Michael Sorrentino, 56, of Freeport, finished the New York City Marathon in four hours and 30 minutes Sunday. But his journey to the finish line didn’t start Sunday morning. It began 20 years ago, just after he had run the marathon for the seventh time. The very next day, Sorrentino said, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
“I just ran the New York City Marathon, I’m not supposed to be sick,” Sorrentino said of his mindset at the time.
Sorrentino was among Long Island residents who were among the 55,000 participants in Sunday’s New York City Marathon, the 54th iteration of the 26.2-mile race that winds through all five boroughs.
Since his cancer had been caught on the earlier side, Sorrentino was able to return to running about two months later after surgery and radiation therapy. During a 10K, he made a promise to himself that he would run the marathon every year, as long as he could. And he has.
Runners compete during the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon as it passes through Brooklyn on Sunday. Credit: Anna Sergeeva
“In my mind, if I was there, I was OK,” Sorrentino said during a phone call from Penn Station on Sunday after the run, dreaming of his post-marathon meal: a Sicilian pie topped with pepperoni from Raimo’s in Freeport. “I’m such a fortunate son of a gun that I get to do this.”
Sorrentino said his internal “check engine light” flicked on at around mile 18.
“I had to slow down a little bit,” Sorrentino said. “The marathon is like a box of chocolates. You don’t know which marathon you’re going to get. I’m accepting what I got today because I’m such a lucky fella.”
Scott Warmbrand, 52, of Mastic, first started training for the marathon in 2022. Then, in May 2023, he suffered multiple strokes in multiple parts of his brain. He spent nearly a week in the hospital and struggled to walk around the nurses ward.
It took about 18 months before Warmbrand felt back to normal, he said. Eventually, he started to run again.
On Sunday, he felt good headed into the race, he said. He slept well the night before and had a smooth commute into the city. But around the eighth mile, his left knee “gave out” and he had to walk the rest of the way.
For the first five miles after his injury, his mind was consumed with negative thoughts, he said. But then he “straightened up and said, ‘I’m going to finish the marathon.'”
“I was able to walk fast,” Warmbrand said. “That’s what you have to do. Everyone says, ‘Don’t quit.’ So I didn’t. “
Warmbrand said he will probably feel frustrated for a bit, but not much longer. He plans to run the marathon again next year, and he wants to focus on building up his strength.
“I really can’t complain,” Warmbrand said. “I just did a marathon. I couldn’t walk around the nurses ward. What do I have to be upset about?”
But in the immediate aftermath of the marathon, Warmbrand was focused on something else. For the past six hours, he had subsisted solely on gels and Gatorade, and now, he wanted one thing.
“Pizza,” he said.
Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.