ING New York City Marathon - RunMarathon

The run went well. The journey to the start was the big pain. I got to the race site, I thought, plenty early. I wandered around, got somehting to eat, went the the BR. I went to the start line about 9:10 for my 9:40 start, and they had already closed my corral. I got moved to the next start at 10:10, which wasn't THAT big of a deal, it just meant an extra 30 min standing around in the cold.

THe run started, everything was smooth. WIth the 3 different starts, the first few miles weren't really crowded. When they all converged at mile 8, though, it was a cluster for the rest of the race. I had to watch every step, weave in and out of people the entire way. It never cleared out. I don't know if starting in the right corral would have changed things, but it was frustating, and I am sure cost me a minute or so.

My pace felt good through the first 15, the first time I felt anything was running over the Q'boro bridge at mile 16, but then I straightened out for htenext few miles. Running up the bridge into the Bronx was tough, but kept running. I slowed about 10sec/mile, but was keeping it steady until mile 24, and then I died. I had taken gels at miles 10,14,17,20, and planned on 23. I was feeling a bit nauseated and skipped the gel at 23. Big mistake. I had nothing left in the tank. THe last 3 miles are so are rolling hills, nothing too bad, but at that point, nothing was good. I thought maybe I could recover in 24, then push through in the last 2 miles, but that didn't work either.

Force myself ot take the gel at 23, otherwise, it was a very good run for me.

walked a mile or so back to find Nancy, get some p[izza, and the hotel


I really think the over 2 hour journey to the start and definitely the weaving in and out of other runners cost me a couple of minutes. Would I have hit 3:15:59? Who knows but it would have been closer. Skipping the gel at mile 23 would have helped if I would have kept it down.


This race is HUGE. Organization is great. Logistics would be a nightmare. I was supposed to be in the 9:40 start and they had me scheduled to be on the 5:45 AM ferry. I opted for a later ferry, adn still got to the start with over an hour to spare - I just didn't know it. There were tons of volunteers, everything went right on schedule. THe finish area was a madhouse. I had to walk another 1/2 mile from the finsh line to get out of the bag pick-up, and I didn't even pack a bag to pick up. That led to a mile walk back down Central Park West to get to the finish line to meet my wife.

All things said, it was a great race, a huge race, a definite must-do race for anyone who runs marathons. I am very glad to say that I have done it, but there are lots of others I will do before I do NYC again.