New York City Marathon: Actors, singers, NHL legend, and Olympic gold medallist are among the 2023 celebs running
Vancouver 2010 bobsled champion Steve Mesler will try his first ever marathon on Sunday (5 November). He and a collection of other celebrities are running for a myriad of causes.
Athletics
When Steve Mesler won Olympic gold in bobsled at Vancouver 2010, his job was - as he puts it - "to run for five seconds and sit for a minute."
Sunday (5 November) at the New York City Marathon, the Olympic champion will be doing "the exact opposite," Mesler said, in what he revealed is his first-ever run at this 26.2-mile distance.
"I hadn't run more than six miles (10k) in my life before July of this year," Mesler told Olympics.com in an exclusive chat. "I was looking for a new challenge for myself, to push myself. I started one mile, then two, then found myself doing a half marathon. My body feels good, and this is a chance to promote Classroom Champions."
That would be the non-profit that Mesler co-founded, which sends Olympic and collegiate athletes into classrooms via a mentorship program. It's a common thread among the who's who of celebrity runners at the NYC Marathon: You're not just getting the marathon experience, you're supporting a cause, too.
Other celebs include:
- Sheinelle Jones – TODAY show correspondent
- Nev Schulman – Host of MTV’s Catfish: The TV Show
- Laura Dreyfuss – Actress and singer
- Luke MacFarlane – Actor
- Zdeno Chara – NHL legend; three-time Olympian
- Patina Miller – Grammy and Tony Award winning singer and actress
- Amy Robach – Television personality
- T.J. Holmes – Television personality
To find out more about the celebrity participants in the marathon, click here.
Steve Mesler: 'I missed the grind'
"I've been challenging everybody to find me a sport that still involves running but is shorter and more intense than bobsled versus, you know, the opposite... which is a marathon," laughs Mesler.
He did, indeed, only begin his training for this weekend's run over the last few months, peaking with a 55-mile-per-week peak that Mesler admitted he didn't think he could do when they began.
"And then I did it," he said. "I think the thing I miss the most of being an Olympic athlete is the process: I miss the grind, getting up every day and having a goal and pursuing it and pushing myself. I re-discovered that with marathon training. I was getting up at 5 in the morning for my runs."
"I just absolutely loved it."
While Mesler wants to run with a cause for Classroom Champions, he is also participating to raise awareness around athlete mental, having lost two Olympic teammates to suicide, Steve Holcomb and Pavle Jovanovic.
"I think about those guys and what they faced," Holcomb said. "I want people to understand is for us as a society to deal with our mental health, you have to have a team around you. A counselor, doctor, medication... When I think about the marathon, it's about everyday people pushing themselves to do something that they're proud of.
"And that can just be getting off the couch in the morning," he added. "I'm pushing myself to do something I've never done before. And it's just about going one more kilometer at a time."
With Classroom Champions, Mesler said they have "taken what it takes to become an Olympic and boiled it down to make it manageable to help young kids succeed."
"Our goal is to remind kids, yes, things can be really hard... it sucks sometimes," he said. "And even when it's hard, I still go. I still get after it. As Olympians, we know that's actually the time you dig in and you go more because that's when you can get better."