Nancy Clayton, above, shows the medal she received after finishing the 2014 New York City Marathon.
When Barbara Clayton ambled into the Advertiser office one afternoon not so long ago, index card in hand, she seemed like any other proud New Canaan parent hoping to garner a little local publicity for something their child did.
So it was quite startling to listen as she matter-of-factly explained how her 27-year-old daughter, Nancy, had recently accomplished one of the greatest athletic achievements in New Canaan history. She read from the index card, on which she’d written the pertinent facts and figures.
Nancy Clayton
A former three-sport star at New Canaan High School (’05), Nancy, on a whim, decided to run the 2014 New York City Marathon last Nov. 2. Having never competed in a marathon, running on two rebuilt knees, and with no formal training, she stunningly finished with a time of under three hours, good for 19th place among U.S. women and 40th among female runners overall.
The index card, with facts and figures, that her mother, Barbara, brought to the Advertiser office.
That would be 40th out of 20,420 women, in the world’s largest and most prestigious marathon, which featured the top professional and amateur runners from 130 countries. Her competing also raised $3,600 for the Every Mother Counts charity, which provides pre-natal care for mothers in need.
So, Barbara Clayton wondered that day, could this maybe make the newspaper?
Uh … yes.
To anyone who’s known Nancy, her succeeding at anything would not be a surprise. Her life has been one of continual triumph, in athletics, the classroom and professionally.
A 5-foot-4, 110-pound blonde bundle of energy and cheerfulness, with big blue eyes and a quick smile, the oldest sibling to three brothers and a sister set a hard-to-follow example at NCHS, excelling in soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse. She suffered torn ACLs in both knees, but rehabbed hard and recovered completely.
She next was a four-year lacrosse player at Colgate, graduating with an English degree in 2009. In both high school and college she did run on her own, but not long distances, and not seriously.
“I’ve always been fast, but never had any kind of running discipline,” she said. “The track coach in high school used to try to get me to compete for the team, but I preferred the other sports.”
Moving to Manhattan after college, Nancy spent a few years working at Conde Nast, but felt unfulfilled. She decided to go into nursing, and enrolled at New York University, receiving her degree late last year.
“I like the versatility of nursing,” she said. “I didn’t like sitting at a desk all day. My plan is to work as a nurse for a few years, then become a nurse practitioner.”
With no sports teams left to play on after college, Clayton started running more, but running outside in the city wasn’t optimal. “I was on the treadmill a lot,” she said. “And I ran outside when I came to New Canaan for visits. I was running five and six times a week.”
Almost always, she ran alone. “None of my friends could run at my pace,” she admitted. “I thought of joining running clubs, but never did.”
Her only competitive race came in 2013 when she and friends rented a house on the Cape, and Clayton entered a half marathon. Having never run more than eight or so miles at a time, the 13-mile race provided a hint of what was to come.
“I’ve always been really competitive, to the point where I don’t even let strangers pass me when I’m out running,” she said.
Without knowing the course or how to properly pace herself, Clayton finished second with a time of 1:28, winning $500. It was at that point she took stock of her talent, but still needed a push.
New Canaan High School graduate (Class of 2005) runs in the New York City Marathon in 2014.
“I realized that I did really well in that race without any focused training,” she said. “My friends were more excited than I was, and I started thinking about what I might be capable of.”
One of Clayton’s friends from Colgate, Molly Breene, decided last summer to run the New York City Marathon, and asked Nancy to enter as well. They could avoid having to qualify if they ran and raised money for a charity. Breene found Every Mother Counts, which helps make childbirth safer for women in underdeveloped countries.
“It was the perfect charity for me because I was doing labor and delivery clinical rotation in nursing school at the time,” said Clayton.
Now knowing she had a serious challenge on her hands (and feet), Clayton didn’t amp up her physical training dramatically, but started studying how to taper, and how to plan practice runs. Truth be told, she wasn’t all that jazzed by the idea of running 26 miles.
“I went to the last two New York City Marathons to watch,” she said. “After they were over I’d think whether I should do it or not. Honestly? I wasn’t dying to.”
Her competitive juices took over as the race day approached. She had run two 20-mile practices and was pleased with those efforts and times. “I thought best, best, best case scenario I could break three hours in the marathon,” she said. “I gave race officials a predicted time of three and a half hours.”
Nov. 2 included high winds, never a plus for runners. Clayton’s family and many friends were, of course, lining the route. Barbara Clayton used red duct tape to spell the word ‘NANCY’ on her running bib, which would personalize her daughter to the huge crowd.
“The first half of the race I felt great, and kept track of my time for each mile,” said Clayton. “It was really, really exciting, a lot of adrenaline. You have to be careful not to do too much too early. My family and friends told me where they’d be on the course, so it was fantastic to see them. I knew I was going fast, and thought I could sustain it.
“I was running faster than a lot of the pros. I knew who they were because they had the low bib numbers.”
With about seven miles left, the fun was over for Nancy. “I was feeling insanely exhausted,” she said. “I thought maybe I should slow down. People were cheering for me by name, and that was inspiring. There were very few women runners at that point in the marathon. I was very glad my mom had put my name on the bib.”
Clayton knew her pace was close to the sub-three-hour finish she so wanted.
“It was doable, but I was really starting to slow down,” she recalled. “I didn’t feel good. I remember thinking I’m never going to do this again.”
Picking up her pace slightly in Central Park as the finish line beckoned, she saw the overhead digital clock tick-tick-ticking toward three hours. “There were tons and tons of people there, everybody screaming,” she said.
Finally, she crossed. It was over. Her time? 2:59:59. Incredibly, amazingly, she had broken three hours by one one-hundredth of a second.
Cold, exhausted and in pain, Clayton was tended to by event volunteers. “It wasn’t until I stopped running that I realized how much my legs hurt,” she said. “Then I had to walk 20 blocks just to get out of the park. They want you to keep moving so you don’t cramp.”
Now hungry as well as tired, Nancy and her family went to P.J. Clarke’s in Lincoln Center for lunch. There she realized the magnitude of her accomplishment. What’s more, she found out that her official time had been adjusted to 2:58:49, to make up for the forced slow start New York City Marathoners experience due to the huge number of runners.
“My friends were shocked with my time,” she said. “There’s an app that let’s you track a runner. I was getting thousands of text messages congratulating me.”
Nancy has conflicted feelings about what to do next.
“I’m really happy with what I did; it’s a pretty cool thing,” she said. “It inspires me to do more. Running clubs have contacted me to run races for them. But I don’t know if I want to run a lot of races. Sometimes I think that if I accomplished this on my own, what could I do with a professional coach? But would that ruin the fun for me? I’ll run more marathons. I definitely want to run Boston.
“My mom said I needed a 2:43 to qualify for the Olympic trials. That’s not so much faster than what I ran in New York. Given better training, and if I lived in a warm weather location ideal for running, I could do it. But do I want to devote my life to it? I don’t think so.”
For now, Nancy is content to savor her accomplishment, consider all her options, relax at home in New Canaan and study for the boards she must pass to work as a nurse. Asked what she liked to do here, her answer wasn’t surprising.
“I run.”