NYC Marathon 'Everyman' attempts his first one

This year's New York City Marathon Everyman - or, at least, one in the expected horde of 43,000 Everymen bent on taking the 26-mile, 385-yard dare - might as well be Mike Redmond.

A McGraw Communications customer service manager from Floral Park, Redmond, 35, will be attempting his first marathon Sunday. (Roughly 20,000 others will be doing the same.)

As an amateur who runs for fitness and enjoyment, Redmond represents the overwhelming majority in the race. (Only 90 elite professionals will receive appearance and prize money.)

Plus, Redmond's portal to the race and to his recent participation in road running - raising money for charity - puts him in a crowd with more than 7,400 others.

Officials with the marathon - whose founder, Fred Lebow, died of cancer - see their event as a tool for promoting health, placing major emphasis on charitable fundraising, with a "million dollar per mile" goal this year: That is, $26.2 million to surpass last year's record $24 million raised.

All of this puts Redmond in with the in-crowd, even as it highlights his individual story:

He grew up in Breezy Point, Queens, and attended Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, where his soccer coach, Tony Grosso, was a marathoner. "I remember, like, 'Wow, that was the ultimate,' " Redmond said. "But I thought, 'Nah, I could never do that.' "

SEE PHOTOSRunning the NYC Marathon 2009, in costume

He played rugby at Binghamton University but didn't run just to run. Married and settled on Long Island in 2004, he said he only had been "thinking about trying to get back into shape" in 2007 when his mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. "That kind of brought health to the forefront."

Running became an "on-again, off-again thing," but when his mother died a year later, Redmond's sister alerted him to a 4-mile fundraising race for colon cancer research in Central Park.

"It was March of 2009," he said. "That gave me focus. We put together a team, Day at the Bay, that raised over $20,000." The races appealed to him, so he began entering 5- and 10-kilometer events. Last May, he got an e-mail from the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation, one of the New York City Marathon's official charities. If he could raise $2,500 for the foundation, he would be awarded one of the precious New York berths sought by 125,000 people this year.

"I asked a co-worker, Iwan Axt - he'd run marathons - can I get ready for this? He said, 'Absolutely.' He gave me a training plan every week." Redmond puts in 40 to 50 miles a week, has made it through several 20-mile runs, and finished an October half-marathon in a solid hour and 39 minutes.

SEE PHOTOSNYC Marathon 2009

His 2-year-old daughter - he and his wife, Nancy, have two daughters - sends him off on his daily runs with "Go, Daddy, go!"

Thirteen other members of the Colon Cancer Challenge Foundation also will be running today, and Redmond will start alongside his former college rugby teammate Tony Skalicky - also trying his first marathon. Redmond has calculated a pace that would mean finishing in 3 hours and 45 minutes - impressive for a debut marathon. (The course record for men is 2:07:43, set in 2001 by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia.)

"All week, it was like waiting for Christmas, like a little kid," he said. "I just want to get out there and find out what it's like."

Just like 43,000 others.