The funny thing is, this time last year Roseberry had no intention of taking on the arduous course. But last Christmas, the designer went out on an impulsive—and what would prove to be fateful—run through Paris along the Seine, the city’s famous central waterway. While he was no stranger to the magic and romance of the city where he has lived and worked since 2019, the run opened his eyes to his surroundings in new and profound ways. Something awoke in him, and, ten months later, he found himself among the nearly 60,000 participants of the New York City Marathon, which he completed in 4 hours and 24 minutes.
“It was just the perfect day,” Roseberry says a few hours after finishing, his medal still draped around his shoulders. He’d just enjoyed some post-race pizza and pasta (a “second dinner” of Shake Shack was also on its way), and he was looking ahead to some much-deserved time in Therabody recovery boots. “It really reconnected me to my love of this city.”
Photo: Daniel Roseberry
Roseberry started the day early, at 3:30 a.m., before taking a 5:00 a.m. bus to Staten Island, where the race begins before winding its way through the remaining four boroughs and ending in Central Park. “It was pin-drop silent on the bus,” he recalls. “But you can sense everyone’s energy. It’s like this pent-up anticipation.” He was part of the last wave, which set off at 11:30 a.m., meaning that after he arrived he had to wait five hours before starting his journey.
After scaling the route’s opening gambit—the four-mile-long Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, with a two-mile, 174-foot elevation gain, the race’s highest climb—the infamous crowds that line the route started to materialize. “The city really shows up, and it’s beautiful. All these people cheering for you… and they don’t know you. They’re cheering your name, telling you you can do it. It really carries you and is a beautiful representation of humanity at its best. It transcended every expectation I had.”
