I am running the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon for Team Battery on Sunday, November 3!
This year, I’m celebrating my 15th anniversary of living in New York City the best way I know how: By running across all five boroughs.
The Battery Conservancy was founded to revitalize New York’s birthplace park and its major landmark, Castle Clinton National Monument. The Conservancy designs, builds, maintains, and programs the historic Battery’s 25 acres of public parkland at the southern tip of Manhattan.
When I first moved to New York from North Carolina, I would run down the West Side Highway every day, from the Village to the Battery, to clear my head from the hustle and bustle and take in the beauty of the waterfront park and harbor. It has always been a place that inspires reflection, as my own great-grandfather came through Ellis Island in 1905 on a similar whim—and hope—of finding something greater in this city.
While I never knew him, I'm always reminded that we shared that view from the Battery. His grandson—my father—ran the marathon in the '90s, and my first memories of this city I now call home were here, cheering him on with my mom and brother in this very race.
The Battery has long been a place for me to feel connected to where I’ve been and where I’m going. And I view the marathon as a way to honor the city I love and call home—with the Battery being an iconic part of that tapestry.
The Battery, the thriving green heart of downtown New York, is a model of conservation and biodiversity with vast public gardens, organic urban farms, toxin-free lawns, the innovative SeaGlass Carousel, and Playscape—all built to flood and recover.
I'm proud to be running 26.2 miles through New York City in support of this park. The Battery is home to 240,000 square feet of gardens, weekly programs free and open to the public, and it remains one of my favorite running destinations.
As a member of Team Battery, I have committed to fund-racing $4,000 for this beloved urban oasis. Please donate today and help me reach my goal!
