Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

The New York City Marathon: One woman’s journey

CORNWALL — It’s always fascinating to know what happens behind the scenes at a major sporting event, especially one that involves amateur athletes — The New York City Marathon, for example, which was  held this year on Nov. 7.

Elizabeth England, a resident of Cornwall and Manhattan, took part in the marathon, but at a walking pace, slow enough for her to take photos, meet people and (unlike a runner trying to speed to the finish) to actually be able to absorb some of what was happening around her.

England is a native of the Berkshires, a college consultant, a mother of children in their 20s, something of a jock but certainly not an endurance athlete. She works out. She jogs. She walks, a few miles at a time.

She’d never competed in a serious race before, and she certainly didn’t dedicate years or even months of her life to training for one of the elite sport events in the world.

It wasn’t until this year in September that taking part in the marathon became even the possibility of an idea.

England had been out walking and ended up at the tennis courts at Cream Hill, where she ran into her friend Alice Gottesman.

“You have to help me get in shape,” Gottesman said. “I’m walking in the New York City Marathon.”

Casual observers of the marathon are mostly aware of the runners who cross the finish line in Central Park in under two hours. But there are hundreds of other participants in the marathon who do not “qualify” for the race, but who secure a spot as part of a fundraising event for a nonprofit.

Gottesman was walking with a team representing The Brotherhood Sister Sol in New York City that supports Black and Latinx youth (it’s also known as Brosis). The group’s goals aligned with other volunteer and community-supportive work that England does; she offers her college consultancy services at no cost through the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition in Louisiana, for example.

Not only did England agree to help get Gottesman ready for the 26.2 mile race course that she’d be tackling in under two months; she decided to sign up and walk, too. There were 20 spots on the Brosis team, with 17 runners and three walkers (including England and Gottesman). Each team member had to pledge a donation of $2,500.

England knew from the start that, even though she hadn’t started training until September, she would probably be the only one of the three walkers to endure the entire multi-borough walk.

To prepare herself, she did some distance walks in the city — and in the process discovered an extra incentive to complete the Marathon. England’s father had died over the summer. He had essentially raised her as a single parent, in Lenox, Mass.,  and they had been very close. He’d always been a cheerleader for her to take on apparently impossible tasks. For England, the walk was a chance to honor his memory — and to hear his voice as she struggled through some of the hardest sections of the walk.

Calories are fuel

There were other voices in her head as well as she prepared for race day. One friend, a serious competitive athlete, advised her not to do anything on race day that she’s never done before. England knew she’d need some calories and nutrition that she could carry with her on the walk; she began eating RX bars as part of her training.

“I like them because they’re very ‘clean,’” England said. “I don’t really like supplements but I like these bars. They’re small, they taste good, they’re fabulous.”

England’s husband, Tony Scott, is a serious amateur cyclist.

“He looked at my RX bars, which each have 200 calories, and said, ‘You’re going to need two of these’” to have enough fuel to make it through the day.

 

Read more about Elizabeth England’s New York City Marathon here.

Elizabeth England (of Cornwall and Manhattan) walked the New York City Marathon as a member of a team raising funds for Brotherhood Sister Sol in New York City. At the halfway mark, she stopped for a selfie with the organization’s development director, John Anthony Dumey. Photo courtesy Elizabeth England

A few scant weeks before it began, Elizabeth England was recruited to walk the New York City Marathon with friends Alice Gottesman, at left in photo, and Marti Meyerson, at right. Photo courtesy Elizabeth England

Elizabeth England (of Cornwall and Manhattan) walked the New York City Marathon as a member of a team raising funds for Brotherhood Sister Sol in New York City. At the halfway mark, she stopped for a selfie with the organization’s development director, John Anthony Dumey. Photo courtesy Elizabeth England

Latest News

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notices - July 9, 2026

Legal Notice

Notice of Formation of Kaits Kleaning LLC. Art. Of Org. filed with SSNY on 05-22-2026. Office Lo-cation: Dutchess county. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 24 Attlebury Hill Road, Standfordville NY 12581.

Keep ReadingShow less
Tenmile Distillery is making history the old-fashioned way

Cheers! The Revolutionary Whisky Series at Ten Mile Distillery, each named for a significant battle of the American Revolution, celebrates America at 250.

D.H. Callahan

In December 2024, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau officially established the Standard of Identity for American Single Malt Whisky. It was the first new classification in more than half a century, creating new possibilities for American distillers. One of the distilleries taking advantage of this new landscape is Wassaic’s Tenmile Distillery. It is well positioned to make history because Tenmile has always honored traditional whiskey-making practices.

Single malts are often associated with Scotch whisky. Perhaps that’s why, years before the new standard was adopted, Tenmile hired Shane Fraser, a Scottish master distiller with 30 years of experience at some of Scotland’s most prestigious distilleries. Fraser began designing the distillery from the ground up. Alongside owner and general manager Joel LeVangia, he emphasized time-honored traditions, favoring hands-on craftsmanship over the increasingly automated methods used by larger producers. When it comes to making the best whisky possible, Tenmile believes in learning from the past. That philosophy extends beyond the distilling process.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

The magic of Belinda Sinclair

Belinda Sinclair

Dean Chamberlain
Sinclair’s show explores the ways women have been practicing forms of magic for centuries, and there is plenty of history to tell.

Belinda Sinclair is the kind of magician who impresses people who don’t like magic. Her tricks are mind-boggling. Her stories are captivating. And if she picks you to write your name on a card, get ready to be wowed. Repeat attendees of her shows, of which there are many, take almost as much delight in watching new jaws drop as they do in seeing an illusion reach its astonishing conclusion.

Since the summer of 2025, Sinclair has been baffling local audiences at the Hughes Memorial Library in West Cornwall, but her magical run comes to a close at the end of August.

Keep ReadingShow less

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

“Nixon in China” comes to Tanglewood

Renée Fleming, Andris Nelsons and Thomas Hampson.

Hilary Scott

On Friday, July 17 at 8 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, two of the greatest American voices of their generation, soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Thomas Hampson, join Music Director Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of excerpts from John Adams’ groundbreaking opera “Nixon in China.” The piece, performed earlier this year in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York City, is a highlight of a program that also includes “Meditations on Grace” (2024) by BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, and the melodic and technically demanding Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber.

Fleming is internationally celebrated for her vocal and dramatic artistry, as well as for her advocacy for the powerful impact of the creative arts in health. Hampson has long been recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time and has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. Both performed in “Nixon in China” earlier this year at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano.

Keep ReadingShow less
Local playwright revisits Revolutionary moment in “Rebel Town”

The cast and crew of “Rebeltown: The Musical.”

Jack Sheedy

John Alan Segalla was working in Boston a few years ago, giving historic tours at the site of the Boston Tea Party. Now, as America celebrates 250 years as a nation, the Canaan native is about to debut a new version of his original musical, “Rebel Town,” inspired largely by the Boston Tea Party, the protest that helped launch the American Revolution.

“It wasn’t until I got to Boston and learned the Tea Party story that I fell in love with this moment in history, and I saw the story as wildly compelling and very important, and really a story that was very misunderstood, mistaught in schools,” Segalla said at a recent rehearsal in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, ahead of the show’s July 10 opening.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.