Pro Runner Susanna Sullivan Aims for the Podium at the N.Y.C. Marathon — In Between Teaching 6th Grade Math (Exclusive)

When Susanna Sullivan shocked nan section astatine nan World Athletics Championship marathon successful September by starring for much than half nan race, she had friends, family, her chap Team USA teammates cheering her connected — and each of her 6th people students. 

Sullivan lives 2 lives each time — that of a master runner, meaning 20-mile agelong runs connected weekends and post-work way sessions, and arsenic a mathematics coach astatine The Langley School extracurricular Washington, D.C., successful Northern Virginia. 

Unbeknownst to nan 35-year-old marathoner, arsenic she was battling her competition and nan precocious humidity successful Tokyo for 26.2 miles, Sullivan’s students and their families organized watch parties backmost successful Virginia to cheer her on.

“When I near for Tokyo, I had only been astatine schoolhouse for a mates of days,” she explains to PEOPLE. “I deliberation nan sixth graders were a small unclear what I was doing until they watched it connected TV. But by nan clip I sewage back, it seemed for illustration each kid had watched it. They were ace excited.”

Sullivan ended up getting passed astir nan 28K people of nan race, but she held connected for a beardown decorativeness and nabbed 4th place, conscionable 54 seconds disconnected nan podium. And erstwhile she came backmost to schoolhouse a fewer days later, she discovered they secretly organized a “Dress Like Mrs. Sullivan Day” successful her honor.

“All of them were dressed up arsenic runners and had bibs pinch nan Honda connected nan apical and Tokyo 25 connected nan bottommost pinch my sanction successful nan middle,” she says. “It was conscionable really cute. And past we had immoderate expanse cakes that day and location was a small celebration, it was a nice, lukewarm invited back.”

Sullivan’s prima successful nan moving world was already glowing, but her gutsy fourth-place decorativeness successful Tokyo rocketed it moreover higher. And now, conscionable 7 weeks later, she’ll toed nan statement astatine New York Road Runners’ TCS New York City Marathon, hoping for that elusive podium finish. Balancing moving and her full-time occupation arsenic a coach was already busy, but these days, she often feels for illustration she’s “questioning my sanity,” Sullivan says pinch a laugh. 

“I’ve ever been personification who struggles to opportunity nary to things,” she says. “And truthful arsenic a result, I consciousness for illustration I've been benignant of forced into processing immoderate beautiful bully clip guidance skills and being really disciplined astir readying up and trying to optimize nan blocks successful nan time that I do person a small spot of time."

Sullivan credits her husband, Ed Hickey, for taking connected nan lion’s stock of family chores and nutrient prep to support her moving strong, but she admits that nan thought of leaving school down and becoming a full-time jock is starting to “seem much and much attractive."

“Like, there's a logic that group do moving full-time,” she says pinch a laugh, “because it takes a really agelong clip to hole astatine this level. But 1 of nan things I've talked pinch my coach astir is not abandoning nan things that for illustration made you successful. So there's a portion of maine that's a small tense astir taking that jump, because I deliberation having thing extracurricular of moving keeps maine grounded.”

Sullivan says her students — and those beautiful (if not basking and humid) summers disconnected — keep her successful teaching, and she’s spent nan past period and a half balancing schoolhouse and moving to hole for her first title done N.Y.C’s 5 boroughs.

“I’ve ever wanted to do it,” she says of nan TCS New York City Marathon. “I’ve been astatine nan decorativeness statement nan past mates of years and it's conscionable been incredible. Just nan power of nan city; I've really wanted to beryllium portion of it.”

And backmost astatine location successful Virginia, she’ll person a chorus of screaming 11-year-olds cheering her on. 

“They're really excited,” she says, “I deliberation they’ll beryllium tuned in.”