Babka and the world’s biggest marathon

I flew to New York to run the biggest marathon in history with no cause, no personal-best target, and nobody to run it with. 

As far as I knew, I was the only Jewish South African runner travelling to the race, and I wished I belonged to something. 

Then, on the Friday before the race, I went to a “Shakeout run” in Central Park. 

My friend Daniel Singer had told me about this Nice Jewish Runners (NJR) run. “You must go,” he said. Seven thirty in the morning, Central Park on the Upper East Side, at the Fred Lebow statue. About 200 people arrived, many in branded NJR kit. I had never heard of Fred Lebow, by the way. 

Beatie Deutsch, the “Marathon Mother” and Israeli national marathon champion, was there. We laughed about the June 2025 morning she had joined us in Glenhazel for our pre-Comrades run, on the coldest day of the year, when my fingers were so icy I spilt my cappuccino on my race shoes. 

We ran through Central Park, and at Columbus Circle hundreds of Israelis met us, singing, dancing, and waving Israeli flags. They were running for Team Shalva, the Israel Association for the Care and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. Together we ran the last 800m to the official marathon finish line and sang Hatikva with close to 1 000 Jewish runners and supporters. I will never forget it. 

At the finish line on that Friday morning, I met Valerie Hartman and Matthew Schmidlin, who were running for Achilles International, a non-profit that helps blind and disabled athletes run the marathon. Valerie explained why the Fred Lebow statue stood by the finish line pavilion. They move it there from the Upper East Side for race week. 

So who was Fred Lebow? Born Fischel Lebowitz in Arad, Romania, in 1932, he fled the Nazis as a teenager and reached America in 1951. In 1970, he helped organise the first New York City Marathon: four laps of Central Park, 55 finishers. Six years later, he took the race through all five boroughs for the first time. He was race director for 24 years. In 1990 he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Two years later, aged 60, he ran the marathon again alongside champion Grete Waitz. He died in 1994. Every runner on that start line in 2026 followed a route he helped create. 

We then walked to Bread, a bakery on the Upper West Side, for babka and coffee. There I met Fred’s niece Estee Stimler. I also met Marty Granoff, aged 90, the oldest runner in this year’s field. Marty had not run a marathon in 43 years. He decided to train again and run it with his son and grandson. He finished the marathon in eight hours and 26 minutes, alongside his son Michael and grandson Avi. The back of his t-shirt read “If you can read this, you’re losing to a 90-year old man!” 

On race day on Sunday morning, I put on tallis and tefillin in the International Minyan tent at the start village on Staten Island. I finished the race in 3:38, in a record field of 61 146 finishers, on the 50th anniversary of the five-borough course. My wife Kayli cheered me on, among two million crazy fans along the route. 

I arrived in New York wishing I belonged to something. I found it on a Friday morning, over babka. 

I have brought the inspiration home. Forty people came to the inaugural Friday-morning Babka Run at Run Glenhazel, our new social running group for the community. Babka Run is now a weekly tradition. Come join us at the next one. Bring your takkies and your appetite. 

• Dan Stillerman is a visionary entrepreneur, productivity coach, and founder of Excel Academy, who also champions causes in Jewish communal leadership.