There are the Nicole Richie-esq moms of the world who drink, smoke, dye their hair and eat as much sushi as they please while pregnant, and then there are the Katie Holmes-esq moms of the world, who manage not to do those things AND just happen to run a major marathon eighteen months after giving birth. Sure it helps that she didn’t exactly have to strap Suri to her back while training (one would assume, though who the hell knows with those crazy Scientologists) but still, running a marathon – especially the New York City one – is running a marathon, and it’s freaking hard! I don’t care how many other luxuries you have in life that make it easier for you – if you run a marathon, I’m going to respect the heck out of you.

Only hours after walking the red carpet at the L.A. premiere of Lions for Lambs, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes hopped an east-bound private plane headed for Manhattan, where sources confirm to OK! that Katie is planning on taking part in Sunday’s New York City Marathon.

As OK! exclusively reported several weeks ago, after months of secretly training in predawn runs in Beverly Hills and Berlin, Suri’s mom is scheduled to make her first-ever marathon run this weekend. The 28-year-old actress, who celebrates her first wedding anniversary to Tom on Nov. 18, will join thousands of other masochist runners, including cyclist Lance Armstrong, in the race that begins at the foot of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island and works its way through Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and then back to Manhattan, where everyone collapses in exhaustion in Central Park.

Assuming Katie makes it all the way, she’ll have quite a welcoming committee at the finish line, as several members of the Holmes family are flying in from Ohio to cheer her on. They’ll join her superstar hubby at the Finish Live Banquet at Tavern on the Green where they can watch the race on monitors, get updates on racers — “Go Katie!” — and be just feet away from the racers as they clock in.”

[From OK! Magazine]

I wasn’t really Katie Holmes’ biggest fan before this – what with the letting-yourself-be-brainwashed-by-Scientologists and the starring-in-Mad-Money-which-we-all-know-is-a-terrible-idea. But I have to say I think she’s pretty awesome right now. I set a goal a few weeks ago that in two years I will run half the New York City marathon. And that’s a freaking huge goal for someone who considers walking on her treadmill for half an hour pretty hardcore. Although I do wish I didn’t just put that out there for all the internet to hold me to, but there it is. So now I have extra respect for Katie Holmes – and the pain she’s about to go through. May the power of Xenu be with you.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Katie and Tom at the “Lions For Lambs” AFI Fest Premiere on Thursday. Images thanks to PR Photos.