Three Team Inspire Runners Relive Their TCS New York City Marathon

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This week, Becs talks with three Team Inspire athletes about their experiences running the TCS New York City Marathon: Danish Hussain Yar, Alan Kaufman, and Nicole Ver Kuilen. Team Inspire is a diverse group of marathoners with compelling stories—each story representing one mile of the 26.2-mile course. Danish grew up in northern Afghanistan and first discovered the TCS New York City Marathon through a video she watched as a teenager. After escaping Taliban rule, she became a student at Cornell University and a runner ambassador for Free to Run, a nonprofit that advances gender equity worldwide. Alan, a Forest Hills, Queens, resident, ran his first marathon in 1992. After being diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma in 2017 and given six months to live, he defied the odds and completed his 33rd New York City Marathon this year. Nicole, a bone cancer survivor and Para triathlon national champion who waited 16 years for a prosthesis built for running, now leads a campaign expanding access to prosthetic and orthotic care.

00:00 You're going to finish this marathon
00:19 A record-breaking 2026 TCS New York City Marathon
02:31 Pro results: Almgren, Chepkirui, Hug and Debrunner
08:00 Meet Danish, Alan and Nicole of Team Inspire
10:40 Sunday in one word
11:01 The moment they knew they’d finish
14:29 Danish’s toughest mile, coming off the Queensboro Bridge
17:18 Alan and the bubble curtain in Fort Greene
18:22 Nicole: “You’ve got this, baby girl”
20:34 Danish: a journal entry at 17
25:20 Danish’s first run outdoors in Ithaca
29:01 Alan’s stage 4 diagnosis
34:00 “Can I do the marathon in the fall?”
36:20 Nicole’s 16-year wait for a running leg
42:20 Prosthetics on the marathon course
44:33 Running with a guide: Dani Aravich and Ray Johnson
47:16 Danish runs for Afghan women and girls
49:39 Danish and Free to Run
51:17 So Every BODY Can Move: 15 states and counting
56:35 Alan’s message to anyone in the infusion chair
57:29 Will they be back next year?
59:01 Alan: “Easier to walk in ten hours than run in five”
01:00:22 Closing and a tribute to Rachel Apa

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DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by guests on the podcast are their own and their appearance on the podcast does not imply an endorsement by NYRR of them or their views.