The first person to cross the finish line in the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 did so in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 34 seconds—and more than 50,000 runners followed him, after taking off in Staten Island and pounding 26.2 miles through Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and The Bronx.

One of those runners was massage therapist Julia Khvasechko, L.M.T., making this her 154th completed marathon.

For Khvasechko, a cancer survivor, running is more than a recreational pastime. After she was diagnosed with a brain tumor in her 20s, she became bedridden.