‘Runner’s calm’ steadies two first-time NYC marathoners without a home

Courtesy Back on My Feet

It’s understandable that Tim Blackmore is equal parts psyched and nervous about running the New York City Marathon this weekend.

The race is his first marathon, and the 42-year-old US Marine Corps veteran hopes to finish in under three hours — a benchmark only a small percentage of marathoners achieve.

“I’m a strong runner and want the challenge,” he wrote in a text. But Blackmore never expected to be at the Staten Island starting line.

“If it wasn’t for running,” he told CNN, “I probably wouldn’t be sober.”

When he joins nearly 60,000 other runners in the famous five-borough race on Sunday, it may be hard to tell that he’s spent the past year living in a shelter on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

After his mother died in 2023, Blackmore turned to alcohol and cocaine use.

“Basically, I walked away from my job in Long Island. I walked away from my apartment, and I just didn’t really have anything left,” he said. “I burnt through everything and I just needed to start over.”

He joined a recovery program but kept relapsing. Eventually he entered a detox program and then moved into a shelter that supports people in recovery in 2025. There, he discovered Back on My Feet , a running and community nonprofit that partners with shelters to support people experiencing homelessness.

Blackmore initially ran nearly every day. Now working as a union laborer, he runs about three times a week to help maintain his mental health and marathon training. He invited his twin brother, Daniel Blackmore, to train with him for the marathon, and now Daniel volunteers with the group.

Within months of joining the program, he completed a half marathon. Back on My Feet later sponsored his entry for this year’s New York City Marathon, recognizing him as one of its strongest and most dedicated members. Nine other runners affiliated with the organization are also participating. Four are currently experiencing homelessness, while the others are alumni who have secured housing and employment.

“To know that you’re good at something that’s really hard has really put so much more confidence in me for other hard things in my life,” he said. “I’m a better employee, I’m more dependable, and it’s like running — I’m accountable to myself.”

For people experiencing homelessness, exercise may seem like a luxury when they’re working to secure housing, employment and other basic needs.

But researchers say exercise can offer benefits far beyond physical fitness.

Dr. Amy J. Kemter, a San Antonio-based therapist and social worker, coauthored a 2022 study examining a pilot running program for people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorder.

She says running can help participants discover they’re stronger than they realized, build confidence and develop social connections.

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“If you show up to a race and you are unhoused and you’re in a T-shirt and a dirty pair of running shoes, you literally look like everybody else,” she said. “So it erases all the stigma that kind of goes with that, too.”

For Blackmore, running has accompanied significant changes. He’s maintaining his sobriety, working in construction and preparing to move into his own apartment in December.

Over in Brooklyn, 22-year-old Dwayne Ferguson is also preparing for his first marathon. Unlike Blackmore, his goal is simply to finish.

He’s the first among his friends to attempt the distance, and they sometimes joke about it.

Courtesy Dwayne Ferguson

“They say ‘good luck’ and they say, ‘damn!’” he said, laughing. “What sane type of person would do that to themselves?”

Ferguson has been staying with his girlfriend’s family since a disagreement with his mother a few months ago left him without a home of his own. He wanted to avoid entering a shelter.

He said he’s grateful for their generosity — but the house is full, he sleeps on a couch, and tensions with a family member have sometimes made the arrangement uncomfortable.

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Ferguson is now interning with a program that feeds children and families in need and saving money to rent a room.

Amid that uncertainty, running has become a source of calm.

“It takes a lot of stress off my shoulders, to be honest,” he said. “I’ve been able to sleep a little bit better, think a lot better. It’s just been peaceful running, feeling the wind.”

Ferguson learned about the marathon through Next PAGE , a trauma-informed creative writing program for youth in detention and reentry. After he wrote about his love for running and wanting to meet male role models, the program’s founder, Emily Palmer, encouraged him to enter the race and connected him with a running group called Harlem Run. One of the group’s leaders, Jesse Liriano, sponsored his race registration, and the running group also helped him secure a shoe sponsor.

Training hasn’t always gone as planned. Between work and school, and the stress of figuring out whether he has enough money to buy food, finding time to run has been difficult. And while Blackmore has found community through group runs, Ferguson often prefers to run alone, especially in the morning.

Jo Dawes, a physiotherapist and principal research fellow in primary care and population health at University College London, coauthored a 2024 systematic review examining physical activity among adults experiencing homelessness.

Her research found that physical activity can support health and well-being, foster social connections and help participants develop a sense of achievement.

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Dawes says it’s a mistake to assume exercise matters less to people experiencing homelessness than it does to those with stable housing.

“ Whether we have a home or not, we’re all humans, we all have our needs, we all need to be well,” she said.

Homelessness also takes different forms. While Blackmore has been living in a shelter, Ferguson’s temporary living arrangement illustrates how people can have a roof over their heads without having secure housing.

The finish line may be in Central Park, but Blackmore and Ferguson say they plan to keep running long after they cross it. For both men, the marathon represents another milestone in lives that are changing.

As Blackmore prepares to move into his own apartment, he has his sights set on an ultramarathon.

Ferguson recently earned his GED and hopes to attend college. He also hopes his friends and family will be proud.

“I like to inspire people to do more, not only for others, but for themselves,” he said. “So running, I would like for them to see that as, ‘Oh, he’s running. Maybe I could, you know, do something that I like to do.’”

Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN’s Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.

感谢“重新站起来”

蒂姆·布莱克莫尔本周末将参加纽约马拉松，他既兴奋又紧张，这是可以理解的。

这是他第一次参加马拉松比赛，这位 42 岁的美国海军陆战队退伍老兵希望能在三小时内完成比赛——只有一小部分马拉松选手能够达到这个目标。

“我跑步能力很强，想要挑战自我，”他在短信中写道。但布莱克莫尔从未想过自己会出现在斯塔滕岛的起跑线上。

“如果不是因为跑步，”他告诉 CNN，“我可能不会保持清醒。”

周日，当他与其他近 6 万名跑者一起参加著名的五区马拉松比赛时，可能很难看出他过去一年一直住在曼哈顿下东区的收容所里。

2023年母亲去世后，布莱克莫尔开始酗酒和吸食可卡因。

“基本上，我辞掉了在长岛的工作，离开了我的公寓，我真的什么都没剩下，”他说。“我把所有积蓄都花光了，我只能重新开始。”

他参加了一个康复计划，但总是复发。最终，他进入了一个戒毒项目，然后在2025年搬进了一家为康复者提供支持的庇护所。在那里，他发现了“重拾希望”（Back on My Feet）——一个跑步和社区非营利组织，该组织与庇护所合作，为无家可归者提供支持。

布莱克莫尔最初几乎每天都跑步。现在他是一名工会工人，为了保持心理健康和备战马拉松，他每周跑步大约三次。他邀请双胞胎兄弟丹尼尔·布莱克莫尔和他一起训练马拉松，现在丹尼尔也加入了他们的训练团队做志愿者。

加入该项目几个月后，他就完成了半程马拉松。“重拾信心”（Back on My Feet）组织随后赞助他参加今年的纽约马拉松，表彰他是该组织最坚强、最敬业的成员之一。另有九名与该组织相关的跑者也将参赛。其中四人目前无家可归，其余三人是已找到住所和工作的往届学员。

“知道自己擅长一件非常困难的事情，真的让我对生活中其他困难的事情更有信心，”他说。“我成为了一名更优秀的员工，更值得信赖，这就像跑步一样——我要对自己负责。”

对于无家可归的人来说，当他们努力争取住房、工作和其他基本需求时，锻炼可能就像是一种奢侈。

但研究人员表示，运动带来的益处远不止于增强体质。

圣安东尼奥的治疗师和社会工作者艾米·J·肯特博士与人合著了一篇 2022 年的研究报告，该报告调查了一个针对无家可归和药物滥用障碍患者的试点运行项目。

她表示，跑步可以帮助参与者发现自己比想象中更强大，建立自信，并发展社交关系。

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“如果你穿着T恤和脏兮兮的跑鞋，无家可归地来参加比赛，你看起来就和其他人没什么两样，”她说。“所以，这也消除了与之相关的各种偏见。”

对布莱克莫尔来说，跑步也带来了巨大的改变。他保持着清醒的状态，从事建筑工作，并准备在12月搬进自己的公寓。

在布鲁克林，22岁的德韦恩·弗格森也在备战他的首个马拉松。与布莱克莫尔不同的是，他的目标仅仅是完成比赛。

他是朋友中第一个尝试跑完这个距离的人，他们有时会拿这件事开玩笑。

承蒙德韦恩·弗格森惠允

“他们会说‘祝你好运’，还会说‘该死！’”他笑着说。“哪个正常人会这么折磨自己？”

几个月前，弗格森和母亲发生争执，失去了住所，之后他一直住在女友家。他不想去收容所。

他说他很感激他们的慷慨——但是房子里人太多了，他只能睡在沙发上，而且与一位家庭成员之间的紧张关系有时让这种安排让他感到不舒服。

讨厌跑步，甚至连跑步这件事本身都讨厌？我也是，直到我开始破解跑步的奥秘。

弗格森现在在一个为贫困儿童和家庭提供食物的项目实习，并努力攒钱租房。

在这样充满不确定性的时期，跑步成了平静的源泉。

“说实话，这让我轻松了不少，”他说。“我睡得更好了，思路也更清晰了。跑步的感觉很平静，可以感受微风拂面。”

弗格森是通过“下一页”（Next PAGE）项目了解到这场马拉松的。“下一页”是一个面向被拘留和重返社会的青少年的创伤疗愈创意写作项目。在写下自己对跑步的热爱以及渴望结识男性榜样的愿望后，该项目的创始人艾米丽·帕尔默鼓励他参赛，并把他介绍给了一个名为“哈莱姆跑”（Harlem Run）的跑步团体。该团体的一位负责人杰西·利里亚诺赞助了他的参赛费用，跑步团体还帮助他找到了鞋子赞助商。

训练并非总是按计划进行。工作、学习，再加上为生计发愁，让他很难抽出时间跑步。布莱克莫尔通过集体跑步找到了归属感，而弗格森则更喜欢独自跑步，尤其是在清晨。

伦敦大学学院初级保健和人口健康专业的理疗师兼首席研究员乔·道斯 (Jo Dawes) 与他人合著了一篇 2024 年的系统性综述，探讨了无家可归成年人的身体活动情况。

她的研究发现，体育活动可以促进身心健康，增进社交联系，并帮助参与者获得成就感。

以下是我练习一个月后就爱上跑步的经历

道斯表示，认为锻炼对无家可归者不如对有稳定住所的人重要是一种错误的想法。

“无论我们有没有房子，我们都是人，我们都有自己的需求，我们都需要健康，”她说。

无家可归的形式也多种多样。布莱克莫尔一直住在收容所，而弗格森的临时住所则表明，人们即使没有稳定的住所，也能有地方栖身。

终点线或许设在中央公园，但布莱克莫尔和弗格森表示，他们计划在跨过终点线后继续奔跑。对他们两人而言，这场马拉松标志着他们人生中又一个重要的里程碑，他们的人生正在发生改变。

布莱克摩尔即将搬进自己的公寓，他的目标是参加一场超级马拉松。

弗格森最近获得了高中同等学历证书（GED），并希望上大学。他也希望他的朋友和家人会为他感到骄傲。

“我希望激励人们做得更多，不仅是为了他人，也是为了自己，”他说。“所以，我希望人们看到我跑步时会想，‘哦，他在跑步。也许我也可以，你知道，做一些我喜欢做的事情。’”

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