Sub-2:40: Fitz’s story

After a few days to think about it and with several texts from loyal alums to confirm it, last weekend was really a great day for Marist Running alums – with three men breaking the 2:40 barrier. We chronicled Luke Shane’s amazing breakthrough race in the previous post. Here’s his classmate Ryan Fitzsimons’ story and photo – both poached from Facebook. I hope he doesn’t mind:

From collapsed lung four months ago to a shiny new marathon PR, yesterday was filled with lots of emotion. But the resounding feeling is simply validation. When I first graduated college and started pondering the idea of running the marathon I set the goal of breaking 2:40:00. After 6 years of work I finally achieved that goal yesterday in a big way. I ran 2:37:20 for 111th place one year after this race absolutely crushed me physically and mentally. To comeback and redeem myself was almost solely what I thought about for the last 365 days. But what I am most proud of is how I accomplished this. After a grueling year of injuries, surgeries, work and life changes, Appalachian trail hike/therapy sessions and finally a 10 week intense marathon buildup I went into the race with the focused intention of walking away having a positive experience. I knew I was in decent shape but this is the marathon after all, anything can happen and I’ve been the victim to that unpredictability many times in the past. But this time was different. I have grown immensely as a human this last year, I have worked tirelessly on my mental health and mental strength and was able to put it to the test on race day. And I did not fail myself. Race day wasn’t perfect, life isn’t perfect, but what you can do in each moment of adversity is make the conscious choice to improve the situation. In times of strain on the course I shifted my focus to the positive energy around me, the beauty of the weather, the energy I was putting into the earth and feeling the earth radiate that energy back propelling me forward, and New York’s glowing enthusiasm for race day. I made yesterday a celebration. A celebration of running, of good health, of strong friendships and family, and of my time in New York. I stopped looking at my watch after mile 9 as to keep my mind focused on how I was feeling and staying present in the moment instead of stressing about the work ahead. Enjoying the journey, living for the moment, celebrating life, this is what the marathon means to me. This is why I will continue to run more and I know that I am capable of faster. But this race has solidified my own self belief. Validated. @ New York, New York