Canadian YouTuber sets audacious goal for 2025 New York City Marathon

Canadian YouTuber Cody Ko built his brand on sarcasm, reaction videos and self-deprecating humour. But when the Calgary-born creator launched Cody Trains in 2023, he revealed a different side of his life: a guy chasing finish lines instead of punchlines. On Nov. 2, Ko will join the masses at the 2025 New York City Marathon with two big goals in mind: showing his newborn son the Big Apple and a sub-3:20 marathon.

Like many others, Ko first turned to running as a way to stay fit after leaving university. Twelve years later, the decision has grown into a passion that has drawn thousands of his fans and followers into trying something new.

“I know what running has done for me, and the fact that other people are having that positive change is a very fulfilling feeling,” Ko told Canadian Running.

Best known for his reaction-based YouTube channel (with nearly 6,000,000 subscribers), Ko stumbled on the idea of creating running content. After caving to family pressure to sign up for an ultramarathon, he decided to document (vlog) the training.

Ko says the 50K itself was a struggle, and he vividly recalls “bonking” within sight of the finish line, but the video struck a different tone from anything he’d made before.

“It was inspiring and positive, documenting me doing something I never thought I could do,” he says. The response persuaded him to think bigger: as the only person in his family who hadn’t completed one, he signed up for an Ironman 140.6 and launched a second channel, Cody Trains, to vlog the training.

“During this time, watching training content was a big source of inspiration for me,” says Ko. “Then I began getting daily messages saying my videos had gotten people into running, or even just motivated them to start something new.”

Now 34 and a father, Ko admits that balancing a routine is harder than it once was. “Running is the only thing I’ve been consistent with since university,” he says. “It keeps me grounded. I feel anxious without it—I genuinely love it.”

After his ultra and Ironman detour, Ko shifted back to the marathon, making his big-city marathon debut at the 2023 New York City Marathon, where he finished in 3:53:29 while earning the prestigious celebrity title of most-tracked runner in the race. By the spring of 2025, he had slashed more than 20 minutes off his time at the L.A. Marathon, running 3:29:41.

With New York on the horizon again in five weeks, Ko says his previous experience, and now inspiration from fellow celebrity runner Harry Styles, have motivated him to train harder and chase a faster time. “The main difference is, for L.A., I made my own training schedule. Now for New York, my coach only gives me one intense speed workout, a race-pace long run, and two rest days a week.”

Ko says the biggest training lesson he’s learned since he last took on New York has been accountability. “It doesn’t matter if you hire a coach…you still have to make yourself get out there and do the work,” he says. “No one will force you to do it. You have to want the outcome.”