The Running Gear That Got Me Through NYC Marathon Training

For months (arguably years), I've been training for the TCS New York City Marathon. I'll be running it this Sunday (unless I die of nerves first). Training has been a journey that involved one knee injury, hundreds of miles, and seemingly infinite sweaty sports bras.

I've been working my way up from five miles to 14 to 18 throughout the course of my training, and soon I'll hit the golden number 26.2 miles.

I'm both anxious and excited for the race — but I couldn't have made it to this pumped up state of dread just a few days before the marathon without help from a few important people and products.

First of all, there's my trusty running coach,  John Honerkamp, Strava's Fall Marathon Club trainer, and the founder and CEO of Run Kamp. As part of his group program known as the #Honerkamp100, he gave me a training schedule, sent me weekly emails to hold me accountable, and organized group long runs. If I skipped a week or two of training because of my hectic schedule, he helped me get back on track. He also provided great marathon training tips, such as "Your dog ate your lucky socks? You probably need new lucky socks anyway, get new ones."

Whether I was training on Tracksmith group trail runs in Rockefeller State Park or just on my own in New York's Central Park, I used the app Strava to track my pace and milage. I like this app because it doesn't shout your pace at you audibly every mile, making you feel pressured or too slow.

There are probably a million other little things that whipped me into decent enough shape to run this harrowing, thrilling, bucket-list race. Here are just a few more of them.