On November 4th, I ran the New York City Marathon. I’ve done this race twice before. In 1989, Deb and I traveled to New York with
a local running club that was going there as a group. Back then, it wasn’t as difficult to get into
the race. About half of the race bibs
were first-come-first-served. If you
knew the entry procedure, and you were prompt about mailing in your
application, you had a good chance of getting in.
I returned in 2011 as a time qualifier. At the time, the qualifying time men aged 50-59
was 3:30, and I could do that consistently.
They had the same qualifying standards for 2012, but changed the
standards for 2013. They went to five
year age groups, and the qualifying times were much tougher. For men aged 50-54, the time to beat was
3:06. Not knowing if I could break 3:06,
I decided to return again in 2012, figuring it might be my last chance to get
in as a time qualifier.
The 2012 race was canceled because of Hurricane Sandy. People who had signed up for that race could
either get a refund of our entry fee, or we could get guaranteed entry in 2013,
2014, or 2015. I wanted to come back,
but I had a lot of other plans for the next few years, so I wasn’t ready to
commit to which year I would return. I
opted to take the refund. I told myself
if I wanted to do New York again, I needed to get faster, so I could meet the
new qualifying standards.
In the next few years, I had injuries and other disruptions
to my training. Instead of getting
faster, I got slower. I assumed my time
to run in New York had passed.
A year and a half ago, I went to Las Vegas to run the Revel
Mt. Charleston Marathon. It has a steep
downhill course, and I was hoping it would enable me to qualify for the Boston
Marathon. Aided by a fast course and a
tailwind, I ran much faster than I expected.
My goal was 3:35, and I finished in 3:21:57. After the race, I bumped into my friend
Chavet in the finish area. She set a new
PR, but was a little bit disappointed that she didn’t run fast enough to get
guaranteed entry into New York. That
made me wonder. I was in the 55-59 age
group now, and didn’t even know what the qualifying standard was for my new age
group. When I got back to my hotel, I
looked it up. It was 3:23. I qualified with a minute to spare.
My time from Mt. Charleston got me into Boston, Chicago, and
New York this year. When I started to
register for these races, I wasn’t even able to run. I could only finish marathons by
walking. Not knowing if I would qualify
for any of these races again, I viewed this as a farewell tour of World
Marathon Majors.
Deb and I flew to La Guardia on Thursday and took a Lyft to
mid-town Manhattan, where we stayed at the Hilton Times Square. We were in the heart of the city. We were close to subway lines. We were within walking distance of the main
branch of the library, where I would need to catch a bus to the start of the
race. Finally, we were less than a mile
from the Javits Convention Center, where the expo was held.
After checking in and doing a little bit of unpacking, we
went to the expo. Deb likes shopping at
expos, and this one is the biggest. We
took our time and visited every booth.
After stopping at the hotel to drop off my race packet, we
had dinner at a nearby pizzeria that was recommended by the hotel staff.
We did a lot of sightseeing when we were here in 1989, but you can’t see the whole city in one trip. This year, we went to places that we didn’t see on our first trip. We started with the Statue of Liberty.
Friday morning, we took the subway down to Battery Park so
we could take the ferry to Liberty Island.
Our best view of the statue was from the ferry, just before landing.
We went to the top of the pedestal, but not all the way to
the crown. Inside the building, they still
have the original torch.
From the pedestal, we had a good view of lower Manhattan.
Next, the ferry took us to Ellis Island. This is where immigrants arriving in New York
were processed for several decades.
When we got back to Manhattan, we walked over to Bowling
Green to see the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl statues.
We had lunch at Eataly.
This is an Italian market with multiple restaurants, including a pizza
bar, a pasta bar, and a gelato bar.
After lunch, we visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. In 1989, Deb and I went to the observation
deck of the World Trade Center. On 2001,
I was home on 9/11. I turned on the news
as soon as I heard about the first plane.
I was watching the TV coverage when the second plane hit. I was also watching when the towers fell. This is the first time I’ve been to ground
zero since then.
Later, we went over to the Seaport District. From there, we had a good view of the
Brooklyn Bridge, but I couldn’t get the whole bridge in one picture.
We had dinner at another Italian restaurant in the theater
district. Are you noticing a trend?
On Saturday, we took a hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus that went all the way around Central Park and also through the Upper East Side and
Harlem. We got the tickets for free from
a nice couple from Seattle who couldn’t use them. We also explored Central Park on our own.
While we were in the park, we walked through the finish line
area. As usual, the statue of Fred Lebow
was temporarily moved to be right next to the finish line. Fred was the race director who had the vision
to create a marathon course through all five boroughs of New York. It was a logistical nightmare, but it’s what
makes this race one of the best in the world.
You get to experience the whole city.
Before that, the race was simply multiple laps around Central Park.
Later, we had an early dinner at a pizzeria in the garment
district. I was conflicted on whether to have pizza or pasta for me pre-race meal, so I had a lasagna pizza.
We were staying in the middle of the theater district, but
we never saw a play. We saw a Broadway
musical when we were here in 1989, so it wasn’t a priority this year. Until we arrived, we didn’t even know what
shows were here. Every day, we were
walking past various theaters and seeing ads for the shows. The one I would have been most interested in
seeing was Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
This is a two-part play, so you need to attend on consecutive days. We would have needed to plan that into our
schedule before we got here. It’s a
shame we didn’t do that, because it was a rare opportunity. It’s only
showing in New York and London.
Sunday was race day.
The race starts on Staten Island.
To get there, you can either take a bus or ride the Staten Island
Ferry. I opted for the bus. You get to the start village awfully early,
but it’s simpler. If you take the ferry,
you still have to wait in line to take a bus the rest of the way.
Buses left from the New York Public Library in Manhattan. I had to walk about half a mile. I signed up for a 6:00 departure. I got there a few minutes early, but the line
to board a bus went halfway around the block.
I was on a bus by 6:15, which still gave me plenty of time.
It was a 90 minute bus ride, but I didn’t mind. The longer I was on the bus, the less time I
had to spend waiting outside in the start village. It was about 45 degrees. It actually felt nicer than I expected. We had unusually strong winds on Saturday,
but there was only a slight breeze on Sunday.
The start village is in Fort Wadsworth, which is right next
to the ramps for the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
The start village is divided into three color-coded areas, corresponding
to which lanes of the bridge we would run across. The blue start crosses the bridge on the eastbound
lanes of the upper deck. The orange
start crosses the bridge on the westbound lanes of the upper deck. The green start uses the westbound lanes of
the lower deck. In 1989, I was in the
blue start. In 2011, I was in the green
start. This year, I was in the orange
start.
I arrived at Fort Wadsworth about two hours before the race
started and immediately got into one of the long port-o-potty lines. Next, I found a place to sit on the grass in
the orange start village until it was time to move to my start corral. I knew it would be cold, so I wore extra
layers. I also brought a space blanket
to sit on, in case the ground was muddy.
We had an option to check a gear bag, but I opted not to have a gear
bag, so my extra clothes had to get left behind. They have donation boxes, so nothing gets
thrown away.
In addition to the three start groups, the race is also divided
into three waves. I was in the first
wave, which started at 9:50. At 8:50,
they opened up the start corrals for the first wave. Each wave had five corrals. The “corrals” were staging areas within the
start village. Later, we would have to
move again to get onto the roadway. This
race is huge, but everything is organized.
They had port-o-potties in the corrals, so I was able to make one last
bathroom stop before the race started.
The last thing I did before lining up for the race was to drop my extra
layers into a donation box.
While I was waiting, I occasionally heard a cannon
blast. Those were for the starts of the
wheelchairs, elite women, and disabled athletes.
About 20 minutes before wave one started, we starting
walking out onto the ramp to the bridge.
They gave us quite a send-off. In
addition to speeches by the race organizers and the singing of the National Anthem,
we had a flyover by three NYPD helicopters.
Then we heard the cannon blast and they started playing Frank Sinatra’s
“New York, New York” as we begin running.
The weather was excellent.
The temperature started in the upper 40s and gradually warmed into the
low 50s. It was a sunny day without a
cloud in the sky. I was worried I might
be dressed too warm, but when I got onto the roadway, there was a cold
breeze. I took my gloves off so it would
be easier to handle my camera. Before we
started running, my hands were cold, but I knew they would warm up when I
started running.
The course goes through all five of New York’s boroughs, but
we didn’t actually see much of Staten Island other than Fort Wadsworth. Then we started running across the
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
The bridge is two miles long, and the road deck has an arch
to it. For the first mile of the race,
we were running uphill. Large races like
this have crowded starts, but it didn’t feel like the first mile was overly
congested. Perhaps that’s because it
wasn’t worried about getting off to a fast start.
I didn’t have ambitious goals for this race. There are a lot of sights along this course,
so I decided to carry a camera and stop to take pictures. My camera is slow to focus, and it won’t take
a clear picture if I’m moving. I have to
come to a complete stop for each picture.
In a crowded field, that meant I also had to move over to the side of
the road so people wouldn’t bump into me.
My hope was that I could do all that and still break four hours.
This was my third time here, but it was the first time I was
in the right start group to get the views from the bridge.
In the first mile, I didn’t try too hard to keep up with the
runners around me. Even still, it felt a
little bit tiring on the uphill half of the bridge. On the downhill side, I felt myself speeding
up. That was my fastest mile of the
race, but it felt easy.
It wasn’t until the third mile that I could tell I was
running too fast. My corral assignment
was based on my qualifying time, so I was in a corral for runners who were
expected to finish between 3:20 and 3:30.
I tried to run at my own pace, but it’s easy get swept along with the
dense pack of runners around you.
Stopping occasionally to take pictures helped. Each time I stopped, hundreds of runners went
by, so I gradually drifted back in the pack.
My hope was that I would eventually be surrounded by runners who weren’t
going too fast. Even still, I averaged
about 8:30 per mile all through Brooklyn.
There isn’t any room for spectators on the bridge. As we left the bridge, we were greeted by
spectators in Brooklyn. Most of the
spectators in Brooklyn are local residents, and they have pride not just in
their city, but in their neighborhood.
Each start group has a different route as we leave the
bridge. Because we were using different
sides and levels of the bridge, each group followed a different ramp off the
bridge. Now that I’ve been in all three
start groups, I’ve run every possible route.
Midway through the third mile, we merged with the runners
from the blue start group. I never
noticed when we were joined by the runners from the green start.
Running through Brooklyn, you go through several different
neighborhoods, and they each have their own character.
The first time I did this race, there were high school bands
performing for us in Brooklyn. Now, the
race sponsors entertainment zones, where there are local rock bands performing.
Running through Brooklyn, I bumped into my friend Karl. This is Karl’s favorite race, and he
frequently runs it in costume. This
year, he was dressed as the Joker. (Excuse the blurry photo. We were both running.)
The halfway point is on the Pulaski Bridge, which is also
where we left Brooklyn and entered Queens.
I reached the halfway point in 1:51:28, which easily put me on pace to
break four hours, even if I slowed down in the second half.
Running through Queens, I could see the top of the Queensboro Bridge over the trees. There were a few sharp turns, and for the first time in the race, it got congested enough to make me slow down. That was just as well. I needed to conserve energy for the bridge.
The course is only in Queens for a couple of miles before
turning onto the ramp to the Queensboro Bridge.
When I did this race in 1989, we ran on the outside of the bridge, and
they put carpet over the steel grate to make it more comfortable for
running. Now we run in the traffic
lanes.
The bridge is a long gradual hill. I was mostly keeping pace
with the runners around me, but everyone slowed down on the bridge. I stopped twice to take pictures of the Manhattan
skyline.
Running on the bridge, I felt hot for the first time. Fortunately, it was only while I was
climbing.
As I began descending, I crossed over First Avenue. The bridge continues for another block before
a quick U-turn onto the ramp to 59th Street.
Then I turned left onto First Avenue and ran under the bridge. As I crossed 60h Street, I saw the huge
crowds on both sides of the street.
Most runners who travel to New York for this race stay in
Manhattan. It’s pretty easy for family
members to get over to First Avenue to cheer for their runners. Then they have a short walk over to Fifth
Avenue or Central Park to see them again later in the race. That makes this the most popular viewing area
for spectators. People were lined up at least
five rows deep behind the barricades. The
first time I did this race, I found the crowd noise here to be overwhelming.
Running north on First Avenue, the course is relatively
flat. After two slow miles on the
bridge, I picked up my pace again. With
10 miles to go and the largest bridges behind me, I wasn’t as worried about
conserving energy.
As I continued north on First Avenue, I started looking up
at all the high-rise apartment buildings on either side of the street. The crowds eventually thinned out, but there
was lots of music. In addition to the
bands at the entertainment zones, there were also at least two high school
bands.
We ran up First Avenue all the way to 125th Street. Then we crossed the Willis Avenue Bridge into
the Bronx. The bridge is a small hill,
and I had to slow down. I could no
longer sustain the fast pace I had on First Avenue.
The crowds here weren’t as thick, because they were mostly
local residents. These spectators always
seem to have a sense of humor. I’ll
always remember a story from another runner who was part of our group in
1989. He had a bad knee, so he was
walking at this point in the race. A
spectator yelled, “You can walk here, but you better run when you get to
Harlem.” Harlem and the south Bronx each
have reputations as rough neighborhoods, but there are no bad neighborhoods on
race day. Another friend who used to
live in New York has described this race as the world’s largest block party.
At the 20 mile mark, I saw that I slowed down again. So far, I had only four miles that were
slower than nine minutes. Each one
included a bridge. New York doesn’t have
hills; it has bridges. Those are the only
big hills.
As I was almost out of The Bronx, a spectator yelled, “Cross
the bridge. Get out of the Bronx.” I turned a corner and saw signs for the
Madison Avenue Bridge, which would take us back into Manhattan.
It was a relief to be done with the bridges, but I felt like
I was running out of gas. When I got to
the 35K sign, I realized I missed the 21 mile sign. After a couple turns, I saw the sign for 22
miles. A quick look at my watch
confirmed I was now taking just over nine minutes per mile. I suspected that would be my pace for the
rest of the race. That’s OK. I was easily going to break four hours, and
that was my only time goal.
As we turned onto Fifth Avenue, the next street I crossed
was 119th. I knew the south end of
Central Park is at 59th Street, so I had to run south for another 60 blocks.
Manhattan is laid out in a grid, but the streets running from
east to west have long blocks, and the streets running from north to south have
short blocks. The 60 blocks to Central
Park South were short blocks. They went
by surprisingly fast.
For now, we were still in South Harlem, but we were getting
closer to Central Park.
Fifth Avenue was flatter than I remembered. In past years, it always seemed like it was
all uphill. Maybe it’s because I wasn’t
blowing up this year. I was going a
little slower, but I still felt good.
Just past the 23 mile mark, we entered Central Park. The first time I did this race, the course
was different. We used to enter the park
farther north, and there was a big hill.
As we ran through the southeast corner of the park, the terrain was
slightly rolling, but there weren’t any big hills. Running through the park, I was no longer
able to count down the streets, but I was surrounded by beautiful scenery.
I eventually emerged from the park and turned onto 59th
Street. I had to run three blocks along
the southern edge of the park. These
were long blocks. I was tired now, but kept up with the runners
around me.
When I got to Columbus Circle, I made the last turn to
re-enter the park. Deb and I had walked
this section on Saturday, so it was fresh in my mind. I had about 600 meters to go, but there was
still a small hill.
With about 500 meters to go, I started to pass the
flags. I think they had the flags of
every nation that was represented by at least one runner.
With 200 meters to go, I could finally see the finish line. I ran to the line and finished in
3:48:44. That’s not bad when you
consider I stopped about 20 times to take pictures.
You have to walk a long way to exit the park. The finish line announcer reminded us to keep
moving, because there were still 40,000 runners behind us, and they don’t want
to have a traffic jam at the finish line.
Because I opted not to check a gear bag, I was able to take
the shortest route out of Central Park.
Even still, I had to walk about a mile before I got to the nearest
subway station. Runners without gear
bags all received fleece-lined ponchos to help us stay warm as we walked home.
Because of the relatively late start time, it was already
mid-afternoon when I got back to the hotel.
While I was running, Deb went out to see what street vendors near the
hotel were selling. She also found a
gelato shop.
For my post-race dinner, I went to B Side Pizza Bar. There are more than 900 pizzerias in New
York. I’m not sure if that includes all
the Italian restaurants that serve pizza.
In four days, I had pizza four times.
If I want to try them all, I’ll have to spend a few years in this city. Sadly, this was my last night in New York.
After dinner, I stopped by an Irish pub for a post-race
celebration by runners who are running all the World Marathon Majors.
This was my fourth marathon in five weeks, and they were all
faster than four hours. During the
summer, I wasn’t doing enough long training runs. Now I feel like I’m doing enough races to get
more consistent.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 3:48:44
Average Pace: 8:43
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
361
World Marathon Majors:
17
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