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Three is the Magic Number?


Third Time's the Charm - Pizza, Bites & Cocktails in Red Hook, New York

Free topic today…

but recently I convinced a friend to run a 10k race around Governor’s Island (NYC) with me.

2024 NYCRuns Manhattan Ice Cream Social 10k Race Recap | My First 5K and More...

Aug. 8, 2026

Why?

I said because I usually run NYC races three times and I’ve only run this 10k race twice.  A stupid reason, right?

In 2024 and 2025

The 2025 one actually took place in September (but it was the same course.)

Coincidentally or Karma, on the same day as Heidi and I decided to run this race, NYCRuns advertised a brand new marathon which will be 9 loops of this island:

photo from that 2024 10k… can you spot me?

Here are my NYC threes:

  • I ran the NYC Marathon in 2019, 2023, 2024
  • and the NYC Half Marathon in 2019, 2024, 2026
  • and the Brooklyn Half Marathon in 2018, 2023, 2024

So why THREE times?

  • The first time, the race is new, exciting and you are facing the unknown so you have no big goal.
  • The second time, you are familiar with the course and logistics and you hope for a course PR.
  • Since #2 rarely happens (at least for me), the third time, you run it purely for fun and you enjoy the race.

So I am planning on a great weekend for the Governor’s Island 10k.

Does that mean I should run Fred Lebow Half Marathon one more time in January? I ran it in 2020 and 2022.

or the NYC Mini 10k?  I ran that race in 2025 and 2026.

Happy Running! Do you run races more than once? Why? Please share.

Since today is Tuesday, I’m linking up with Jenny (RunnersFly) and Jenn (Runs with Pugs)

and tomorrow:

I’m also linking up with: co-hosts Coach Debbie Runs, Confessions of a Mother Runner, Mile by Mile, and Runs with Pugs

14 thoughts on “Three is the Magic Number?”

  1. you should run the GI marathon since you love GI so much. It solves most of your concerns with NYC . I haven’t done a GI race this year and might not which feels weird.

    I actually want to do Fred again and might. But I’d much rather run somewhere new–she says as she has repeats on the calendar already for 2027

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  2. Of course you need to run the Fred Lebow Half and the NY Mini 10K a third time, Darlene! I love that tradition.

    I’ve done the same with a few races, mostly because they’re so convenient. But when we started spending time in Cape Town, every race was brand new to me, which made racing exciting all over again. Now I’m starting to repeat some of them, and like you, I can’t help comparing my current time to the very first time I ran the race.

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  3. Your reasoning for running races three times makes total sense, Darlene, and I’m not sure I would have thought of that logic. Very smart! To answer your question, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon ten times and a couple of other local marathons five times each. I’ve run the local turkey trot many times (maybe 15?) over the years.

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