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Nov 24, 2024

New York City Marathon Runner Comments

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Course 4.7

Organization 4.3

Spectators 4.9

Number of comments: 604 [displaying comments 61 to 71]

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E. c. from Austin, TX (11/27/2011) "If you like bells and whistles, this is the one" (about: 2011) 6-10 previous marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Truly an experience. I'm not a big fan of big marathons but this was on my bucket list of marathons. Very well organized an crowd support like no other marathon. Course hilly in some areas-I really felt the hill at central park around mile 23! Did not mind the walk at the end and made it out of central park in around 20 minutes. Expensive trip but hey, it's New York. Only complaint, albeit a small one, was that they ran out of medium shirts at the expo.
M. R. from Orlando, Florida (11/26/2011) "47,000 Runners - How do they Pull it off!!!!!!" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 2 New York City Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my second NYC Marathon and my Best Marathon yet. The course is difficult but not overwhelming with the bridges - the legs could use a some hill work versus a totally flat course. Pro's 1. ORGANIZATION - 47,000 runners yet pickup, transportation to the start, expo, coral system, Police Support on the course, the volunteers - How do you pull it off with all of the variables and make it special for the runners. 2. CROWDS - NYC makes you feel like you are in the Super Bowl of running. - TIP run along the sides and High Five the crowds - especially the kids - it will juice you up as you get tired. 3. STATEN ISLAND - Great pre race food and drink - Loved the Dunkin Doughnuts coffee and bagels, Powerbars, during the wait. Drop bag easily handed off to UPS. Plenty of port-a-lets. 4. TRANSPORTATION - I took the ferry - the only way to go. Was able to use the restrooms at the ferry station, on the ferry and at the bus drop off. The concession stands at the ferry station were open to pick up gatorade and coffee. TIP take the ferry you also get to pass the Statue of Liberty - very NYC. 5. COMMUNICATIONS - emails for came once I was registered weekly and daily oer the final 15 days. Questions at the EXPO were handled easily and accurately. 6. EXPO - yes it is crowded but managable - great variety of vendors. Met Ryan Hall at the Nissan both - what a Nice Young Man representing the USA in distance Sports. TIP - just be patient. 7. MONDAY post race Finishers mini Expo was nice - I enjoyed the walk through Central Park and the selection of NYC Marathon products. 8. VOLUNTEERS - AMAZING - from the expo to the Water Stations, to the finish line. TIP - say Thank you at least 100 times it is good for your spirit and soul. 9. NYC - The City embraces the event - people came up to me and shook my hand and congratulated me as I walked back to the hotel. 10. Food at the finish - water, pretzels, and the best NYC Apple I have ever eaten. A little sugar, a little salt, and fluids = a good recovery. 11. COURSE - you see many of the Iconic attractions of the City. TIP -Take the Time to enjoy it - the memories are worth it. 12. INTERNATIONAL runners - it is just plain fun running with people from all over the world. 13. CHARITY RUNNERS - This race raises BIG dollars for a lot of charties. Runners are giving back to their communities. I was able to run with the TIMEX team and Jeannie Finch for 2-3 miles and she is a very nice person. Good job Jeannie raising over $30,000. (I had to fall back - Jeannie was to fast for me at mile 20) Con 1. The Bag pick up after the race is slow and you have a long walk to your bag and then to your hotel - now the good news you need to walk after marathon so it forced me to keep moving. I was running agin in 48 hours and in 72 hours with little pain. Thank you Mary Wittenberg and your team for a series of amazing events. I will be back it is the best.
B. C. from Massachusetts (11/18/2011) "The Facts you Need to Know for NYC Marathon" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 4-5 New York City Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 My 47th Marathon and 4th NYC Marathon for background. Straight facts: 1. It's a $1,000+ event if you need to stay at least one night. Maybe you can find a 2 star hotel for less, but not in NYC if you want a decent night's sleep pre-race. Add cab fares to get closer to the $1,000 all-in. 2. Add transportation cost to the $1,000. It is what it is. 3. Most attend the saturday expo so be ready for an easy number pick up but congested lines at the booths if you need a last minute item (bodyglide, throw away gloves, etc.) 4. Very cool to see the runner superstars at the expo...even if the lines were too long for an autograph. I saw Ironman Champions, Olympians, Past Winners, etc. Very very very friendly. (They all are much smaller in real life). 5. Getting dinner the night before will mess with your pre-race diet regime. Meal times in resturants could run very late. Without a reservation at a nice resturant, assumming you know one close to your hotel, you default into a corner burger or pizza joint. Greasy! 6. Waking up at 5:00 am for the 6:00 am buses or ferry is a bit easier because of daylight savings time (Fall back 1 hr)...but it's still 5:00 am. Put some money in your pocket for a cab to the bus pick-up or you'll run a mile as a warm up. 7. No peeing on the bus. You need to hold it (unless you pay for a VIP bus). 8. Logistics are tough if you a running solo. You'll need to keep asking for instructions to dozens of people who also don't have any clue. 9. Airport type security at the start line. Bag checks, frisking, etc. Be ready to dump objectionable items if so ordered. 10. Good grades for the start area but poor grades for the color corrals. Failure to be at the correct corral 45 minutes prior to your wave start could push you into the next wave. They close the gates pretty quick. If you spend too much time at the UPS truck gear drop off or in the dunkin donuts coffee line, you are screwed. 11. No national anthem for waves 2-3 so my start line ritual of respect for the my country and troops was missing. Many men pee off the top of the Verrazano. If you are on the second deck, run in the middle and avoid the wind blowing pee on you. Disgusting. Don't let anyone tell you it doesn't happen. 12. Running into blobs of people will effect your pace. Add 30+ seconds to your mile split. Blobs occur when the two decks of the Verranzo meet at mile 4. 13. Water stops will get your feet wet. Runners are forced to pick up 2-3 cups at a time because the volunteers cannot keep pace with demand and they only fill the cups 25%. A cup gets discarded. Your feet get wet. 14. The cheering crowds are heaven. You are in a ticker tape parade. Smile and they smile back. (Your ears will hurt by mile 22.) 15. Race begins at mile 16. The runners thin out. You can reach target pace. 16. Your feet will slip on the thousands of cups on 1st Ave. No water over the 2 miles of the 49th St bridge results in a mad scramble for water on 1st Ave. 17. If you missed the slip on cups, you'll need to dodge the empty PowerGel packets at mile 18. Thousands and thousands of them on the ground. Volunteers can't clear them fast enough. 18. The Bronx and Harlem are pretty cool places. The crowds go out of their way to show off their pride. Bravo! 19. By mile 20+, perhaps the annoying runner dribbling a basketball for 26.2 miles is nearby. I counted 5 of them. 20. Here is the road surface problem many speak about: your feet will shift from asphalt to concrete, back and forth, every 30 or so yards starting at mile 16. Cause: lots of road repair from years of underground gas pipes, subways, wires, sewar, etc. Add the bridge surfaces and your ankles will hurt more than your training runs. 21. Take it easy on the Gatorade Endurance. Very sugary. 22. The finish line will cause a great day to fall apart quickly. In just 25 yards after the finish, 500 runners are taking their ING Finisher photos. You cannot proceed unless you pass thru the photographers. No escape. 20 foot security fences squish all finishers through a narrow street for 1 whole mile. Yes 1 mile of walking zombies looking for the UPS trucks of clothes. The congestion caused many to vomit, cramp up, freeze up. You will be in this line without dry clothes for 30-50 minutes. Very serious about this. 23. You see your family in the greeting area about 50 minutes after crossing the finish. If you can find them. The sun is shadowed by the sky scrapers at 3:00 pm. 24. I asked a bike cabbie to pedel me back to my hotel a few blocks away. Thankfully I had $40 in my running pants just for this task. He charged me $60 but settled for what I had. 25. Why do I run this 4 years in a row??? It's NYC Baby!!! Run with the Big Dogs but be prepared.
Martin Cook from Niagara, Ontario (11/17/2011) "Ranks right behind having kids, getting married" (about: 2011) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 New York City Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 For anyone contemplating this marathon but, I must first tell you that you will not regret it. I realize NYC is expensive and it's a big trip for some. It did not fall into my family's budget, but due to getting in on lottery, I had no choice. But I am so glad I went. It was absolutely amazing. I've done a bunch of cool and interesting stuff in my life, but as my title suggests, the race, and entire weekend could not have been better. Seriously. The expo, although requiring some walking, was very well run and organized. I went in the middle of Saturday and had no problem perusing the many vendors and getting my race kit easily. Race day was very impressive. I was on my bus and on my way to Staten Island in, I swear, 10 minutes. Although I had to wait a long time in the staging area, it actually made the experience better. Everyone was friendly, and we were well taken care of. The course? The best. I ran with a smile for half the race. You really felt like the city was there for you and you alone. Lafayette in Brooklyn for me was particularly impressive. Way to go New Yorkers. In any event, it was all incredible. And as I mentioned, you have to go.
D. W. from Denver, CO (11/16/2011) "Great experience" (about: 2011) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 New York City Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my 5th marathon and my 1st NYC. Since this is such a large race, everyone is bound to have different experiences. I thoroughly enjoyed this race and was fortunate to run a new PR and a BQ here (so realize that that might influence my comments!) I was in the first wave and took a 6:15 SI ferry. Once into the green village, I actually didn't have to wait very long (just enough time to sit for 10 mins, potty 2x & check my bag) before being called to my corral, so got lucky there. I know others had to wait much longer. We waited the 30 or so minutes in the corrals before the start, and I could actually see & hear them introduce the elite men. The spectators along the course were great, and very enthusiastic, it's wonderful to see how many people come out to support this race! By the time we reached the Queensboro Bridge, I didn't mind that there were no spectators, it was a nice change that only lasted a few minutes. Then arriving in Manhattan, it's amazing to see the crowds! The last few miles in CP were the toughest for me, but it was a beautiful place to run in the midst of the city. The only thing I would've liked is for NYRR to have had the Parade of Nations AFTER the race, and not the Friday before it. For serious runners looking to save their legs (hard to do even if you try in NYC), standing for several hours like that isn't a good idea. I skipped it, but would like to have been there. I can't imagine the logistics and planning it takes to organize a race of this magnitude, so I highly commend the NYRR for this! And it was a nice touch to get the mass email from Mary Wittenberg shortly after the race congratulating us runners. I also loved the digital finishers badge. Finally, I liked that the first wave exited the park at 77th. It was just enough walking for me to get my wits about me, but close to where we were staying that I actually returned to my hotel in time to see the televised start of my own wave! If you run this race: -Take the course tour. -Be OVERprepared with warm layers for the start. (This year we got lucky and I didn't need all my layering.) -DO NOT try to weave around people at the start, over the Verrazano. It's nearly impossible to find a clear path to run, so just accept that you're going to go out probably even slower than you'd planned. -Be aware of the bottlenecks and don't let them surprise you. -If you want to save your legs prior to the race, you have to make an even bigger effort since NYC lends itself to automatically doing a lot of walking. Be aware that even if you take the subway, you still have quite a walk to the Javits for the expo. -IF you're a FB person, be sure to 'like' the race's page and watch for the online live seminars that they have in the weeks leading up to the race. There is some good information in them. I do wish that we would've had a complete schedule of the speakers at the expo ahead of time. This isn't peculiar to NYC, so it's not just a ding to this race. But why can't they post it online so that we can plan to see/hear a speaker? A great race, great spectators, classy medal (nice touch, with a quote from Grete this year), pretty good expo, and fantastic volunteers! I would seriously consider running NYC again.
D. T. from Phoenix, Arizona (11/16/2011) "Unbelievable Experience; Superb Organization" (about: 2011) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 New York City Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I don't quite get the criticism of the organization and logistics of this marathon. This was marathon #8 for me, and the organization was by far the best I've ever seen, particularly when you're trying to move 46,000 people around a city like New York. Getting to the start by taking the Staten Island Ferry was fun and inspiring; there were buses at the Ferry landing on Staten Island to take you to the old Fort where the starting line was; there was plenty of food, toilets, entertainment, and information at the start line; given the wave starts (I was in the 2nd of 3 waves) it wasn't nearly the cattle call I expected; the water and Gatorade along the route was fantastic; and even the post-race bag pick-up was easy if somewhat slow. This is New York, people! You've got the chance to run in the greatest city in the country, maybe the world, and you have literally millions of people out there as spectators! Yes, it's a hard course, yes the bridges are challenging, yes it can get crowded and you may not set a PR, and yes the pavement (especially on the bridges) takes its toll on 54-year old knees. But I found running down Fifth Avenue and then into Central Park to be an incredibly moving and emotional experience, which can't be duplicated elsewhere. The kindness, enthusiasm, and vocal cords of the volunteers and the spectators can't be matched anywhere. My time was not good, and I was in severe pain by the end thanks to the pavement, but I can't wait to sign up and try to get in again!
J. G. from NJ (11/13/2011) "kinda overrated" (about: 2011) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 New York City Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 First time running NYC and there were clearly WAY too many people running it. The course never cleared up it was a constant stop and start or bob and weave around others. The Expo was way too crowded and I wasn't able to move at all there so got my number and pretty much just left rather then spending time there. The spectators were amazing for sure that was the best part for me! the logistics of the finish were awful with the long slow walk right after as well
T. V. from LaGrange, GA, USA (11/13/2011) "One of the greatest experiences of my life!" (about: 2011) 2 previous marathons \| 1 New York City Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I was following last years NYC marathon when I discovered that I actually qualified for this year's w/ a 1/2 marathon time I ran in ATL. What a blessing that turned out to be, one of the rare times the event out-performed the hype. From the expo to the actual race to the wonderful crowds, it was greater than I could have imagined. If only I had hit my goal time, but that's the ONLY disappointment with the whole thing! As they said in Ghostbusters, 'I love New York!'
A. N. from Sao Paulo, Brazil (11/13/2011) "Start changes made a difference, for the better." (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ New York City Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This was my 14th NYC Marathon, the last one being ran in 2002. The improvements made at the start have dramatically reduced the stress for anxious runners. Runners are separated into villages at the SI staging area. This setup opened up space for the 45000+ runners. Port-o-johns were plentiful and clean, with very little wait times. This alone was a significant improvement from the past.The three wave start meant that we did not have to wait as long in corrals and on the bridge as in previous years.One area of concern is that there is really no covered areas for the runners should the weather turn bad. The weather was perfect for 2011, so it was not an issue. The course is very challenging. Prepare yourself for hills and inclines. The volunteers at the start, along the course and at the finish were outstanding. A big thank-you to all the volunteers who helped out at the water stations. The crowds along the course were great. It was interesting to note the crowd energy levels in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx were elevated whereas the enthusiasm of the First Avenue crowds seemed a bit subdued compared to prior years. One area for improvement is the baggage retrieval. The first wave runners picked up their bags at West 77th street in between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. The area was compact for the 15000 runners in wave 1. Additionally, Columbus Avenue was open to automobile traffic. It was not a pretty site at the intersection of Columbus and W 77th. Marathon instructions should also inform the runners that they will not be able to traverse Central Park to get to the east side of NY. Runners will need to use the subway, which is free of charge to all runners on marathon day. All in all a great marathon and look forward to the next time I run.
joe digaetano from LINDENHURST NY (11/11/2011) "nyc a world know marathon" (about: 2011) 4-5 previous marathons \| 2 New York City Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I ran the NYC marathon with a 21 year span I. Last done in 1990 when I was in school. THIS time it was better and I had fun. I wasn't in pain because I trained for it. NYC MARATHON will always be a great and not easy course: marathon, bridges, and temperature changes. From hot to cold, and also this race start at 10 am instead of other races early in the morning which I wish they would start earlier. 1st Ave was amazing people cheering you on that keeps you going and at the end you will see that finish line and say 'WOW I AM ACTUALLY GOING TO FINISH' great race and i like to say THANK YOU TO THOSE VOLUNTEERS FOR BEING OUT THEIR making this race possible till then HAPPY RUNNING!

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