Young mom brackets son’s birth with Boston Marathon runs

ALBANY — As Emily Portnoy of Atlanta glided across the finish line Saturday at the end of the Snickers Half Marathon, the young stay-at-home mom looked like a woman who’d just completed a leisurely stroll.

No sweat for a distance runner who’d given birth to her first child 18 months earlier.

“Everything was perfect here,” Portnoy said after completing her first Snickers race. “I’m used to a more hilly course, so this flat course ran fast.

“My husband (attorney Josh Portnoy) and I came here to run together. The (Hilton Garden Inn) hotel we stayed at has been wonderful, and we went out and had a nice dinner last night. We’ve had a great time here.”

Portnoy’s brief review of Albany is like music to Chamber of Commerce and Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau officials’ ears, but it’s the 31-year-old runner’s story that adds to the local event’s legacy as a gathering place of special people.

Eight months after Preston Portnoy was born, his mom completed the famed Boston Marathon. That run completed a set of brackets around Preston’s birth, as Emily Portnoy had also completed the Boston race while five months pregnant with her son.

“It wasn’t that hard to get back into shape after Preston’s birth,” Emily Portnoy said. “And besides, I had awesome motivation.

“I’d run seven full marathons before he was born and a number of half-marathons. I wanted to do the full here, but I hadn’t trained properly. The folks here were gracious enough to let me switch (to the half-marathon) after I got here. That’s another reason this has been such a great event for Josh and me. The people here have been wonderful.”