Chris Estwanik has admitted to having a “love-hate relationship” with the sport of marathon ahead of only his second race at the 26.2 mile distance.Estwanik is expected to be joined by around 60 Bermuda residents, including wife Ashley, on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge where the New York Marathon is scheduled to start on Sunday.Despite the city being ravaged by superstorm Sandy, race organisers have insisted they will have enough time to prepare the course and for runners to travel to New York.The route through the five boroughs mostly avoids areas considered at highest risk for flooding, leaving Estwanik optimistic the race will go ahead.“The race organisers, the New York Road Runners, have put out an e-mail blast saying that as far they were concerned it was business as usual,” said the five-time May 24 winner.“We’re at the mercy of what they decide but it seems like it’s going ahead at the moment.“Upwards of 20,000 of the 50,000 participants are actually international, so it’s going to be challenging to get those runners to New York in time for the race. Obviously their travel plans will have had to be changed.”Estwanik ran one of the fastest marathons, if not the fastest, by a local runner in his debut race at the long-distance in the Shamrock Marathon in March, finishing second despite suffering from dehydration and cramp.He described that race as the hardest and most exhausting he had done but is confident of bettering his time of two hours, 24 minutes and 24 seconds in the Big Apple.“I’ve been consistently hitting the increased mileage it takes to train for a marathon,” he said. “The challenging thing was trying not to get too bogged down with my times because training in the hot summer in Bermuda are as difficult conditions as you can find.“I’m just excited to get into a race where there will be far superior athletes who can pull me to a far superior time. I’m looking at the 2.20 2.22 time range, but more so than that I’m just looking to being as competitive as I can.“Every runner I’ve spoken to in Bermuda who has done the New York Marathon have all said it was one of the coolest experiences they have had.“It’s the premier event on the day and the city is so vibrant with so many people cheering you on.”Over the past few months Estwanik and his wife have been pounding the pavements to prepare for the world’s largest marathon, with the 32-year-old admitting he enjoyed the pleasure and pain element of marathon.“To both be training at the same time has been difficult for me and Ashley. It’s not an easy task juggling the kids and work, so it’s been a bit of science experiment that we’ve probably failed miserably at times.“We’ve been doing a lot more 20-plus mile runs, longer tempo runs and just getting the body and mind ready for that one day of 26.2 miles of pain.“I have a love-hate relationship with marathon. Track will always be my first passion; that’s how I started in the sport, but as someone who loves a good challenge, the marathon is a race where you can learn so much.“God willing I’ll finish and the next morning I’ll probably say I’ll never do this again. Three days later, though, I’ll be thinking about how I can improve my time.”