New York Marathon

I was expecting tough and that was what I got !

I expected the bridges – Queensboro was the hardest even though the Verrezzano Narrows was the biggest climb, but being at the start it was fine. However I hadn’t reckoned on the 1+ mile long drag uphill around 23-24 miles : The combination of what it was and where it was, made it pure evil ! I had been going for a modest 4 hours and was roughly on schedule until that point. I lost 1 min/mile from mile 23 so was just outside my time.

What is it about US Marathons that require such an early start ? I had to get to the pickup point in mid town New York @5.30 am but fortunately being still mostly on GMT this made it more like 10.30am, a relative lie in. However arriving to the start area @7.00 am for a 10.10am start wasn’t fun : It may have been sunny but it was cold with a stiff breeze. It would have been terrible had it been raining as there was no shelter.

And then of course there was the long march … that being the long slog that the organisers make all runners do after the finish. Instead of being kind, giving you near immediate access to bag collection so that you can leave, there is either a mile walk for those who opted out of leaving a bag at the start for collection at the finish, to collect an official NYC Poncho or a 2 mile walk to collect your bag. Only once you’ve completed your walk, are you then ‘free’ to leave by an exit that is almost certainly the furthest point in Central Park from your chosen accommodation or the subway line you need …. Come on organisers there was no need for this ! No other major US or European marathon inflict this on their runners.