Finished the NY Marathon. Will write more tonight, but wanted to say “Thanks” to all, and give a couple of thoughts:
1. Absolutely a great race if you’re interested in either adding it to your palmares, or interested in just doing one. The course is great, the spectators are amazing, and the race is pretty well supported.
2. It is official – running a second marathon two weeks after your first is a dumb, dumb idea. I completely ran out of gas about mile 18, and walked the majority of the last eight. Partially to avoid excessive pain on Monday, partially because I just couldn’t summon up the will to make my legs turn over at a running pace.
3. In sport that is available to “the rest of us”, NYC deserves a really special place. Coming off of the Queensboro bridge onto Manhattan was amazing – thousands of people waiting at the bottom feels like coming into an Olympic stadium. Then the turn onto First Ave – incredible. Runners and screaming spectators quite literally as far as the eye can see; a swarming mass stretching all the way to the Harlem river. Wow. That was good for an extra two miles out of exhausted legs.
4. I can now say that I recall Central Park in fall. The race promoters must be in on the whole global warming conspiracy – the leaves were golden and releasing as the race entered the park, the sunlight was phenomenal. If not for the pain, I would mark that down as the best 2.5 miles of my running career.
For those keeping score, I came in at slightly over 5 hours. Was on pace for about 4:15 until I completely fell apart at mile 18; the extra 45 minutes are from walking 5 of the last 8 miles.
As I mentioned, I’d recommend the race. Due to the sheer volume of runners, though, I wouldn’t plan on setting a PR at this race.