There are some things every New York marathon runner needs. For Danni McNeilly, the strength of mind is of utmost importance.

The New York City Marathon was McNeilly’s seventh marathon in five years. She trains with the Black Roses NYC, a Nike+ running club. “There’s something about racing that when you actually do it, it’s a bug,” said McNeilly. “You have this itch to do it again and again.”

New Jersey resident Jared Green has run five marathons over three years, and says focus and determination is crucial to being successful on the road.

“For myself, I’m married with three kids. I work in another state with crazy hours. I probably ran over 300 miles just to prepare for my first race.” said Green. “You have to change the way you eat, you have to change the way you sleep– there’s a lot of commitment that goes along with it.

McNeilly ran this year’s marathon and impressively completed it in under four hours. “A marathon is 26.2 miles. I’ve run more miles than people have mileage on their cars,”said McNeilly. “The mental fortitude required to run a marathon is unbelievable.”

Green isn’t running this year, but says the first thing he did in the past was secure an app that helped him map out a training plan and motivate him to stay active. “I use the Nike+ app. If you go for a run, it’ll connect to your Facebook and say ‘Jared is going for a run’ and if someone clicks like, you’ll hear somebody cheering in your headphones.

Strength of mind can come from unconventional places.