We got picked up at the hotel as early as 0530
to go to the starting area of the marathon. This was due to the city wanting
the busses out before 0600 and a potential jam at the drop-off point with the
many busses arriving with runners that could potentially take a while to get
through. An hour of transport later, with more and more busses appearing along
the way we were dropped off and queueing up for the security check. This was
much quicker than expected and a few moments later we were let into the
starting area. The starting area had multiple booths with drinks, snacks and a
bit of food. There were some delicious raisin/cinnamon bagels, energy bars,
bananas, coffee/tea/hot chocolate and several other things. The bagels were
absolutely delicious, and they even had a support animal corner so you could
get to pet a few happy dogs if you needed to be calmed down before the start.
Annoyingly, there had been a lot of talk about the many porta potties there had
been set up and yet there were still long queues by them.
From 0830 the non-runners (wheelchairs etc.)
were sent off. At 0920 pro women started and at 0950 pro men and the first wave
were sent off. After that there were 3 waves; 1015, 1040 and 1100. Every wave
start consisted of three groups (green, blue and yellow) who were split up in
three slightly different routes the first 10-12km before everybody merged into
one. The system seems a bit weird but when in the middle of it you realize it’s
a pretty clever way of avoiding too much congestion when you have 10.000-15.000
people in each wave. Instead you take advantage of both levels of the first
bridge and slightly different streets afterwards to get things flowing without
too much hassle.
In contrast the previous days today was clear
with barely a single cloud, only a gentle breeze, and around 9°C at start. The
weather was close to perfect for running, but the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge
which is literally the first thing of the course (the starting line was on the
base of the incline on the Staten Island side) is tall and completely exposed
to the Atlantic to the east which could potentially make way for very cold
conditions. But with the wind in our backs and the sun up and shining
unhindered it was a beautiful crossing with an amazing view of Manhattan to the
west – and it was made better by being in the group that was sent on the top
level of the bridge instead of those being on the bottom level.
Coming down from the bridge we entered Brooklyn
and we saw the first signs of what we could expect from the rest of the run:
lots and lots of people all along the course cheering us on, and loudly so.
Having completed the run I’d say that the New York marathon is a 42km long
block party where everyone, participants and onlookers, are all having a great
time. Entering Brooklyn we went north and passing the 20km marker we entered
Queens where we had a few kilometres before crossing the Queensboro Bridge to
Manhattan. The bridge was as long as the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge but not as
tall and not nearly as exposed. It made it an easier pass as the incline was more
forgiving but it was still a long haul up, especially having already run 24km.
Coming over the bridge it was completely silent
except for the soft steps from all the runners, but coming down and getting
within hearing range of 1st Avenue you could hear an almost roar
from the people lining the street on both side waiting for us to come down.
Running 1st Avenue all the way up to the bridge to the Bronx the
cheering was much appreciated as the avenue was almost 6km of completely
straight line with a slight constant incline. It wasn’t much of an incline but
looking ahead you could definitely see the end was higher than the beginning,
and the legs could definitely feel it by now, but it was relieving to see other
runners around me seemingly also struggling at this point.
Along for the run. Looking pretty happy at this point.
Photo taken by MarathonFoto.
Coming to the northern point of Manhattan we
crossed the bridge into the Bronx where we spent a few kilometres before
retuning south into Manhattan again on 5th Avenue. Halfway down
along Central Park we entered the park for the last few kilometres of the run.
Here the support along the course was intense and people were really
into it. We arrived at 59th street which brought us along the south
border of the park and re-entered at the western corner for the last 500 meters
to the finish line.
Entering Central Park I'm still feeling pretty good.
Photo taken by MarathonFoto.
I was surprised to find out that despite the
large scale of the entire thing it was until after 30km that the water stations
started handing out bananas, but otherwise you’d have to rely on what you
brought along for yourself. Or, as I did, you could take advantage of that many
of the onlookers supplied fruits of various kinds, snacks, candy and whatnot
throughout the entire run. At one point I was running with a massive wedge of
cantaloupe melon and at another time I shoved a quarter orange in my mouth just
enjoying the needed juiciness. And someone else handed out donut holes which
might not have been the perfect food for a run but were really good, still. The
candy I skipped as it was all wrapped and I couldn’t be bothered fiddling with
wrapping while still trying to keeping attention on the course and other
runners.
20 meters before the finish line and I'm still looking - and feeling! - happy.
Photo taken by MarathonFoto.
There were pacers for this run, too, as with any
other marathon, but I only spotted one in the starting block and one briefly
when we had reached Manhattan. The issue was that as opposed to other runs I’ve
run, these pacers ran with a sign in their hand, one side with the pace in
min/miles, and the other with the finishing time. The one I saw in Manhattan in
front of me was running with the sign pointing the finishing time forward so
seeing the min/mile pace was of absolutely no help. I don’t understand why they
didn’t use balloons or flags mounted on their backs, I mean – all runners swing
their arms when running, and you want people to carry a sign visible to
surrounding runners? That was pretty unhelpful.
Crossing the finish line we were, as usual,
pushed forward to not block the runners coming in behind us, where we after
some walking got our medals and goodie-bag (snacks, drinks, etc.). From there
we had to keep walking – and walking some more before taking a u-turn (uphill,
even! UPHILL!) out onto 8th Avenue and returning south again where
we were handed out finishing parkas (and opposed to those you got in Berlin
these were really, really, nice!) after which we could finally exit the
finishing area. From there was a short (but feeling less so) walk to the
closest subway station and grabbing the line that stopped right outside the
hotel (literally less than 50 steps from the hotel entrance) and returning to
my room for a much-needed shower and relaxation. At least I hadn’t opted for
having a bag brought from the starting area to the finishing area, as those who
had done so had to go way further north in Central Park before being able to
collect their things and exit. I am glad I missed out on that extra distance
after finishing. And I would have missed out on the nice parka.
My official finishing time was 4:11:53. I
didn’t reach my goal of sub-4 hours, but having fully enjoyed the 42km long
block party I actually don’t mind. I genuinely had a lot of fun running this
marathon. I ended up 131 out of 244 Danes (top 53,69%), 2422 out of 4650 in my
age group (top 52,09%), 14237 out of 30799 men (top 46,23%) and 20038 out of
53518 in total (top 37,44%). My gun place was 19457 which means I only dropped
581 places throughout the run. That was a pleasant surprise – I thought I had
dropped further due to my slowdown towards the end (but looking at the graph it was a
much smaller drop in pace than I assumed) and losing places during a 1-1½ minute
pee break at 10km, but as usual, despite feeling like I was the only one, I was
obviously not alone in struggling towards the end.
The last runner came in at 10:23:57. The
average finish time was 4:37:59. The youngest was 18, the oldest finisher was
an American 87-year-old woman who finished in 6:16:39. Respect. Unofficially,
runners were still able to cross the finish line and getting timed after the
race formally ending which means there were even longer registered times,
though they were not registered as official finishers: the longest time someone
spent on the race was 13:17:37, and the last one finished at 23:14 (after
having spent 12:06:03 on the run).
After a 3-ish hour rest (I was at least smart
enough to not have a walk around to do some sight-seeing) we were picked up by
the bus that drove us out to the west side of Manhattan where we boarded a
boat. Here we had dinner with a tasty buffet (but the carrot cake was out when
I made it to dessert – boo!) and sailing up and down the Hudson river, down
past the south point of Manhattan and a bit up East river before returning to
port on Hudson river. The weather gave us some great views of the Manhattan
skyline in the dark. Took the bus straight back to the hotel (and no one seemed
interested in going out for drinks as we saw in Berlin) and passed out almost
immediately when hitting the bed.
Manhattan seen from the west just after leaving.
Having just passed the south point of Manhattan.
The building in the lower left corner is Whitehall Terminal where ferries come and go.
Brooklyn Bridge with southern Manhattan.
Manhattan seen from the south, Brooklyn Bridge to the right.