Thursday, October 1, 2026
For 34-year-old Justin Nakrin, crossing the finish line in Central Park at the TCS New York City Marathon this month marked the culmination of a 15-year dream. The Oyster Bay native, who first laced up running shoes as a middle-schooler, spent nearly half his life chasing the chance to run in one of the world’s most famous races.
“I’ve been trying almost every year since I was 18 to get in through the lottery,” Nakrin said. “Finally, this past year, back in February or March, my number was finally picked. Some 200,000 people entered the lottery for the 2025 New York City Marathon, and out of those, they only picked around 1,500 names. It only took me 15 years to get in, but I finally got in.”
Nakrin, a substitute teacher and a lifelong Oyster Bay resident, has been running since joining the middle school’s track team in eighth grade. He ran cross-country and track throughout high school and at Adelphi University, and after college he continued running recreationally, keeping up a steady schedule of local 5Ks and half- marathons. But the full marathon remained elusive until luck, and persistence, finally paid off.
When a charge appeared on the family credit card, it was Justin’s mother, Rosaria, who first noticed.
“She said, ‘Justin, I think you’ve been picked for the (marathon) lottery, because I see a charge from the New York Road Runners,’” he recalled. “Not even an hour later, I received an email saying that I got in. I was on cloud nine. I was ecstatic.”
Nakrin threw himself into training, increasing his weekly mileage beginning in April and soon adding a weightlifting regimen as well. His older brother, Brandon, a strength and conditioning coach at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus, helped him develop a nutrition plan.
Brandon said that for Justin, the marathon became a family project. “It kind of all just snowballed,” Brandon said. “He started lifting twice a week, sometimes three times, and made changes to his diet — more protein, more carbs, like rice and oatmeal. Then we started doing sauna therapy for recovery. It was really cool to see the progress.”
The goal, Brandon explained, was to make his brother stronger without sacrificing endurance. They also worked to reduce excess body fat to help lighten Justin’s load, improve his exertional efficiency and help prevent injuries.
His progress was steady and consistent. “It was slow at first because he was running so much,” Brandon said. “But the consistency really paid off. We barely ever missed a session. Seeing him stick to the plan and enjoy it was awesome.”
On the morning of the marathon, Justin woke up before dawn in Manhattan and caught a bus from the New York Public Library to Staten Island, where runners gathered at the starting line.
“I had a mix of emotions,” he recounted. “It was my first marathon — my dream was finally coming true. I was happy, excited, a little nervous. When it was finally time for the gun to go off, they fired a howitzer cannon and started playing Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York.’ It was really exciting.”
The sheer size of the event stunned him. This was the largest New York City Marathon ever, with just shy of 60,000 runners participating. The 26.2-mile course winds through all five boroughs, and has a couple of long uphill stretches and a grueling ascent to the Queensboro Bridge. Nakrin said he prepared for the inclines, but still found them challenging.
“It’s considered one of the world’s toughest marathons due to how hilly the course is,” he said, “but it actually went better than expected.”
His goal was simply to finish, but the result far exceeded his expectations.
“I actually ended up running sub-three hours,” Nakrin said. “I was two hours, 58 minutes, 13 seconds, and I came in 2,091st place out of 59,226 runners. My mile pace was six minutes and 48 seconds. I didn’t expect to go that fast.”
Brandon said the performance didn’t surprise him. “He really put the work in,” he said. “His original goal was just to finish, but he ended up doing amazing. It was a great accomplishment.”
When Nakrin reached the finish line in Central Park, the emotion of the moment hit him all at once.
“I felt like my heart was full,” he said. “It was a mix of emotions. I was overwhelmed, very happy and proud that I had accomplished this dream I’ve had since I was a kid. My family was cheering for me at Columbus Circle as I came around the park. It was a great feeling seeing and hearing them.”
His mother said that seeing his years of effort come to fruition was emotional for the entire family. “It was a dream come true for him,” Rosaria said. “We were all so proud watching him run and finish. He worked so hard for this.”
Despite the grueling months of training, Nakrin said he’s already planning his next race. He is looking into raising money for a charity for next year’s marathon, and has also entered the lottery for the Berlin Marathon, in September, and plans to keep training with his brother.
He finds a sense of peace and familiarity in the sport. “There’s sort of an introspective quality to running, but I also love the training of it: the lifting, the nutrition, the prep work,” Nakrin said. “I’ve been racing since I was a kid, and I just love it.”
