When Joel Kaufman of Queens walked across TCS New York City Marathon Finish Line Last year, after 8 p.m., after most runners and spectators had left Central Park, he earned an unusual honor.
“I got a call the next day from New York Road Runners,” Kaufman told The Post about the organization that produces the 26.2-mile race. ,[They] Said, ‘You are the official finalist.’ I said, ‘This is great.’ I got a title which no one can take away from me. It’s not like being the 57,000th finisher.”
Kaufman’s time of 8 hours, 43 minutes and 34 seconds — a pace of 19 minutes and 59 seconds per mile — was his slowest time in the decade he’d been running the NYC Marathon to support people. battling leukemia and lymphoma blood cancer.
The 66-year-old retired high school math teacher who is familiar with the “whammy” will be back for Sunday’s marathon — and this time he’ll start two hours earlier as a sign of his inspirational story.
“I’m going to start at 9:10, 10 minutes after the top runners, with three-hour marathon runners next to me,” Kaufman said. “I’ll be on the right side of the road the whole way, walking with my hat on and 50,000 people will pass me yelling, ‘On your left.'”
Kaufman wears a cape that highlights leukemia patients and those who have helped him raise more than $150,000.
He also wears an American flag headband, a Jewish star, a military-style dog tag that demands return israeli hostagea highlight shirt Team in training fundraising event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and a colorful feet necklace that celebrates her friend’s recovery after a stem cell transplant.
Kauffman, a longtime hiker, was inspired to start running the NYC Marathon in 2015 by a childhood friend who was diagnosed with leukemia and has since died. He completed the race in 7 hours 40 minutes.
“Once I got into marathon shape, I couldn’t go back to the couch, and it definitely filled my days and gave me something to do during the day as a retired teacher,” Kaufman said. “
Apart from Disney World, the father of four has also completed marathons in London and Chicago.
Kaufman typically trains every other day by walking 5 miles. He walks instead of running to reduce the chance of getting injured.
This means that he has been on the course for a very long time. His fastest NYC Marathon was 6 hours, 53 minutes, and 4 seconds in 2017. His “dreaming time” is 6 hours, 30 minutes.
Marathoners have until 10 p.m. to complete the five-borough course, regardless of their start time.
Kaufman brings music with him, although the battery lasts only five hours. He usually finds someone to talk to to pass the time.
He also carries his own snacks – pretzel crisps, protein bars and Fig Newtons – and a water bottle in case the station is low on water when he arrives.
Usually when he reaches First Avenue in the Bronx at the end of the race, it is a “zombie walk”.
“It’s dark, and most of the people who are in the bars on First Avenue barely notice you. A couple says, ‘Hey, you’re still running. Keep it up,” Kaufman said. ,[Once] Someone told me, ‘You can run.’ And I looked at him – he might have been 16 or 17 miles away – and I said, ‘You can turn it off.'”
His goal with each marathon is to “finish and live”. Last year, he was ranked 51,266th out of 51,348 finishers.
NYRR told The Post that Kaufman was officially the last person to cross the finish line — finishers listed after him spent more time on the course but started earlier.
This year, NYRR is letting Kauffman start from the back of the first wave as part of Team Inspire, a group of 26 marathon runners — one for each mile — with the most compelling stories.
Kaufman plans to add chapters to his story by running more marathons.
“There’s no reason for me to stop,” he said. “I’m just warming up.”
