iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Journalist, author, and reality television star Carole Radziwill is taking a stab at a new challenge: long distance running.
The former ABC News journalist is running her first New York City Marathon in November to raise money and awareness for North Shore Animal League America.
An animal advocate with a desire to exercise, Radziwill wanted to combine her newfound interest with doing something for charity.
Radziwill spoke with ABC News about motivating herself to begin running and highlighted a few ways she is preparing for the marathon.
1. Training with a coach
Radziwill professed, “I’ve never even run across the street to catch a cab,” conceding she rarely exercised for much of her life.
As a person who goes “zero to one hundred” with every challenge thrown her way, Radziwill set her sights on not just beginning to exercise, but actually running a marathon. However, she needed the proper training.
The “New York Road Runners” offered Radziwill a running coach, Roberto Mandje, who she praises and says pushed her, guided her, and got her ready to make it through the marathon.
Radziwill completed her first mile in over 18 minutes. Now, she can run at an eleven minute pace, and has completed runs over 20 miles. She sustained an injury in August, and may not be able to run long distances after her race, but still feels confident and healthy enough to complete her first marathon.
2. Staying hydrated
Mandje stressed to Radziwill that she needed to hydrate, especially as she began increasing the length of her runs.
Radziwill is not a water drinker, admitting she never liked the taste of water. To keep hydrated, she turned to Verday, which is flavored chlorophyll water. She says Verday “saves” her when she is going on her long runs, and that she just “enjoys it.”
When it comes to eating properly for the marathon, Radziwill jokes that as a “carb-o-holic,” she has had a marathoner’s diet her entire life.
3. Having no running buddies
Radziwill chooses not to work out with anyone other than her coach, and tells ABC News that choice has contributed to her success as a runner.
She feels that running comes naturally to her and likens it to meditation because it offers her an opportunity to create a dialogue within herself. She says she appreciates that alone time and moment to reflect, and that aspect of running gives her motivation to continue training.
“It’s almost a spiritual experience,” Radziwill says as she reflects on her solo runs along New York City’s Hudson River. It offers her a chance to step away from her day-to-day obligations and turn her focus to training.
“I think about my life. I think about my childhood… where I’ve come from… where I am now,” telling ABC News, “People always ask, ‘Who are you running with?’ I’m like, ‘Nobody!'”.
Radziwill states that getting a chance to run through all five boroughs is a part of the race she looks forward to, and feels it is a way for her to thank New York City since it has given her so much to her.
Radziwill along with thousands of other runners will take part in the New York City Marathon on November 5, 2017.
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