Here’s an interesting statistic for you — fewer than 1% of the world’s population will ever complete in a marathon. 1% … that’s pretty incredible to think about, especially with how many people run a marathon or half-marathon each year. This year’s NYC Marathon made history as the largest marathon in the world, with 59,226 finishers. I was one of those finishers. My first marathon ever and I helped break a world record!

Running, like golf, has always been a passion of mine. It is an individual sport where you can push your limits and learn about you and your abilities. My love of running comes from my dad. He has been running for more than 15 years now, and seeing how much he has loved it and the people he has met has been really fun to see. After I ran in the OKC half-marathon several years ago, he asked me, “You want to go another 13.1??” I looked at him and thought he was crazy. I gained the inspiration to run a full marathon after watching my dad compete in the 2022 Chicago Marathon. Seeing the crowds and the support from a city like Chicago was truly incredible, and that was the spark that fueled my desire to eventually go the full 26.2. 

Last year, when I had a buddy of mine run to represent the PGA REACH Foundation in the NYC Marathon, I saw it as an opportunity to support the game I love in a different way than playing golf, as well as representing Cordillera Ranch and the STPGA on a global stage. After countless talks with my friend and conducting a bunch of research, I applied. I figured if I am going to run a marathon, why not go for a big one. Once I got the news that I had been accepted to run in this year’s marathon, I was both excited and nervous. Excited for this incredible opportunity and nervous because this meant that I was going to be running a lot and training in the Texas heat … training for a fall marathon during the summer months in Texas is not for the faint of heart. The journey I went on to prepare my body to run in NYC was incredibly rewarding. When the training miles really started to ramp up and I was knocking each long training run out, I started to appreciate the hard work and effort I was putting in — I felt proud of myself for what I was accomplishing.

When I arrived in NYC a few days before the event, I could see that the marathon had taken over the entire city and I just couldn’t believe that I was going to be taking part in something that big. When I was handed my bib at the expo, that was when it hit me — this is really happening.

The day of the race arrived and my 4:30am wake-up call came extremely fast. After eating, stretching and trying to calm my nerves, I met up with some of my fellow teammates to head south to the Staten Island Ferry with thousands of other runners making the pilgrimage to the starting line. When we arrived to the runners’ village in Staten Island, the atmosphere was electric — people were everywhere. The lead-up to the race felt like an eternity, but everyone I came in contact with that morning was extremely friendly and made my nerves melt away because we were all in this together. Before I knew it, I was standing in my starting corral, listening to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” song filling the air while waiting for the cannon to sound and send my wave across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island into Brooklyn.

Once my shoes hit Brooklyn, that’s where the fun began. The support and roar of the crowd carried me through the rest of the race. The encouragement from spectators was overwhelming, with shouts of “Go Nick!” at every turn. Their motivation, combined with a few appearances from my wife at miles 8, 16 and 24, gave me that added boost when things really got tough as the race progressed. From Brooklyn to Queens, Manhattan to the Bronx and the finish in Central Park, the city made me feel like I was a superstar. It is a feeling that I will never forget. When I got to the last mile, I dug deep, embraced the pain and made sure I finished strong. I wanted to empty the tank and leave all my efforts out in the streets of NYC — and that’s what I did. As I came up on the final .2 miles and I could see the finish line, a wave of emotion overcame me, because I knew that I was about to finish something great. As myself and other runners finished this great accomplishment, I found myself high-fiving and hugging strangers, because we did this together. I joined a pretty special fraternity — Marathoner.

The challenge of such a physically and mentally demanding race like this is hard to explain. It’s a lot like golf where you play one hole at a time, but in running, it’s one mile at a time. I enjoyed every single mile of this race. All I told myself is no matter what time I finished, I knew I was accomplishing a huge goal. Over the several months of training and calls with my fellow teammates, I had also come away with friends, and together we accomplished something special. 

Running and training for a marathon takes up a lot of time and forces you to change up your lifestyle. My wife, Teigan, was an absolute trooper in helping me along in this journey and helping me stay the course — even when training got tough. She was my rock. During all the early morning runs, late night runs and the long runs where she was waiting several hours for me to finish up, she was constantly there to give me a hug and cheer me on. Having a strong support team is important and I was blessed to have found several people that I could lean on in this journey. From my dad and my brother in-law, Cooper, giving me constant coaching advice and guidance along the way, to my friends and family, work family and the members at the Club keeping me in check and following up to see how my training was going, I am extremely blessed and thankful for all the support from each and every one of them. 

My one piece of advice to anyone who is even thinking of doing a marathon, all I have to say is: DO IT! Don’t think about it, just do it. I promise you will be thankful you did it.