grade, Kieffer started playing soccer but continued to run as well.

"I think people thought I was good at running but really I was just by the ball all the time because I could run faster than anyone," she said.

All that running paid off for Kieffer, who got a full scholarship to college.

She started training in August, running 95 to 105 miles a week. However, last month she appeared to hit a slight road block when she got tendinitis which forced her to cut back on running the last few weeks before the race.

"I think it affected my time in a good way," she said. "I think I ran much better because I think as runners, we have a tendency to always want to do more."

Now that the race is over she has been busy celebrating with friends and family in West Islip.

Kieffer says she was inspired by a lot of people -- including her sister who died in a car accident 10 years ago.

She was also inspired to keep going thanks to her sponsorship with Nike, who helped pay for training and massages among other things.

Her next goal is to make the world half-marathon team, which takes the best half-marathoners in the world to be a part of a race in Spain next March. Currently, Kieffer is at number 6 on their list so she's hoping to run another half-marathon to move up.

Photos courtesy of Allie Kieffer