By Patrick Prince
Media and Communications Editor

Holland Hall Tyne Shillingford ’03 believes in the power of three. So, after completing her third marathon this week, the Holland Hall dance teacher feels she’s reached a fitting conclusion to her marathon-running career.

“I feel like it’s a philosophy I developed during my 20+ years of teaching dance,” she said Wednesday, three days after completing the New York City Marathon. “I also feel like the number three is a significant number in life. In my dance teaching/choreography practice, I always tell my students that I like for us to do the material three times — the first is practice, the second is fixing mistakes, and the third time is the best time.

“I don’t know if that thought process works for the three marathons that I’ve done, but I do believe that three is a powerful, significant, and satisfying number. So, I think completing three marathons is a powerful, significant, and satisfying life experience.”

New York was actually her third marathon. Tyne had completed the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa and the Chicago Marathon.

But the one she really wanted to run — the New York City Marathon — proved to be an elusive dream that would take years to realize. 

“I feel like I’m a New Yorker just because I’ve spent so much time there. My mom is from there and my dad lived there a long time,” she said. “The ultimate goal for me for many years was to run New York City, just because I love New York City, not because I love marathon running.” 

But gaining entry is not easy. Runners can qualify for the NYC Marathon, but many runners also gain entry via a lottery system.

After several unsuccessful attempts through the lottery, Tyne found another way to enter: running on behalf of a charity.

She selected New 42, a nonprofit New York City performing arts organization. After submitting an application two years in a row, she was selected in early 2026 and tasked with raising $4,000 before the race, which she did.

She mostly trained by herself, running early in the morning either on a treadmill or along Riverside Drive. She loosely followed a marathon training program by Runner’s World Magazine.  

She finished in 7:27:17, joining more than 61,000 finishers in what became the largest marathon in history. The 2026 race marked the 50th anniversary of the iconic five-borough course, which begins on Staten Island, crosses New York Harbor into Brooklyn and winds through all five boroughs before finishing in Central Park.

Tyne, who listened to podcasts featuring Conan O’Brien and Amy Poehler on training runs, didn’t listen to anything during the race.

“I did not wear headphones during race day because I knew that the crowds were gonna be awesome and they were,” Tyne said. “I wanted to be really present during race day. There were just so many people out there cheering for you.”

And at the finish line, after 26.2 miles and more than seven hours, the emotions caught up with her.

“I was bawling my eyes out,” Tyne said. “I had been wanting this moment for over almost a decade. My mom was there, it was a hard race for me, just feeling all those emotions. It was six months of training and that’s constantly what you think about. Training for a marathon, or at least for me, everything revolves around your training. Everything. And because I’m such a planner and I like that meticulous schedule, everything revolves around running and (at the finish) just the release of, I don’t have to do that anymore.”

The irony is that Tyne doesn’t have a long history with running. Although she grew up an athlete and stayed in shape as a professional dancer, running wasn’t something she initially pursued.

She fell into running while living in Chicago, when a couple of co-workers decided to train for a half-marathon.

Then, when she moved back to Tulsa in 2014, she ran the Route 66 Marathon in an effort to reconnect with the city and meet new people.

It’s not the running she loves; it’s the process.

“I really think it’s just because I like a schedule and I like a plan, and I like the rigor of training,” she said. “Just growing up as a dancer and being a professional dancer, like that’s what my body knows and that’s what I know is having a really rigorous plan and a challenge.”

While her marathon days might be over, Tyne will continue running. Maybe not this week, though. She’s still extremely sore from Sunday’s adventure.

“Running isn’t out of my life, but definitely training for a marathon is.”