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The Power of Alumnae: The Marathon Runner (Katie Gewirz '85)
The carb-loading thing is a myth,” says Katie Hamilton Gewirz ’85, about the common belief that pasta is the best meal to eat before running a marathon. She would know.
Gewirz has run more than 100 marathons (her current total is 102), including one on each of the seven continents. She did not initially set out to achieve these milestones. In fact, at NCS, she was pleased to have run one mile in just under 10 minutes at lacrosse practice.
“I did not run by choice in high school or in college,” Gewirz recalls. But around age 25, she started running recreationally and, in 1994, completed the Marine Corps Marathon in the rain. “I thought it would be one and done,” she says. “But then a year later I ran two more, three weeks apart.” And, after a break during which she had two sons, now 24 and 25 years old, she has run many, many more.
After approximately 45 races, Gewirz decided to set the goal of completing 100 marathons. For her 50th birthday in 2017, she ran “the six majors,” completing the Tokyo, London, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City Marathons in one calendar year. That was her most prolific year, as she completed 12 total marathons, including Colorado’s Pike’s Peak Marathon.
Gewirz also set a geographic goal of joining the Seven Continents Club. Her marathon experiences now include the U.S., Tokyo, Sydney, Berlin, Marrakech, Aruba, and Antarctica. For that last one, she voyaged on a Russian icebreaker with no WiFi through Drake Passage, considered one of the world’s most treacherous waterways, before running past penguins in sub-zero temperatures to win her age group.
For Gewirz, running and racing are rewarding in multiple ways. She struggled with undiagnosed ADHD and an eating disorder during her teen years. “Running has been a prescription,” she says. “It is active meditation. You’re on your own, yet you are supported by everything around you: the beauty of the great outdoors, the trails, your dog, or your partner in crime.”
Each race has been enjoyable and memorable. Gewirz explains, “I love the big ones, such as Big Sur and all the Majors, but I love the home-baked ones too. I’ve run marathons that were incredibly wellorganized and ones that started with a chalk line across a road, a whistle, and a stopwatch.”
Among her most notable runs is the 2013 Boston Marathon, Gewirz’s 45th, which she completed just minutes before the finish-line bombing. Though her family expressed reservations, she ran the following year — and has run Boston a total of 13 times—noting that, “You have to shine light on the darkness.”
Through her marathon travels, Gewirz has connected with many NCS classmates, remembering with precision at what miles and in which races she saw Maria Daniels ’85, Kristen Staples Durkin ’86, Anne Riederer ’85, Michelle Nunn ’85, and Fran Schuler ’85. At the end of the 2022 New York City Marathon, Gewirz was injured. An NCS friend helped Gewirz through Central Park. She says, “I couldn’t run, but I could walk. And there was Sarah Wallace Deckey ’85 and her daughter at mile 25 who jumped on the course to walk by my side.”
So, if not pasta, what is Gewirz’s go-to race-eve meal? “Sushi,” she says. “You’ve got the sodium from the soy sauce to help you retain water, a little bit of rice that’s a clean carb, and then clean protein – it digests really easily.”
Gewirz has other pre-race wisdom to share with anyone contemplating running a marathon. She advises, “Don’t be consumed by the end goal. Better to do less than you hoped than do nothing at all. Just take the first step.” “Don't be consumed by the end goal. Better to do less than you hoped than do nothing at all. Just take the first step.”
Back
Gewirz has run more than 100 marathons (her current total is 102), including one on each of the seven continents. She did not initially set out to achieve these milestones. In fact, at NCS, she was pleased to have run one mile in just under 10 minutes at lacrosse practice.
“I did not run by choice in high school or in college,” Gewirz recalls. But around age 25, she started running recreationally and, in 1994, completed the Marine Corps Marathon in the rain. “I thought it would be one and done,” she says. “But then a year later I ran two more, three weeks apart.” And, after a break during which she had two sons, now 24 and 25 years old, she has run many, many more.
After approximately 45 races, Gewirz decided to set the goal of completing 100 marathons. For her 50th birthday in 2017, she ran “the six majors,” completing the Tokyo, London, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, and New York City Marathons in one calendar year. That was her most prolific year, as she completed 12 total marathons, including Colorado’s Pike’s Peak Marathon.
Gewirz also set a geographic goal of joining the Seven Continents Club. Her marathon experiences now include the U.S., Tokyo, Sydney, Berlin, Marrakech, Aruba, and Antarctica. For that last one, she voyaged on a Russian icebreaker with no WiFi through Drake Passage, considered one of the world’s most treacherous waterways, before running past penguins in sub-zero temperatures to win her age group.
For Gewirz, running and racing are rewarding in multiple ways. She struggled with undiagnosed ADHD and an eating disorder during her teen years. “Running has been a prescription,” she says. “It is active meditation. You’re on your own, yet you are supported by everything around you: the beauty of the great outdoors, the trails, your dog, or your partner in crime.”
Each race has been enjoyable and memorable. Gewirz explains, “I love the big ones, such as Big Sur and all the Majors, but I love the home-baked ones too. I’ve run marathons that were incredibly wellorganized and ones that started with a chalk line across a road, a whistle, and a stopwatch.”
Among her most notable runs is the 2013 Boston Marathon, Gewirz’s 45th, which she completed just minutes before the finish-line bombing. Though her family expressed reservations, she ran the following year — and has run Boston a total of 13 times—noting that, “You have to shine light on the darkness.”
Through her marathon travels, Gewirz has connected with many NCS classmates, remembering with precision at what miles and in which races she saw Maria Daniels ’85, Kristen Staples Durkin ’86, Anne Riederer ’85, Michelle Nunn ’85, and Fran Schuler ’85. At the end of the 2022 New York City Marathon, Gewirz was injured. An NCS friend helped Gewirz through Central Park. She says, “I couldn’t run, but I could walk. And there was Sarah Wallace Deckey ’85 and her daughter at mile 25 who jumped on the course to walk by my side.”
So, if not pasta, what is Gewirz’s go-to race-eve meal? “Sushi,” she says. “You’ve got the sodium from the soy sauce to help you retain water, a little bit of rice that’s a clean carb, and then clean protein – it digests really easily.”
Gewirz has other pre-race wisdom to share with anyone contemplating running a marathon. She advises, “Don’t be consumed by the end goal. Better to do less than you hoped than do nothing at all. Just take the first step.” “Don't be consumed by the end goal. Better to do less than you hoped than do nothing at all. Just take the first step.”
