Rockland Residents Gearing Up For NYC Marathon

It was shortly after Ed Ilarraza’s heart attack and stroke on Easter Sunday 2010 when he regained the ability to move his feet slightly that he told his therapists and family he was going to run a marathon. 

“I was joking around, but my therapists encouraged me,” he said. “They told me, ‘Yeah, you can do that if that’s what you want to do.’”

That was back in May of last year. Last November, Ilarraza ran his first half-marathon in Philadelphia, and now a year later, he’s about to run in his first full marathon, the ING New York City Marathon this Sunday. 

Ilarraza is one of many Rockland residents participating in Sunday’s 26.2-mile race, and all have their own reasons for running. The New City resident who didn’t have a pulse for 35 minutes on that Sunday said there are a few reasons he’s running in the marathon. 

“I really want to let people know that when God heals, he really heals,” Ilarraza said. “Coming out of the hospital, I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t brush my teeth.”

After leaving Good Samaritan Hospital, Ilarraza went to Helen Hayes Hospital and started his speech, physical, occupational and cardio therapies. At first he was walking on a treadmill for an hour a day, and worked his way up to jogging, which turned out to be something he really enjoyed. 

“Before the heart attack and stroke, I couldn’t remember the last time I jogged or even exercised,” he said. “I only worked. I was in the insurance business and had long hours.”

After that first half-marathon last year, Ilarraza ran two others and just about three weeks ago went on his last long training run. It was a roughly 20-mile run that started at New City’s Grace Point Gospel Church, where Ilarraza suffered his heart attack and stroke, to Good Samaritan Hospital and then to his house. 

“Before that run, I was questioning why I wanted to do this,” he said. “I just wasn’t excited about it.”

But after the run, when Ilarraza said he didn’t really feel achy or anything in the days following, he realized how far he’d come while training. He said now he’s thrilled and can’t wait for the race to start. 

“Running just clears my mind, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me on Sunday,” he said. “It’s just him and me when I run.”

Ilarraza said he’s writing a book about his faith and prayer, and how they got him through his near-death experiences, and plans on the New York City Marathon being the book’s final chapter. 

“I think a lot of people who pray don’t pray with the faith that God will answer their prayers,” he said.

But he’s also running to raise money for World Vision, a humanitarian organization that works with the poor of oppressed from around the world. They also allow people to sponsor children and do a lot of work trying to get people in Africa clean drinking water, Ilarraza said. As of Friday, he hadraised around $1,000 for the charity, a total that was disappointing to him, but he added that some people he heard from promised to make donations as well. He also raised $2,200 for World Vision earlier in the year while fundraising for a half-marathon. 

“I’m not running just for me,” he said. “I’m also doing this to raise money for kids.”

Many of the runners participating in Sunday’s race have raised money for charities as well. Connor Coyle of Pearl River, raised money for Team For Kids, which promotes health and fitness programs for underprivileged children. So far, the senior at the University of Albany said he’s raised more than $2,600 for the charity. 

“When I was researching charities, Team For Kids stood out,” he said. “It’s a great cause. Health and fitness programs for kids are important, so when they’re older they won’t have to worry about fighting childhood obesity.”

Coyle is also running in his first ever marathon. 

“It’s something that I’ve always been intrigued by and interested in,” he said. “I just figured if I trained I could fulfill a dream I’ve had for awhile.”

He started running in January just to get a few miles under his feet, he said, and started his training program in May. When he told his family and friends what he planned on doing, they didn’t believe him at first. 

“It’s a pretty big feat, something that’s not easy to accomplish,” he said. “It takes a lot of mental and physical toughness, but I stuck to the plan and now they believe me.”

Nanuet’s Jonathan Farrell had a similar issue when he told people he was going to run his first half-marathon earlier this year. 

“When I told them I was doing it, they said, ‘You’re crazy,’” Farrell said. “And when I told them I planned on running a full marathon, they said, ‘You’re really crazy.’”

Farrell started running two years when a co-worker convinced him to sign up for a 5K run. 

“I ran and I’ve just kept on going,” he said, “like Forrest Gump.”

At the start of each new year, Farrell said he tries to set running goals for himself, and this year his goals were to run a half-marathon, and if that went well, run a full one. After running a few half-marathons this year, Farrell said he planned on running in the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, Pa., but then decided to just with the NYC Marathon instead. 

“I expect there to be a lot of energy,” he said. “You just don’t have your adrenaline pumping through you, but the adrenaline of everyone around you.”

He said he’s hoping to finish in less than four hours, and that since he started two years ago he’s really taken to running. 

“It’s a high. It makes you feel good,” he said. “I sit at a desk on my computer all day, so it’s nice to get outside and be free for a bit.”

Farrell also did some fundraising, earning about $3,600 for Meals on Wheels, a non-profit that provides home-delivered meals to seniors, as well as operates seniors centers and adult day care programs. 

“It’s great because not only have I been training for three months, but I also was fundraising for three months for this great organization,” Farrell said. “I think it’s been a huge success.”

Of course, not all runners participating in Sunday’s race are doing so for the first time. Nyack’s Patrick Parietti is running his 17th straight NYC Marathon. 

“When I sit back and think I get to participate in this great event, I just can’t believe it,” said the Nyack Middle School teacher. “When I’m laying on my couch, sometimes I’m fantasizing about running in this.”

He said his dad was a big runner, and that’s part of the reason he first got interested in the sport. The other way he got into running was while he was on the wrestling team at Suffern High School, and had to run to keep his weight down. He said that since he’s started running in the marathon, he’s seen the race grow into this big event that people actually enjoy and look forward to going to. 

“It’s a bit like the Kentucky Derby,” he said. “A bunch of people tell me they’re coming to watch, and they’re not coming to watch me, they’re coming to watch the event itself.”

He did joke that since the event is so long, it might be as hard to watch as it is to run in it, but he also said that many people who watch it feel inspired by the race. Still, Parietti said he couldn’t watch it. 

“If I tried to watch on TV, I’d probably rip off my clothes and start running along with it,” he said. 

He said his favorite part of the race is crossing the Queensboro Bridge, where the runners get back into Manhattan via First Avenue. 

“You get over the bridge and there are just all these people cheering for you,” he said. “If you feel even two-thirds of the way decent, it’s a rush. You feel like a rock star.”

This year, Parietti will wear a shirt with pictures of his late father running. including one where he was included in a picture of thousands running the marathon in Time magazine. 

“I thought it’d be a nice way to honor him,” Parietti said. “Since I’ve been running, I’ve been able to inspire others to start running, which is great because that’s what my dad did for me."

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