NYC Marathon Race REVIEW

WORKOUT – Ran 16.0 miles/2:10

I ran the Back Bay Loop in Newport this morning, no music and super windy.  My little smartcar was bouncing like a ping pong all over the freeway on the way home.  Good thing for seat belts and car insurance….

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At the risk of sounding like Katie Holmes (“Suri is so magical!”) I won’t call this race magical, but it was an amazing experience.

The New York City Marathon was held on November 7, 2010 and next year’s will be on November 5th.  It is the largest marathon in the world, with 45,000 participants and over 2 million spectators.  It costs $185 plus the $11 registration fee.

The hardest part of the whole thing is actually getting in to the race.  Over 120,000 people entered this year from all over the world.  Entry is by lottery, but if you don’t get in 3 years in a row, you’re guaranteed entry the 4th year.  (Or you can run for a charity)

What’s cool is that there’s a really strong international presence at the race.  Not only did I see runners from all the “big” countries, but I saw runners from places like Estonia and Latvia as well.  And they’re all decked out in their own countries’ gear which was fun to see.

The Expo

The expo was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center; it was super easy to get my bib and number even with the large number of people there.

It was very efficient and well run; I easily grabbed my stuff and then walked around to check out the different booths.  There was a butt ton of stuff for sale from every vendor imaginable but not many freebies.  bummer.

I like the technical tee: long sleeve and grey.

We also received water, Gatorade, some packets of nuts, and a bunch of race fliers in the race bag.

The Start

The race starts on Staten Island which means you have to get to the island very early and probably by ferry.  Your mode of transportation and what time you should arrive is all decided by the race which was nice because I didn’t have to worry about which ferry to hop on or what bus to take.

But this means that you will be outside at Fort Wadsworth for a couple hours before the start of the race.  I was there for about 3 hours.

BE PREPARED!  Wear warm clothing, bring a magazine or cheap book, a throwaway blanket or cardboard to sit on, whatever you need to stay warm and pass the time.

The nice thing is that plenty of coffee, hot water, hot tea, hot cocoa, bottled water, bagels, Powerbars, Gatorade and Gatorade Prime is provided.  Also, stocking hats were given out by Dunkin Donuts.

There were 1700 porta potties around the start village (I thought it was plenty; I never had to wait very long and there was plenty of TP) which was made up of 3 areas for each of the 3 waves. 

Each wave started 30 minutes apart, at 9:40, 10:10 and 10:40.  The start village was the size of 17 football fields and used 3.6 miles of chain link fence to corral it off from the rest of Fort Wadsworth.

My corral in the first wave opened at 8:20 and promptly closed at 8:50 even though the race didn’t start until 9:40.  This ensured that runners were in place and that the race could start on time, which it did.

There were even porta potties in the corrals which was awesome since you sat in the corral for a good 45 minutes.

Once the corral closed, we started moving forward to the start right away.  Closer to the start line was an area where you could toss your throwaway clothes and they would be gathered and donated to charity.

There was also a ton of bag check trucks in the start village.  I have never checked a bag before so I don’t have any opinion on it, but it looked organized and well run.

The Course

The race started on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge which was gorgeous, beautiful, windy, and cold.

The great thing about the course is that it goes through all 5 boroughs of New York so you get to see and feel a little of each different area.

The race is so big that each of the 3 waves run slightly different courses for the first 8 miles and then meets up.  How many marathons have you ran where there are 3 different courses?!?

About the only place there weren’t any spectators was on the bridge at the start, but besides that, they filled the whole course.  It was awesome.  The spectators really made this race.  They whooped and hollered, cheered for people by name, they just went crazy at every mile.  simply awesome.

Course Support

Starting at mile 3 there was water and Gatorade every mile.  Around mile 10 gels were handed out, but I didn’t see any more given out after that.  It was a good thing I brought 3 of my own because one gel wasn’t gonna cut it.

Of course, as I said, the crowd support was out of this world.  2 million people cheering, are you kidding me?!

Post Race

The last couple miles of the race were in Central Park which was very pretty. 

After you crossed the finish, you had to walk a long ways to get out of the secure finish zone, maybe close to a mile?  We were given heat blankets and a finishers bag with water, Gatorade, and some snacks in it, and then we had to make the long walk out of Central Park.

It wasn’t really fun to have to do the death march, but it was obviously necessary to keep runners moving forward away from the finish line.  Can you imagine thousands upon thousands of people finishing and then hanging around there?  The finish line would be backed up and other runners wouldn’t be able to cross it!

Overall it was an amazing race and experience.  It’s like the whole city turns out for the race.  (The race brings in an estimated quarter billion dollars in revenue for the city!)Everyone makes a big deal out of it which makes it a bigger deal for you, the runner. 

It is exciting, energetic, over the top, emotional, and awesome.  just plain awesome.  I would encourage every runner to run NYCM at least once.

Tips

-Be prepared for cold weather.  Wear appropriate layers for the race.  Are you going to run with gloves, tights or shorts, a jacket or tank? 

-Be prepared for waiting outside at the start village.  Bring warm throwaway clothes and whatever else you want, a phone, a magazine, snacks, whatever to keep you occupied.

-Be prepared for after the race.  Where are you going to meet your friends and family and at what time?  Have a plan so you can easily find them.  Have them bring warm, dry clothes for you.

-Possibly check out staying on Staten Island the night before the race so you don’t have to get up so early and take the ferry.

-Have the right attitude.  You are running the largest marathon in the world so don’t expect it to be run like a 500 person race.  You can’t show up 30 mins beforehand and still have everything run efficiently and on time. 

With 45,000 people, you are going to have to wait at the start and walk at the finish.  That’s just how it has to be with that many people, at least if you want to run a well-managed race.  If you don’t, go run LA.

Tagged as: NYC Baby, race review