Farmingdale Chef Eric LeVine To Run NYC Marathon In Brother's Memory
FARMINGDALE, NY — Eric LeVine has many reasons for wanting to run the New York City Marathon this November.
LeVine, a chef at Farmingdale restaurants 317 Main Street and Vico, said running the marathon has been on his bucket list “forever and ever and ever.” He is raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He is a six-time cancer survivor himself, having beaten acute myeloid leukemia twice and Richter syndrome: a type of leukemia that transforms into an aggressive lymphoma.
One of his biggest motivations, though, is his brother, Ethan, who died of glioblastoma brain cancer nearly three years ago.
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“Until the moment he passed, he was light, guidance and energy,” LeVine told Patch. “He was like, ‘I may go tomorrow, but today, I’m gonna make a difference in your life. In everyone’s life. I’m going to show you a better way.’ He was great. He was amazing.”
Ethan’s death taught LeVine that no amount of time is promised in one’s life.
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“You don’t have any more tomorrows,” he said. “What you have is right now. You can’t change what was yesterday. You can’t make those same mistakes, so you use all those things you’ve learned and learn those lessons and stay on the ground when you get knocked down and see what happened around you, and then you get up, because you’ll never make that same mistake twice. I’m never going to waste the time that I’ve wasted in my life. I’m never going to take advantage of time thinking I have, because I don’t have time. I have today. I’ve got to keep pushing forward.”
He added: “There’s an old saying, ‘You’re only immortal for a limited time.’ It’s one of my favorite sayings. It’s true. That’s all we’ve got is now, the moment. Make it worth its while. Do everything you can. Throw everything at it. Throw it as hard as you can every day. I can’t just speak it, I’ve got to do it. I can’t tell people to run, I’ve got to run. I can’t tell people to work harder, I’ve got to work harder. I don’t want anyone to ever look at me and say, ‘Well you said that, but you didn’t do it.’ It’ll never happen. Never again.”
LeVine said he wants to raise awareness of leukemia and lymphoma and has so far raised more than $1,300 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as people support his marathon run. He wants to contribute and bring awareness to the deadly diseases, as he said he feels it’s his responsibility given his survivor status.
“I have the blessing that I’ve survived terminal,” he said. “How many more spins around the sun do we get? So why not? I’ve done a lot of things. This has been on my bucket list. Every challenge of my life has been met with the same ferocity and same mindset of, ‘I’m going to win. I’m going to do this.’ This is no different. When it was presented to me, I was like, ‘Hell, yeah, I’m in. Let’s do this.”
LeVine is immediately jumping into the deep end, as he’s never ran a marathon before training for the 26.2-mile NYC gauntlet. He will be 55 years old by the time the run rolls around.
“I don’t do anything halfway,” he said.
He was training for it 13 years ago but tore his ACL three weeks before it.
LeVine lost a lot of weight the past few years through hours spent in the gym, following Andy Frisella’s book program, “75 Hard: A Tactical Guide to Winning the War with Yourself,” and making smarter dietary decisions.
His friend, Joel “Whammy” Kaufman, encouraged LeVine to try training for the NYC Marathon again.
“‘Hey, you’ve gotten yourself real healthy. You look great. Let’s run,'” LeVine said Kaufman told him. “I said, ‘OK, let’s run.’ He said, ‘Well, we’ll run. Jog. Walk. Crawl.’
LeVine said Kaufman was the very last person to cross the finish line in the 2023 NYC Marathon. LeVine vows he won’t let that be the case this year.
“We’re not gonna be last,” he said. “We’re not gonna win first, but we’re not gonna be last.”
Training for a marathon is “completely different” from the 75 Hard program or other lifestyle changes LeVine has made, he said. He runs a certain amount of miles a day while increasing them until it’s doing the equivalent of the marathon before the marathon at least once.
“My girlfriend is like, ‘You’ve got bad knees, so make sure you get the right shoes.’ It’s exciting,” LeVine said. “I’m excited and nervous.”
LeVine said he will definitely cross the finish line, no matter what.
“Even if I crawl on my bloody hands and knees, I will be crossing that line. Even if ‘Whammy’ has to carry me, we’re crossing that line.”
LeVine said he hopes people will consider donating to his LLS page. He plans to keep raising the goal as long as people are willing to donate.
“I’m hoping with my reach, my people, people who know me, my customers, the community they’ll support me, as well. If not, I’m still going to cross that line.”
LeVine is the reigning back-to-back Long Island Chef of the Year in the Bethpage Best of Long Island Awards. 317 Main Street, a gastropub, won the 2024 Best American/Continental Restaurant in the awards, while Vico offers traditional Italian food inspired by the Amalfi Coast of the Vico Equense region of Italy.
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