Meet the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon Team Minding Your Mind



Minding Your Mind was honored to have been named an Official Charity Partner for the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon, the world’s most popular marathon, taking place on November 3, 2024.

Team Minding Your Mind for 2024 is made up of 11 individuals, each of whom has a personal story of why the mission of Minding Your Mind connects with them and inspired them to run the TCS NYC Marathon. Collectively, Team Minding Your Mind will raise more than $50,000 for mental health education and suicide prevention programs throughout the country. We are so grateful for their dedication to this cause and confidence in our programs.

There are a few who are still actively fundraising; if you are considering making a donation to Minding Your Mind this year, please help these runners reach their goals.

Click on each photo below to read more about the runner and the story behind their connection to our mission.

Patsy Iannico

Hi! My name is Patsy and I am from Long Island, NY. I started running my freshman year of high school and fell in love with the sport of track & field, eventually going on to run competitively in college for five years. Throughout my time as a collegiate athlete, I had quite a few ups and downs, but decided to sign up for a half marathon after graduating, to keep me motivated athletically. During this time, I re-found my love for running and made a new goal of running a marathon in my favorite city in the world (NYC of course). 

When researching charities that I could fundraise for, I was so excited to come across Minding Your Mind. Through my work as a mental health counselor, it is abundantly clear to me how important programs that provide educational and preventative services are. I am so grateful to be able to do what I love while raising awareness and support for a cause that is so meaningful to me.

 
Best, 
Patsy 

Donate to Patsy here

Derrick Song

Hey, I’m Derrick. I started running four years ago when I broke up with my now ex-fiancee, girlfriend of 10 years. I was relieved to be out of a relationship that had gone bad, but I still found it difficult to reconcile leaving someone I loved because I had finally accepted it wasn’t meant to be. In a way, physically running helped me mentally run away from the emotional stress of the situation. I left my house one day, picked a direction, and ran until I didn’t feel like it anymore. Then I turned around and ran home.
 
Four years later, I have completed six marathons across four continents and four countries. I follow in the footsteps of my father who ran five marathons at age 45 for reasons I’m still not sure of. I intend on completing all six Abbott World Major marathon races and to complete a marathon on all seven continents. Also for reasons I’m still not sure of.
 
My life has radically changed from the moment I started running to escape my emotional pains to now. I am the fittest I’ve ever been. I can run for hours on end without cursing my body or getting unreasonably tired. The discipline and mental clarity that this hobby and now lifestyle produced has helped me become, at age 36, undoubtedly the best version of myself yet. It took a lot of hard work to get to this moment, but I am happy to thank running for giving me a series of beatable challenges to build my self confidence and an incredibly satisfying way to experience the world.
 
I am proud to run the 2024 New York City Marathon on behalf of Minding Your Mind to show people how running can change one’s life for the better. Follow along my journey on Instagram.
 

Donate to Derrick here.

Jane Parnat

I started running 12 months ago as I was preparing for obstacle course challenge that required some running (only discovered after I had signed up) and I was in no condition to run at the time. I started regularly working out 15 months ago as part of my goal to get fit and more of a physical goal in mind, but never did I expect to have fallen in love with doing exercise classes and running as I have. It’s allowed me to find time for my own thoughts aside from being busy mum, finance professional and a wife.
 
I’m running the marathon to raise more awareness for mental health as something we should all make sure we prioritize for ourselves to be the best versions. I’m looking forward for the journey towards the end destination as it will allow me to have many hours of training and focus on my own well-being.
 

Donate to Jane here.

Taylor Aufiero

Maren Czura

Connor Kenna

Tyrone Lindqvist

Megan Lundmark

Jake Mohan

Page Shingler