Ms. Uy and Ms. Maitner Reflect on Running The New York City Marathon

The annual TCS New York City Marathon took place on Sunday, November 2, 2025. The 26.2-mile race led runners through all five boroughs, starting in Staten Island and ending in Central Park. Two Stuyvesant faculty members, Kristina Uy and Catharine Maitner, participated in the run.

Kristina Uy, Guidance Counselor

This year, guidance counselor Kristina Uy completed her second New York City Marathon after earning a spot through the 9+1 Membership Program. “I did nine races through the New York Road Runners, plus volunteered at one in order to get a spot for this year,” she explained. Although she had a satisfactory experience last year, she decided to run the marathon again after earning a spot through the program. “I had a great experience last year,” Uy recalled. “I didn’t really want to do it two years in a row, but I also didn’t want to have to pay extra money because the marathon isn’t cheap. And so I just decided to stick to it and do it.”

Uy first began running with her friends. “My friends were doing [races] and were into running [...] so it’s a fun thing to go and see each other at the races. And that’s how I kind of got into running,” she explained. She then began running more seriously in 2023. “I did my first half-marathon then. And then I really started to like doing different races,” Uy explained. Over time, running became something she actually enjoyed. “I really started to like it. I like how it makes me feel accomplished. It also does help with my mental health and physical well-being,” Uy reflected.

Before this year’s marathon, Uy trained for five months, even finding ways to keep up with her routine while traveling in Asia. “I had to start in July. And we went on a huge, big family trip to Asia this year, where we were gone for six weeks. And I didn’t know how training in other countries would be, especially in the summer when it’s so hot in Asia. So I made sure that I picked a plan that seemed a lot more doable while traveling into multiple countries,” she shared.

During the race, Uy drew motivation from her friends and coworkers who came out to support her. “A lot of people came out to cheer me on on marathon day. Several counselors and Dr. Yu shared about Maitner and [me] being in the marathon [with] the whole staff, so that if anyone wanted to come out to cheer [us] on, they would. And then just seeing everyone that I love along the route coming out to cheer was just really special,” she shared. To keep herself motivated, Uy used an app on her phone to periodically play voice messages to encourage her throughout the race. “I had some of my colleagues record voice messages. There is an app that you can use where people can record a message for every mile, and then when you hit that mile, it plays. Several of them gave me encouraging messages, so that was really nice,” she explained. 

Uy said what she enjoyed most was the sense of connection and support she felt running with her friends. “I did a lot of my long runs with friends, so other friends who were doing the race, like two of my really close girlfriends. So we got to run together,” she said. Beyond her training, the morning of the marathon stood out as one of her favorite moments. “The morning of, I got to go with one of my close friends, take the ferry together, and then hang out in the start village together. We got to go to one of the tents that had interfaith or non-denominational things, and we got to take communion together, which was really nice, and pray together, which I really appreciated, especially for a Sunday morning,” Uy said. 

Reflecting on her experience, Uy considers the marathon to be about more than just running. “It shows how much of an accomplishment [completing the marathon] is, but also knowing that it’s not just me, that I had so much support around me to help me get to that point,” she shared. Although Uy doesn’t plan to run the New York City Marathon again, she described the experience as both joyful and spiritually meaningful. “I hope to glorify God through [running], and just showing that He’s given us these bodies to be able to run this kind of race,” she reflected.

Catharine Maitner, Math Teacher

Sunday was Geometry and AP Statistics teacher Catharine Maitner’s first time competing in the New York City Marathon. Maitner took up running to remain active after retiring from ballet, which she had grown up doing and had reached a pre-professional level in. “I’ve always really enjoyed being active, and when I stopped dancing, I was looking for something to do that was still really active and got me outdoors, so I started running. I did some 10Ks, [and] I did a half-marathon,” she described. Curious to see if she could run a full marathon, Maitner began her training last June. “I used this app called Runna, which is very popular right now with runners. It’s this app that helps you create a training plan, so I used that app to help me train and get ready for it,” Maitner shared.

Maitner also explained that she was grateful for the guidance Uy gave her leading up to the race. “[Uy] actually gave me a lot of advice about what to expect from the race, how to get there, and we were texting back and forth about race preparations and what to do after the race and all that kind of stuff, so it was really nice having someone else at Stuy that was running the race,” Maitner explained. Aside from having another staff member also running the race, Maitner was also very grateful for the support she got from her other colleagues. “I saw Ms. Pedrick, I think, in Long Island City in Queens. At that point, I’d already made it through Staten Island and Brooklyn, so I really felt like I was fading. To see someone in Queens, especially someone from Stuy, was really amazing. [It] gave me another bolt of energy before trying to go over the bridge and back into Manhattan,” she recalled. Endurance is typically the biggest challenge for marathon runners, and having loved ones to cheer runners on makes all the difference. “Running the race itself was really hard, but I think just seeing all the people that came out to support me, my family, and all my friends, that was definitely the best part of it,” Maitner said.

To celebrate completing the race, Maitner went to dinner with her family and took the following day off to participate in Marathon Monday. “You can go back to the finish line and get your medal engraved,” she explained. When Maitner returned to school on Tuesday, her students gave her an enthusiastic welcome. “It was nice to [see that] my students cared, and it sounded like some of them were tracking me too, which is really cool,” Maitner shared. She is unsure if she will run the marathon again, but certainly not in the near future. If Maitner were to run again, she would try to enjoy the actual running a bit more. “[This time] I just didn’t know if I could run a marathon because I’d never done it before, so I was just so nervous to get to the finish line. If I ever did it again, it would be to try to enjoy it a little bit more [...] knowing that I could make it to the end,” she reflected.

Both Uy and Maitner worked hard to run the New York City Marathon, a physically and mentally challenging feat, and had the loving support of their students and colleagues. Uy encouraged others to take on challenges with confidence and, most importantly, friends. “If you want to do it, you can totally do it. It’s an amazing experience, especially because of the people who come out to cheer you on,” she urged.