The Syracuse half-marathon turns competition into community
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Britney Iskula and her sister Brooke Langworthy ran the Syracuse Half Marathon together on Sunday morning. It was Iskula’s first race since being diagnosed with neurofibromatosis type 2 – a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow throughout the body.
“It’s been eight years since I ran a half marathon. I’ve had three kids,” Iskula said. “I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, and I wanted to prove that I can still do it.”
This weekend was the 11th year of the Syracuse Half Marathon. The race took participants on a loop through downtown Syracuse with a start and finish at the Oncenter. At the finish line, families and friends gathered in the snow to celebrate their loved ones with hugs, tears and congratulations.
Before her diagnosis, Iskula’s personal record for the half marathon was one hour and 48 minutes. On Sunday, nearly a decade since her last half marathon, she beat her best time by 15 seconds. She made her kids proud, Iskula said.
Langworthy has run major world marathons in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Tokyo, London and Brazil – finishing five out of the six in under three hours. Her husband, Matt Langworthy, joined his wife and sister in the race.
“Why did I run today? Just the experience right here, celebrating being healthy enough to do something like this — this is what it’s all about,” Matt said. “Let’s go, Syracuse.”
Various booths, like Fleet Feet and Monster Energy, filled the Oncenter. The booths surrounded large tables covered with food for the runners as finishers reunited with their families to recover, eat and collect free merchandise.
In front of booths and crowds, two screens displayed the times of every finisher next to a live band. After the run, winners Matt Cavaliere, who was first among the men, and Lauren Philbook, who won for the women, took to the stage of the Oncenter’s auditorium.
With the Tipperary Hill Shamrock Run on March 9 and the Mountain Goat Run on May 5, Race Director Rick Streeter realized there was a hole in the local race calendar. Filling that gap, he started the Syracuse Half Marathon in 2012.
“I’ve been a runner for a long time and I truly believe in the camaraderie and the overall feeling of the runner’s high,” Streeter said. “When you’re done with a run or a race, you have a different feeling than any other type of workout.”
This Saturday was Carol Wilkie’s fourth time doing the Syracuse Half Marathon, but her 40th half marathon overall. At 68 years old, she loves to run for the same camaraderie Streeter detailed. She said every participant in a race shows up for the same reason — to run and compete. More than anything, though, she shows up for the free swag, she joked.
Like Wilkie, Streeter is a Syracuse native, and that local connection is important to him when planning the half marathon. With the event, Streeter brings the feel of larger races like those in New York and Boston, with large convention centers and over 1,000 participants, to Syracuse.
The event has become an unofficial kickoff to the running season, he said. Streeter loves seeing runners celebrate with their families after the race and reach their goals. The benefits of running are “unlimited,” he said
Jack Howes and Owen Rodgers founded “Run Your Mouth,” an organization that aims to spread awareness for men’s mental health through the positive benefits of running, several years ago. Both former lacrosse players, Howes and Rodgers ran the half marathon wearing shirts with the names of friends they lost to suicide.
“It’s difficult to run a half marathon, just like it’s difficult for a lot of guys our age to talk about difficult things,” Howes said.
With physical activity’s positive impact on mental health, they run to keep themselves healthy and set an example while representing their friends.
“(In sports,) guys don’t want to show any weakness, so they try to just bury all their feelings and we want to kind of represent, ‘Hey, it’s okay,’” Howes said. “If you guys can’t talk about it, let’s do something else that’s uncomfortable and let’s just run.”
Cornell University student Eileen Kelly came to run the half marathon along with 10 friends. The group has been training together since October and runs as a fun way to get together amid their busy schedules.
Kelly’s family came to the race to support her holding a sign that read “Come On Eileen!” She said it was special to be supported by so many people and that while Sunday was her first race, she plans to run many more, even considering a marathon next.
“Seeing people cheering you on, even if they didn’t know you, was such a wonderful thing,” Kelly said. “It put a smile on my face and that made me run a little bit faster.”
