Justine Huang took as much food and drinks from spectators at the New York City Marathon as she could — and has no regrets.

The race is meant to improve gender parity in marathon participation, historically dominated by men.

When runners take their places at the starting line of the men’s Olympic marathon on Saturday, among them will be two friends and training partners, who have logged thousands of miles together.

Most big city marathons were called off last year. Now that pandemic restrictions have eased, major marathons are planned for later in 2021 in cities including New York, Boston and Chicago.