Sunday is the only day off for most people, and they would not even consider getting out of bed early, much less run a 26.2 mile marathon.

But Theresa Jacobsen and Margie Gilmore aren’t taking the day off—they’re running in the New York Marathon and the starting gun goes off at 9:30 Sunday morning.

Jacobsen and Gilmore left Thursday morning for a 19-hour train ride which will take them to the Big Apple.

“I’m getting nervous. Last night it really hit me,” Jacobsen said.

They should be ready for the marathon though, Jacobsen said. They’ve been planning to participate since April and have been training since August, she said. Although they do not run every day, there have been some days when they ran 20 miles, Jacobsen said.

Jacobsen and Gilmore are both NIU graduates and Jacobsen now works for NIU in the catalog department of Founders Memorial Library. Gilmore works at the DeKalb County Courthouse in the Probation Department as the coordinator of community service.

Gilmore said when she and Jacobsen are training for a marathon they follow a 12-week program.

Gilmore and Jacobsen have been training for marathons together for more than eight years, Gilmore said. They’ve competed in four other marathons, she said.

Although they did not participate in last Sunday’s Chicago marathon, they’ve competed in the marathon three other times.

“There’s no way physically we could do it,” Jacobsen said. “There are some people who can though.”

Gilmore said this is the largest marathon they’ve ever run in. New York expects about 25,000 runners, which is about the population of NIU, to compete in the marathon Sunday.

Gilmore said because of the large volume of people it’s going to take a long time to run the marathon. Probably more than four hours or closer to five, she said.

Jacobsen said, “We don’t expect any fast times, there’s going to be so many people, it’ll slow us down.” She said if they beat five hours, they’ll be “very, very happy.”

“It becomes a matter of mind over body, especially when you reach 20 miles,” Jacobsen said. She said if she can get into a mind-set and set a pace after a while the time goes fast. “But it’s still a long six miles.”

The New York marathon starts at the Verazzano Bridge and ends at Central Park, Jacobsen said.