Al Roker Nervous About His First NYC Marathon

The "Today" show's Al Roker ran his first marathon, the ING New York City Marathon, at 56 years old on November 7. You may be surprised at the reasons behind the famous weatherman's decision to run the 26.219-mile race. Read on to find out more about his running career (or lack thereof) and his goals for the big day.

That's Fit: Why did you decide to run for the first time this year?
Al Roker: I've been working with a trainer and nutritionist out of Chicago. She got me running for cardio, and in early March of last year, somewhere along the way, she just said, "You know what? You could probably train for the marathon." And I laughed. Well, we kept going, and here we are.

TF: Would you call yourself a runner or are you only training for this marathon?
AR: I would not call myself a runner -- I am someone who decided to run the marathon. I'm just someone who is getting one foot in front of the other and trying to cross the finish line. I haven't experienced the runners' high, I don't know about the endorphins -- I don't know where they are -- I'm really annoyed! Everyone talks about the runners' high, and I'm just like, "I don't have it; leave me alone."

TF: What's your training like?
AR: It's been relatively conservative. I started running a mile, then two, then running three days a week. I run four to six miles Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then on the weekends are the longer miles (12, 14, 16). The training has taken me to 18 miles in Paris, 16 miles in Montana; it's been kind of all over the place. I ran my first long mile in Georgia in 96-degree heat. I was visiting my wife's family, and it was 96 degrees and 80 percent humidity. You know when you do these long miles, you kind of have to plan out your hydration. I would be driving in the middle of the night or the evening, checking mileage on the car, and every two miles bring out of a bottle of water.

TF: Your wife is a runner. Has that been fun or stressful at home?
AR: It's been a little stressful. She has run for 30 years, but she's never done long miles. And now everyone is saying, "Oh, great, Al's running!" And she is kind of like, "The heck with this." In Paris, she ran eight of the 18 with me and kind of screwed up her knee. She's been really supportive of this, but she's admitted she's jealous.

TF: How do you take care of yourself?
AR: Look, I've got bad knees. I immediately ice after every run; I've been doing an Epsom salt bath where I've got my own little recipe of Epsom salts and Himalayan sea salts and eucalyptus and peppermint. I don't know what they do. My nutritionist said it reduces inflammation and helps detox the body so I take a salt bath every night. I'm taking glucosamine and other vitamins. For working out, I do the slow workout thing like three days a week. It's high weights and very slow repetitions for two minutes until muscle failure.

TF: What are you worried about? Are you nervous?
AR: Very nervous. The longest I've run is 20 miles. And everyone says if you run 20, you can run 26. I don't get that. I've never run on a treadmill; I only run outdoors. I don't like loops; I like to run along the Hudson River.

TF: What time are you trying to make?
AR: To finish. Time is irrelevant.

TF: Are you running the marathon for charity?
AR: I am going to do it for charity. People can go on the website Crowdrise. I will have a page there for Calvary Hospital. My dad was there for the last two weeks of his life, and they just do God's work on earth so I'm running for them.

TF: The weather is supposed to be a little chilly -- high of 49 but sunny. How do you feel about this forecast?
AR: I'm told that's good marathon weather. I myself would like it a little warmer but everyone says, "Oh, wow, this is perfect." I guess it'll start at about 40 degrees, and then up on the Verrazano Bridge where there are big winds, it'll probably be a little colder.

Roker completed the 26.2 miles in seven hours, nine minutes, 44 seconds. Meredith Vieira was running with her morning news co-anchor for some of the race, and finished in just under six hours.

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