More than 50,000 runners will make their way through a 26.2-mile race across all five boroughs Sunday.<\/p>\n
Some are running for the very first time, while others are veterans of the course.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Karen\u00a0Bdera’s love for running dates back to 1984 when she spotted a sign on an MTA bus that said “Who says women can’t run the world”
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Her first race was the 1984 women’s 10K through Central Park. This marathon will be her 715th race
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She made many friends along the way, but one in particular stands out for introducing her to her now-husband of 36 years<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sense of accomplishment when you get to that finish line is just very empowering,\u201d Karen Bdera said.<\/p>\n
Bdera would know. She\u2019s completed 24 New York City marathons and has the medals to show for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole borough of Brooklyn brings magic to the world,\u201d Bdera said. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s cheering everywhere, there\u2019s 2 million people out there cheering for all the runners.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she gears up for marathon number 25, she can\u2019t help but think back to how it all started in 1984, with a sign.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on a bus going to work,\u201d Bdera said. \u201cI was just out of college, and there was this sign on the bus that said, \u2018Who says women can\u2019t run the world?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That sign, it turns out, was an ad for a race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was something that caught my attention, and as a non-runner, I don\u2019t quite know why it caught my attention, but it did,\u201d Bdera said.<\/p>\n
It was for a women\u2019s 10K through Central Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in the early 80s, that was a big deal, because there was a whole huge contingency of women\u2019s lib, etc. etc.,\u201d Bdera explained. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018I have never run in my life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The runners of that race got a t-shirt, and Bdera got hooked.<\/p>\n
Two years later, she finished her first marathon. Now, she\u2019s 715 races in.<\/p>\n
Along the way, she\u2019s made lifelong friends. One in particular inspired her to cross finish lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she was racing in her 60s, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Well, if she can do it, I can do it,\u2019\u201d Bdera said.<\/p>\n
Bdera\u2019s friend also helped her find love, saying, \u2018Hey, you should meet my son!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cShe kindly introduced me to my husband of now 36 years,\u201d Bdera said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, of course, when she proposed, I didn\u2019t want her to think I was cheap or easy, so I said, \u2018I\u2019ll get back to you,\u2019\u201d joked her husband, Nick Bdera.<\/p>\n
For the past three and a half decades, racing has been \u201ctheir thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the walking Bderas,\u201d Karen said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how else to put it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A love built, in part, on a shared love of a sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t always race together, because now he\u2019s slower than I am,\u201d Karen said. \u201cSo I wait for him \u2014 he did an awful lot of waiting for me in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s your response to that?\u201d NY1 asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, it\u2019s sad,\u201d Nick said. \u201cYou get old, you get slow. It\u2019s terrible, but that\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n
A life filled with thousands of miles \u2014 and counting \u2014 all thanks to a little sign, spotted on a New York City bus 40 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you realize you can do it, there\u2019s no reason not to do it,\u201d Karen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 50,000 runners will make their way through a 26.2-mile race across all five boroughs Sunday. Some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11101,25,9,24,12,56,63,65,64,319,11102,27,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-24393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-app-sports","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-headlines","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-stef-manisero","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}