The Liss family grows across the pond
L to R: Maydelle, Vaughan, Daniel and Sylvie

We like to think of Liss Runners as one big family, including the awkward uncle and wayward children - you know who you are!  But we literally are a Liss family.

We were recently contacted out of the blue by a family in New York.  Their family name really is Liss and they all run.  They had come across our website and enquired about getting their hands on the much coveted red kit with their family branding.  We now have a branch of Liss Runners members in NYC proudly flying the red flag.

Here's a photo of the family mid run on the bridge from Manhattan to the Bronx.  Does anyone else think there is a quite remarkable similarity between the Daniel and our own Andy Paton - coincidence?

Good job Stuie got their kit to them before the Trump Tariffs kicked in. 

Here's the full story in Daniel's own words:

We are Daniel, Maydelle, Sylvie, and Vaughan. 

How I found you is sort of funny and is maybe a classic runner problem.  At some point, I was googling for race results and got pointed at your site. Oh, the vanity!  We never see our name out in the world and to see it linked to running was a little exciting as we’re all four runners.  I couldn’t wait to surprise the family with their own personalized singlets, thanks, Stuie!

It’s been a lifelong quest to figure out where the name Liss comes from on our side.  I know that in a few slavic languages, “lis’ means fox.  And that side of the family would certainly have a bit of slavicness, so we tend to go with that.  If it now means fox in a marsh, all the better!  My wife’s side of the family has the actual British blood.

Running in NYC is fantastic.  We’re all the way uptown in Manhattan where there’s almost nowhere to run that’s not a hill.  Practically right outside our door is the last old-growth forest in the city.  You can wind your way to the top and look out over the Hudson and the palisades across the river.

There are days, like the one pictured, when we run up through the Bronx to the park where I played as a kid.  Running along Broadway especially along this section in the Bronx, if you are…let’s say…older than your average runner, can be like having a full support team and moveable pep rally.  I get a lot of “Let’s go, papi!” And “My man looking strong!” and sometimes any runner will need that.  You can run down along the river for long runs or cross over to New Jersey, suspended 200 feet above the river.  Running the Brooklyn Bridge is its own kind of challenge: my favorite sport is trying to guess the nationality of the tourists currently in your path as you approach and shouting out “Excuse me, please!” in your guessed language.  Maybe that, too, is particular to New York (and this New Yorker.)

The NYC Marathon is - clearly I’m biased - the greatest running event in the world.  If you’ve grown up running here, the opportunity to run through all five boroughs and all your own memories with the city powering you forward is unparalleled.  Loops of Central Park (nearly a perfect 10k), running commutes, and riding the subway in a post-run/race glow (and on very rare occasions with a medal) are additional benefits.