Top NYPD officials describe preparation for this year's TCS NYC Marathon
Watch the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon Sunday, November 5 starting at 7 a.m. on ABC 7
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Among the tens of thousands of people who run the world's most famous marathon are dozens of New York's finest, including some at the very top.
Tanya Kinsella is the second highest ranking person in the NYPD. Her best friend, Glorisel Lee, commands a precinct on Staten Island.
They have come up together in a field once dominated by men. Together they've trained, and together they will run.
"We have to be there for each other," Lee said. "Motivate each other hold each other up, and I think what we're trying to do is show other women you can do it too."
"We motivate each other because there was a time, even in running, a woman wasn't allowed to run marathons," Kinsella said. "And now in the present time women, we're running the world."
Kinsella's been running hard throughout her career. This year, she became the first woman appointed first deputy commissioner.
This will be her fifth marathon, but she isn't running for time.
As many as 50 NYPD officers run the marathon every year and they run for all kinds of reasons.
They run for their personal fitness, they run to be part of a team, to represent, but they're also cops, and at a time when securing the marathon is as important as ever, it provides a whole other layer of protection.
With the war in Gaza, inspiring concerns over terror attacks in the West, the NYPD says there aren't any specific or credible threats against the marathon. But that doesn't mean they aren't ready.
A full year of preparation culminated in a tabletop exercise.
Only Eyewitness News was at the exercise, where top leaders from every city agency worked through every possible scenario that could pop up along the 26.2-mile route.
"If something happens, we know what to do, so if there's an active shooter if a bomb goes off, everyone knows their role, how to do it quick, be accurate, and mitigate the threat to our community," said Chief John Chell of the NYPD Patrol Services Bureau.
But assuming all stay safe, there's another prize for cops on the route.
Every year, the NYPD and FDNY compete for the so-called Mayor's Cup. The winner is the first agency to see 10 of its runners cross the finish line.
It's a friendly competition, but Kinsella and Lee say their team isn't going down without a fight.
"We're taking it home," they said. "We're keeping it where it should be this year. The team has been working very hard, so I know we're ready to take the trophy."
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