Interview and Story By: Cassandra Ficano
After her first half marathon Kristen Kastrinos wondered if she could run a full. When she ran a full she wondered if she could run an ultra fifty miler. She ran the ultra and now she is playing with the idea of a hundred. What started off as a hunch of whether or not she would be up for the distance, has now turned into the 41 year old’s passion as she has now competitively ran over 2,000 miles in the past five years. This year alone she has run two Iron Men, one in July and one just a couple of weeks ago. Kastrinos next challenge will be taking on the Marine Corps Marathon October 30th.
Kastrinos is a veteran when it comes to preparing for marathons. The Marine Corps Marathon will be her fourteenth. She prepares for these races by training six days a week: three days of running with one day of long distance and three days of cross-training. This will be her second time running this marathon as she ran “The People’s Marathon” last year as well and hit a new personal record for her marathon time.
“I’m really proud to be in it again. I loved it, it’s just a different kind of race. Especially being a police office. I know I’m not military but I feel like we are all related and to me that’s- I’m just really proud to be there,” Kastrinos said.
The New York State police officer makes it a point to stay on top of her workouts and maintain a healthy diet in order to prepare for this race despite her busy schedule with work. It is this combination along with her cross-fit training, that sets her apart from the look of a typical runner. Kastrinos stands 5’7 and has a ton of muscle which is not common for most marathon runners. She says that the benefit of being an athlete is that she is able to bounce back quicker than the average person. When she finishes a race, she will take only one day off to travel home and the following day start training again by doing laps in the pool.
Kastrinos always makes use of her compression gear which she will be wearing in this years race. While she is running she tries to take everything in.
“The Marine Corps Marathon is good because you see the marines and you see the people running with you. There’s just so many people that it kind of offers some distraction. It gets you thinking about where you are and how proud you are to be there,” Kastrinos said.
It is for this reason that she does not listen to music while she runs long distance nor does she plan to for this marathon. Kastrinos finds that it is good etiquette to do as a runner because she acknowledges the fact that she is there for a reason, and wants to stay engaged in the environment. She will have plenty to take in as this course passes the Pentagon, National Mall, Crystal City, Georgetown and Arlington National Cemetery.
The night before the Marine Corps Marathon Kastrinos will be following her typical dinner plan before a race, pizza. She’ll then text her nieces and nephews who are all under the age of 10 and they will all offer her some advice for the race. The morning of, she will post on social media before heading to the race as she has done in the past. She says that the responses she gets are amazing and really motivating for her.
Kastrinos says that for her competitive running has become addicting and plans on continuing to participate in triathlons. When she discusses her race plans with family and friends they always have a similar reply: “really more running?”
Update: Kastrinos finished the Marine Corps Marathon in 5:38:26. At age 41, she ranked 972 in her her division, placing 6,036 in her gender and 14,289 overall in a race with some 30,000 Ultra Athletes… a truly remarkable feat
About the Author: Cassandra Ficano is a native of Kings Park, presently a student at Catholic University in Washington D.C. Smithtown Today is proud to publish her story, which was originally written for a college journalism course. On behalf of the team at Smithtown Today, we welcome Ficano to the field of Journalism and look forward to her budding career, as a writer.