Going downunder

Despite going on multiple smaller trips throughout the year - mostly due to runs - I still try to at least once a year to go on a longer trip that isn't (only) about running. These past years it has been South Korea, Japan and India and I was hoping to do a similar trip this year. And indeed I found a new destination - albeit not completely free from running, which probably shouldn't surprise anyone at this point.

I would have loved to do another big wildlife tour, but my two short trips this year to Spain has to satiate my hunger for that for now.

 

22nd - 27th of August

On the Saturday I fly to Sydney via Singapore where on arrival late Sunday afternoon I'll check into the domestic airport hotel. The following morning (well, midday, I am on vacation after all) I take flight to Launceston on Tasmania where I'll stay before flying back on the Thursday. While there I plan on driving around and checking out the environment, and taking the opportunity to visit a friend I met back in Peru who now runs a truffle farm with her husband. 

 
27th of August - 1st of September

Coming back to Sydney I'll check into a hotel centrally located, not far from the Opera House. This is fortunate because that means it won't be far to get back to the hotel after the marathon. The marathon is on the Sunday (the 30th) and I plan on just doing a bit of basic sightseeing in the city until then - and hopefully meet up with a few friends along the way. The marathon starts at St. Leonard's Park with an almost straight line down to the bridge and across it with the opera house on our left. From there we will cross through Pyrmont, return and run back under the bridge, past Circular Quay and along Pitt Street, past St. Mary's Cathedral and through Hyde Park and all the way south to Kingsford before returning the same way we came, circle around Centennial Park before heading all the way to the Royal Botanical Garden where we'll do a bit of back and forth before finishing in front of the opera house. That evening and following day will be full of relaxing and doing very little.

 
1st - 5th of September

As I have visited Australia on previous occasions in 2009 and 2012 I don't need spending much more time here, instead I will then fly out to Wellington, New Zealand. I will be spending a couple of days here dedicated to sightseeing. Priority will be a Weta workshop tour but other than that I am open for what may show up. Being the capital of New Zealand there will be a bit of interesting stuff but time will tell - apparently the cable car going from the quay to Kelburn suburb is quite popular and should give quite the view of the city at the top. From here I will fly to Auckland where I have a single night before joining a tour in the evening. Before that, though, I've planned to do a whale/dolphin safari in the morning.

 
6th - 15th of September

I'm joining a 10-day tour taking me from Auckland all the way down to Christchurch hitting a line of  spots along the way. Starting off by going along the Coromandel Peninsula, reaching Matamata which includes a tour of Hobbiton and following that Rotorua. Here we'll have a day to explore Maori culture, do rafting, kayaking or ziplining through the forests. From here on we will continue to Murupara, Taupo and one night in Wellington before crossing to the south island. Reaching the south island we'll pass through Kaikoura before reaching our destination in Christchurch. 

 
15th - 19th of September

I'll have 5 days by myself in Christchurch before any other plans so there will be time to explore. From what I understand 5 days is more than plenty for the city so I might end up looking into options of exploring outside the city and seeing if there are any day tours out available. 

 
20th of September -  1st of October

After the break and in the early morning of the 20th I'll join a second tour, this time a 12-day tour, starting in Christchurch and ending in Queenstown. We'll cross over to the west coast through Reefton and follow it down along Westport, Kumara and Fox Glacier. The coastline is stunning and we will have plenty of beautiful views of mountainous shore, rainforests and gorges. From here we will go a bit inland through Wanaka and Te Anau where we will do a quick detour to Milford Sound before crossing down south to The Catlins where we will cross to Stewart Island where we will stay a couple of days. With almost the entire island being a national park there will be plenty of opportunities exploring the environment including forests, rugged landscape and plenty of bird spotting. From here we return to Queenstown and end the tour.

 
1st -  6th of October

After arriving in Queenstown I have a few days on my own to explore. I have the impression that the town is fairly small so it is probably a bit limited how much there is to do, but I hope that 3 nights there won't be overdoing it. In any case I will probably need to decompress from the last tour so a bit of relaxation and not having much to do will probably be good. From here I'll fly out to Sydney where I have a single night before flying back home.

 

Talking about wanting to do one long trip a year this will definitely be it. The longest I have been gone previously is less than 5 weeks, and at that point I usually feel ready to get back home, so I'm looking forward to seeing how I'm going to deal with this significantly longer trip. The schedule does feel pretty packed when doing the tours so I doubt I'll even have time to worry about such things. I guess I'll find out!

 

In any case I am very excited for this one. When traveling to the other side of the world you might as well go all in! 

3rd of November – New York marathon

The alarm went off at 0430 and I met up with a couple of people in the hotel reception and left at 0520 to go to the pickup location where we got onto a bus that took us to the starting area. As opposed to Boston they used tourist busses and not school busses so there was plenty of leg room available for the 1½ hour drive. It wasn’t because it was far away but the last half hour we were stuck in a queue of busses letting runners off. Getting there around 0730 meant there was quite the wait until my wave started at 1020. The wait time was spent walking around in the huge starting area trying to stay warm; while the temps would be around 10-12 degrees during the run it was barely half that as long as you weren’t standing in the wind, so a lot of the time was spent trying to find a place where you’d be in the sun but out of the wind – but when you found a spot like that it was quite nice. There were free handouts of bagels, coffee, teas, water and energy drinks. The New York marathon is the one I have experienced with the most of such things and plenty of similarly large runs would be very welcome to feel inspired by this.

At 0945 the corrals were opened, 15 minutes later they were closed again and a few moments later we were all channeled from the corrals forward to the starting line. With 5 starting waves there would be an average of app. 11.000 people getting ready to run at this moment.

Crossing the Verrazzano bridge.

With the national anthem sung (of not for that and all the flags, how would we even know we were in the US?) we were finally let go at 1020. We started by leaving the first borough (Long Island) by crossing the Verrazzano bridge from where we had an excellent clear view of the south end of Manhattan. The was a slight cold breeze but barely a cloud, so conditions were nice. After the bridge we passed a 2-mile sign and I couldn’t help myself proclaiming “don’t worry – only 24 miles to go!”. The woman running next to me gave me a look that showed without a doubt that she was not nearly as enthused by that comment as I was. Tough crowd.

Crossing the bridge we entered Brooklyn and from there it was mostly just a straight line north, passing through Queens, before crossing Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. Even if there was a unitedness in the boroughs themselves, styles, visual expressions and the level of support changed on an almost street by street basis. It was constantly changing and plenty for a runner to look at and take in, especially for someone who wasn’t local, but what they all had in common was at times overwhelming support for the runners.

With few exceptions there were water stations at every mile which meant it was easy skipping half. This seemed to be a common theme among the runners, and it also helped take some of the pressure off the stations with the numerous participants. I noticed in the beginning that the stations seemed quite short relative to how many people ran, but considering most people skipped a few here and there it made sense. Towards the end the temperatures had risen enough that getting a sip of water at every station seemed justified (and appreciated), but at least the humidity never got to the level as it had been on Friday morning. That would have been horrible.

Reaching Manhattan we were met by a wall of noise. A mile on the bridge made you get used to the silence except for the footsteps, but reaching 1st avenue you were met with countless loud spectators welcoming us to Manhattan – an almost shocking experience if you weren’t prepared for it. Running up 1st avenue all the way to the Bronx is rough; mostly mentally because you can see very far ahead and it’s hard to ignore the fact that you can see an incline almost all the way. It isn’t steep at all and you probably wouldn’t feel it if you couldn’t see it under normal circumstances, but it just keeps going forever. You just have to dig down, grab the occasional water and let the support and routine carry you forward. You crossed the 25km mark on the middle of Queensboro Bridge so there was still a bit to go from here.

Crossing the bridge back into Manhattan after the Bronx.

Reaching the Bronx we basically did a few miles large 180 degree turn before returning to Manhattan where we now were running south, reaching Central Park and running through the southern part of it, ran along the south end, coming through Columbus Circle before reentering the park and running the last 400 meters before crossing the finish line.

Running through Central Park 2km and change before the finish.

Reaching the finish line.

From there there was still a bit of walking left to get our medals, snacks and ponchos before being able to find an exit and leave the finishing area. From the finish line and to leaving was probably a few kilometers and getting to the hotel was another 2ish kilometers. I could have taken the subway but that would have required me to walk on stairs, and in this case I preferred having to walk a bit more instead. Back at the hotel I had a shower followed by collapsing onto the bed. It felt good not doing much for a few hours.

Anyways, numbers! I finished in 4:03:14. So my usual goal of sub-4 hours wasn’t met, but to be honest this wasn’t expected, either. But it does mean that I improved my time from the last time I ran New York with more than 8 minutes which was nice. This also means that the average finish time for my 6 completed marathon majors is 3:59:28 which is an extra bonus. I can’t be disappointed with that. I ended up finishing as 20141 out of 55530 overall (top 36,27%), 14304 out of 30702 men (top 46,59%) and 2147 out of 4287 in M40-44 (top 50,08%). Also 57 out of 111 Danes (top 51,35%). Overall a result I am happy with. The average man ran it in 4:17:48 and average woman in 4:48:29. The fastest was a Dutch guy who did it in 2:07:39, the slowest an American woman in 11:47:55, youngest a Danish 18 years old women and oldest an 88 years old New Zealander man.

Final (?) update for the Abbott World Marathon Majors

As mentioned previously the Tokyo marathon opened up for more participants through travel agents, so suddenly I got moved up 2 years meaning that instead of running Tokyo marathon and completing my 6 Marathon Majors in March 2026 I got the opportunity to do it in 2024. I didn't need much convincing to do that.

This means that I have now completed the 6 marathons majors as follows:

Berlin - September 2019 - 3:58:16
New York - November 2019 - 4:11:53
Boston - April 2022 - 3:59:30
Chicago - October 2022 - 3:58:02
London - April 2023 - 3:58:42
Tokyo - March 2024 - 3:59:06

So this is the final update for the marathon majors.

Well, maybe not completely final; Cape Town and Sidney are considered candidate runs in an attempt to be accepted as the 7th and 8th majors, and further out Shanghai is also lurking on the horizon. Interesting times ahead. But for now, I'm enjoying the accomplishment and my new medal.

3rd of March – Tokyo marathon

We were getting picked up by a bus at 0645 but not having fully recovered from my jetlag I once again avoided my alarm and thus had a relatively relaxing morning – all considering. I had expected to be able to see parts of the city on the way to the starting area, but a few minutes after leaving the hotel we dipped down into a tunnel, and a few minutes before arriving at our destination we came back up onto street level. So that was… something.

 

As this was my last of the 6 majors I got this to put on my shirt. 

I put it on the back and I was surprised at how much response I got from others with encouragements and thumbs-ups. 

It was a cold morning and there was nothing to do in the starting area in the 1½ hours before they’d close the starting corrals, so the wait felt even longer.

As opposed to similarly-sized runs we were all sent off in a rolling start instead of in waves. So when the gun went off at 0910 there was very little extra waiting necessary, the only wait was for the runners ahead of you – and app. 8 minutes later I crossed the starting line. The start was made possible by the fact that the start was on some very wide streets so despite it being crowded (which naturally happens when 38000 runners set off at almost the same time) it never felt uncomfortably crowded.

 

And we're off!

Being a cold morning it was a bit rough starting but reaching around 4-5 km we finally passed some space between the tall buildings and were hit by the sun and thereby got some actual warmth which greatly improved the conditions. For the rest of the run we often switched between sun and shade with significant change in temperatures. While there was a breeze we were protected from it most of the time – when we weren’t it was nice to be cooled down, though it didn’t take long before it got cold. During the last 7-8 km the wind had dwindled and being out in the open it was by far the hottest part of the course.

The course had a lot of repetition in form of going out and back on the same streets. It didn’t bother me as much as I had expected; you got to see the same from a different angle (which might as well have been a completely different place not knowing the city and focusing on trying to survive the run) and you got to greet other runners even if they were far ahead or behind you. At around 14-ish km and the following few km we were running parallel with the course’s +/- 31 km marker and at the point in time I got there I got to see Kipchoge racing along (who turned out to “only” be at around 10^th place at the time) so we got to cheer him and some of the other elites along.

 

I may be smiling on several photos but this was how I genuinely felt. 

The Japanese are quite reserved, even in cases like this, so you never got the chaos and noise from the onlookers that you’d experience during the large US races or London. But there weren’t many passages along the way where there weren’t people cheering us on. But if you managed to gain eye contact with someone their enthusiasm spiked and you got your own little personal energetic cheer to get you along.

 

Tokyo Tower in the background.

Due to the wide streets it was difficult to avoid excessive zig-zagging when getting water and getting back into the flow, so when crossing the finish line my watch said 43,17 km. I speculated that some of that could have been due to the GPS signals bouncing between the tall buildings, but those I talked with after the run had registered similar distances, so apparently the wide streets just resulted in more cross-movement than usual.

Despite the extended distance (and a way too long wait at a toilet break where I lost around 3 minutes) I still managed to reach my goal of completing below 4 hours – my finishing time was 3:59:06. I came in as 13089 out of 35411 overall (top 36,96%), 10905 out of 26682 men (top 40,87%) and 1929 out of 3757 in my age group (51,34%). A result I am quite happy with and quite similar to other equal runs. 

 

The final majors medal representing all 6 marathons 

(Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston, London and Tokyo). 

Crossing the finishing line meant that I had completed all the 6 marathon majors and when getting the probably least inspiring medal for the run I could continue waddling along and pick up my 6 star finisher medal, one that is significantly more impressive-looking. We also got handed a back that got filled with energy drink, water, bath salts(??), wipes, heating blanket and a parka. There was a miserable lack of snacks which I crave after such a run. I found “my” bus and only a few minutes later we were off and returned to the hotel – this time above ground.

Returning to the hotel I had a long much-needed shower before heading back outside and visited the kiosk right outside to stock up on snacks for the afternoon. By time, too, as I was walking around slightly lightheaded.

The land of uncooked fish

According to my last update I was to run the Tokyo marathon in 2026. Towards the end of September last year I received a mail from the marathon travel company letting me know that they had extra spots for the 2024 run. So my schedule got bumped up 2 years. The horror!

For obvious reasons I’m not traveling across the world for just a weekend to run a marathon so I’ll have a few other things planned for the trip.

27th of February – 3rd of March
Flying out to Tokyo on a direct flight; leaving around 1100 and arriving the following morning less than 14 hours later. I’ll have a few days to catch my breath and have a look around, including running a 5km run Saturday morning (“Friendship Run”) before running the marathon on Sunday the 3rd.

The course starts near Shinjuku at the Metropolitan Government office, going east and reaching north of Imperial Palace and Chiyoda City. From there we have a short detour north towards Ueno before returning to Chiyoda City, going further south before turning east and north to Taito City, returning the same way for a bit before going further east and south past the Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine before once again returning the way we came. Reaching the east side of Chiyoda City again and Tokyo station we continue further south all the way to Tamachi and passing Tokyo Tower and once again turning around, the same way back, finishing the run at Tokyo station.

Quite a bit of repetition on the course with running on roads in both directions which I’m not a big fan of, but it’s a completely new city for me so that’s a big plus.

4th – 8th of March
The day after the run, hopefully not too sore, I’ll be checking out from the hotel and taking the shinkansen to Osaka where I’ll spend the following four nights. Not many plans other than hanging out and seeing the city. I do have plans on the Wednesday to grab the train to Himeji to see the castle there – dated from 1333 and the largest in Japan – and on the way back stop by Kobe where I have a reservation for a hopefully delicious dinner centered around kobe beef.

8th – 21st of March
I’m doing a 2-week group tour starting in Tokyo so I’ll take the shinkansen back to Tokyo to meet with the group. From there we’ll start off going west to Kanazawa, continuing to Takayama, then going south all the way down to Hiroshima, and returning passing through Kyoto and Fujikawaguchiko (near Fuji) before returning to Tokyo. We’ll be spending 1-2 days at all the locations giving us time to see the city/area before shinkansen’ing on to the next location.

One could argue that a day (or the two in Kyoto) isn’t enough to see it everything a city has to offer, but if you were to stay long enough to be fully satiated these two weeks could have been more than double the time. I suspect it will likely at times feel a bit rushed but also a good balance between getting to see a large part of the country and still at least having some time at each stop.

22nd – 30th of March
Returning to Tokyo I’ll spend the rest of my trip there, having time to have a good look around and get to see the different parts of the city. I am looking into doing day trips out of the city, maybe north as that is a part that hasn’t been covered by the previous days. I have already booked a tour in Nagano on the 25th – not because it was the site for the winter Olympics in 1998, but you can see the
Japanese macaques (snow monkeys); those known for sitting in the hot pools surrounded by snow. Being relatively late in the winter there may not be much snow left when I get there, but I guess I’ll see when I get there. The cherry trees are forecast to start blossoming around the 22nd in Tokyo and being fully blossomed a week later, so I will just have time to see that (hopefully – depending on weather and such) before flying home Saturday morning.

As far as I can see this will be the longest trip I’ve been on yet, but considering how interesting the country (and food!) seems I felt it would be waste not spending some extra time now that I was there for the run. There will likely be a certain level of cultural shock when getting there but that’s all part of the fun, right?

23rd – London marathon

The forecast for the day had been including rain throughout the entire day, but last night it had changed to looking positive with 10-13°C and slightly clouded with no rain. So it was a bit disappointing standing in the waiting area a few minutes before start and seeing – and feeling – it starting raining. The temperature dropped quite a bit with the rain coming down and I was just looking forward to getting started hoping to build up some warmth. While it didn’t rain for the entire run, we did experience the occasional drizzle throughout the entire thing.

A start in classic English conditions.

Photo taken by Sportograf.

In spite of the weather the support along the course was absolutely amazing. As an English runner pointed out this was completely normal English weather so there was no reason why this should keep people away. And rightly so; there was maybe 500m in total for the entire course where there weren’t anyone cheering you on, otherwise the support was immense: eager, loud and very engaged. There were layers of people on multiple stretches trying to get close to us – but as opposed to the Paris marathon this course had been fenced off so we were able to run uninterrupted. So much energy.

Circling Cutty Sark (just seen to the right of the frame).

Photo taken by Sportograf.

We started off in Greenwich and started off towards east to Woolwich where turned around and ran to and circled Cutty Sark, continued through Rotherhithe before reaching Tower Bridge. Crossing that we went east again, crisscrossed Canary Wharf before the almost same way back past the Tower Bridge, continuing west along the Themes until reaching Westminster where we turned up towards Buckingham palace which we briefly passed before turning down The Mall and crossing the finish line. To be completely honest the course wasn’t terribly interesting apart from maybe the last 5-10km but the support made up for it in spades. Running on the many streets there were often buildings on both sides, keeping the noise from the spectators concentrated, increasing the volume. But impressively, the loudest part on the course was actually on Tower Bridge despite it being completely open; the sidewalks were absolutely stuffed with people screaming. That was quite the experience.

Crossing Tower Bridge.

Photo taken by Sportograf.

At around 25-30km I realized I was starting to slow down – my estimated finish time was suddenly down to around 04:30, and regardless of how much I tried to run faster I seemed to be stuck in the slower pace. Then I tried focusing on passing other runners instead of just running faster, and suddenly I was back to an estimated finish time of 3:58, so things were back to how they were supposed to be. Reaching the last 5-7km my estimated finish time was swinging between 3:58 and 4:01 so things were getting a bit stressful towards the end. 

Nearing the end.

Photo taken by Sportograf.

Pushing through on the last few kilometers I managed to finish in 3:58:42, which I was very happy with. That put me as 17715 out of 48743 in total (top 36,34%), 12993 out of 28397 men (top 45,75%) and 2314 out of 4615 M4044 (top 50,14%). So compared to my other runs this was actually quite a good result in the end despite my struggles along the way, and a result I am now very happy with.

Going through the roundabout in front of Buckingham Palace.

Photo taken by Sportograf.

New update for Abbott World Marathon Majors

With last year's completion of Chicago and Boston marathons, and the mail received letting me participate in the 2023 London marathon, things have been moving forward in more sense than one. On top of that its satisfying being able to cross them off one at a time. This means that 4 of the World Marathon Majors are complete, one is in the near future and one is still some years in the future.

As things are currently, this is the current schedule, past and future.

Berlin - September 2019
New York - November 2019
Boston - April 2022
Chicago - October 2022
London - April 2023
Tokyo - March 2026

So in a few months I will have only one left, so I guess I'll have to find other runs in the mean time to keep me on my toes. Sounds like a horrible concept. Also, there are rumors that they are planning on adding another run to the group, so even if I can see the end of it now it might change in the future. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out as there have been talk for a long time to add more run(s). We'll see, but I worry this will be an endless chase with always another one in the future that has just been added, and not being able to actually finish the group like I did with the Superhalfs. 

Running fish & chips

Towards the end of September I received a mail from the travel agent doing the marathon tours that London had opened up for some more spots in 2023, so anyone who had booked for a later date could, if they were quick, sign up for the 2023 run instead, shortening the wait. I didn't think I was particularly quick, but apparently quick enough, so now I'm going to London in April 2023 instead of in 2025.

London is a nice city and I'm looking forward to going back, even if it is for a marathon.

20th - 22nd of April
Flying out to London in the afternoon I don't expect to be able to get to the expo on the first day. Instead I'll have Friday and Saturday to get there, and also spending time wandering the city and having (another) look at this fine old city.

23rd of April
Race day. The starting point is out in Greenwich and after a quick detour around Woolwich we return past the Cutty Sark, largely following the Themes before crossing the Tower Bridge, circling around in the opposite direction so you get to see the Cutty Sark and O2 Arena from the opposite side before going back, passing the Tower Bridge and ultimately finishing in St. James Park. It looks like a nice course, but also potentially narrow streets so I'm looking forward to see how congested the entire run is going to be.

24th of April.
Flight back home in the early evening. That means I get one last shot at fish & chips before having to return to the airport.

Ignoring the potentially (very) British weather I think this will be a great trip and run. The course takes you around to some pretty nice sights so it'll truly be a running sightseeing. 

9th – Chicago marathon

My alarm went off at 0530 (I do this voluntarily…) but it was made easier by me waking up a few minutes before. I stumbled about for a bit and got ready – the temps were just a few degrees above 0 but I decided to skip long pants over my shorts and settled with a shirt and jacket to stay warm. Walking the 20 minutes to the starting area I found my choice of clothing wasn’t completely off, though my legs did notice the lack of covering.

I had expected it to be similar to the starting area for the New York marathon where you could get snacks, light food and various drinks (and dogs to pet!), but there was just water filling stations, the bag check tents and porta potties. Considering the size of the arrangement it just seemed a bit lazy to not have anything. Though I do seem to remember the NY starting area being bigger so they had room for more, I still think there’d be room for various booths here. Oh, well.

Around 0700 it was time to get rid of my warm clothes and hand in my bag, and wearing only my running shorts and t-shirt I really got to feel this morning temperature. Definitely close to freezing. I got stuck in the queue to a porta potty for 20 minutes (why is it that outdoor urinals are never used in the US? Is it really such a taboo to pee even if no one’s able to see your penis?! If you take out your penis to pee and nobody sees it, is it still sexual assault?).

After the long and cold wait I shuffled over to my starting corral and realized with absolute – sarcastic – joy that the pacers were carrying a small sign on a stick in their hand. So also here you completely lost sight of the pacers only a few meters away, and none of them were able to hold their arm out to keep the sign elevated for even a short while before the sign was swinging all over the place out of sight. The corral closed at 0745 and as the first wave were sent off we were slowly shuffled forward until it was our turn to stand at the starting line. And, as scheduled, at 0800 we were sent off.

The first 5km was spent going a bit back and forth in the center of the city before heading north, passing among other things the zoo. At the 8 mile mark (app. 13km) we did a u-turn and returned towards the center where we hit the mid-way point before turning west, another u-turn at around 25km with a few kilometers return before turning south until just past the 37km mark where we once again turned around and headed back north, into the center and finishing in the opposite end of the park from where we started, another marathon done.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

While it was cold waiting for the run to start it was clear it had already started heating up at that point (either that or I was slowly loosing all sensation in my body from the cold) making it more comfortable standing around. After the start it took a few hours for the temps to reach around 15-17°C making the entire thing much more bearable. It was also quite windy throughout the run, and while the buildings shielded us from the worst part, when we did get hit directly by it, it lowered the temperatures quite significantly.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

As with the previous runs in the US the support along the way was impressive for the majority of the course. There were parts where we ran “alone”, but when people were lined up there was a lot of energy among them. And I bet there will be a few worn-out vocal cords tomorrow; I’m impressed by the volume some of them were able to produce! A lot of great encouraging posters: “Blisters are braille for awesome”, “At least you’re not at work”, “World’s worst parade” and “You have stamina – call me!”. The latter I saw first fairly early on and having not seen that poster before I instinctively gave the girl (young woman?) holding a quick smile – and passing her and her friend I heard a shy giggling and “did you see that guy??”. Short interactions with the onlookers can be fun.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

There was also multiple posters warning against trusting farts during the run and puckering up instead. Last turn before the finish line, 400m to go, I gained on someone who was running funny. Which, for the record, a lot of people were doing at this point. Having noticed him and returned to my normal empty “who’s idea was this please let it be over soon”-gaze my mind started churning; “he’s struggling hard, legs also covered in mud, wait – when did we run through mud, that isn’t… sniff-sniff… that isn’t mud at all!”. Poor guy. Didn’t pay attention to the posters. I just hope it had only happened recently.

Glad it was over.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

I crossed the finish line in 3:58:02. This put me as no. 14033 out of 39301 total (top 35,71%), 9712 out of 20844 men (top 46,59%) and 1796 out of 3488 M4044 (top 51,49%). For Danish runners I came in 55 out of 101 total (top 54,46%), 46 out of 78 men (top 58,97%) and 9 out of 15 M4044 (top 60%). I had hoped for a new PR (sub-3:55:34) considering the flat course but at around 25-30km it was as if my body started realizing what it was being put through and started complaining so I was suddenly facing a massive mental hurdle. Combined with the two half marathons 1 and 3 weeks ago (the latter being a new PR)  I was happy with getting in below 4 hours. But crossing the finish line everything below my waist just felt like overcooked noodles. A few steps past the line I had slowed down and started zig-zagging, having to lean against a fence to not topple over. A volunteer came over and grabbed my arm – I reassured her I was ok but just needed a moment to recover, thinking that she would tell me to sit down. Instead she reached into her pocket and grabbed a water bottle which she shoved into my hand and ordered me to drink. Apparently I was pretty thirsty – it disappeared in only a few gulps. The water, that is, not the bottle.

I waddled slowly on, collected drinks, snacks and my medal before I lined up to get my bag. From there I slowly started towards my hotel, wincing every time I was faced with a curb or even worse: stairs. It took almost two hours for me to be back in my hotel room after crossing the finish line, a walk that under normal circumstances would probably have taken half an hour or so. 

The slower pace was definitely because of traffic and the large crowds making it hard to move around.

Definitely.

18th of April – Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is a point-to-point course, starting in Hopkinton west of Boston and concluding on Boylston Street in Boston near Arlington station. This also meant two different weather forecasts and the situation made it surprisingly hard for me to figure out how to dress. We would start at 1115 as part of the last wave with clear skies, no wind and 10-12°C – near perfect conditions. The weather in Boston app. 4 hours later would be 5-6°C, cold winds from east and overcast. I ended up with shorts and the official long-sleeved shirt. 

The buses departed for the starting area at 0900, less than 10 minutes’ walk from the hotel. We were loaded into a bus (they were all yellow school buses) and we were off west-bound. It took a bit more than an hour to get to our destination and it seemed like we drove for much more than 42km. Also we barely saw another bus on the way, despite being sent off in groups. But we arrived as planned and were led into a large waiting area with just porta potties, info tent and a medical tent. Not much more than that – apart of a large number of runners. The previous wave was still being sent off into the corrals when we arrived so it was a perfect time to spend 15 minutes to queue to use the toilets. 

When it was our turn at 1030 we were led toward the corral where we were separated into our respective starting areas. The walk from the waiting area to the start was maybe a 15 minutes’ walk where we passed through a small town along the way. Having found or places, at 1115, as planned, we were off!

Me not dead (yet) somewhere along the course.

Photo by MarathonFoto

Well… Sort of. I don’t know how they decided where the runners would be positioned for the start, but it seemed very not thought through; already within 2 km people were walking, barely running, and clearly much slower than runners behind them. Due to the number of runners and relatively narrow road it was quite the slow slog until it started loosening up at around 7-10 km. 

After the beginning crowd everything got much better – apart from the part where there are hills showing up on the course. Looking at the course profile the finish is app. 150m lower than the starting point, but in between there are plenty of hills going up, too (looking on the bright side that’s just even more going downhill!). The most famous is the last major hill called Heartbreak hill at the 33km marker, an app. 30m ascent over 500m. None of the hills were really steep ones, they were just long slogs which really ended up draining you. I could at least keep running up all albeit at a slower pace, but there were plenty of people who just downright walked up the hills – even in the beginning within the first 5 km. Without wanting to judge anyone I got the impression that there were a lot of people who were in way over their heads. It seemed like the “I can do what I want”-mentality trumped everything, including respect for peoples’ actual abilities. Someone had been spotted by someone else in the group at the 2-3km mark in an ambulance with a twisted ankle. Maybe this is typical for marathons, but because this is the first time I am starting in the back instead of somewhere in the middle this is just the first time I get to experience them? In any case it just feels weird.

The weather turned out to be a bit different than forecast. The beginning was – or at least felt – much warmer than the announced 10-12°C, and it stayed like that for the rest of the run. At around the mid-point the wind starting picking up and for the rest of the run we had cold head-winds, but with the temperatures and not a single cloud during the entire run it never really became a problem aside for the extra resistance. At least we had the sun at our backs for the run.

Taking the 3rd and last 90 degree turn, less than a kilometer from the finish line.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

While the course wasn’t a straight line it almost felt like that. There was a slight turn here or there, else we were pretty much heading east the entire way. Probably the only marathon (or at least one of very few) with only 3 90 degree turns – and two of them were both within a kilometer before the finish line inside Boston. It was interesting running through the various towns towards Boston; it was very clear that we started in relatively rural towns and the closer we got to Boston the more posh they got. One of the first towns had a large 2-story house where the entire end wall was covered by an equally huge American flag. It almost didn’t get more American than that. Maybe except… 

In the beginning I was running just behind a guy running with a 3 meter flag pole with the Stars & Stripes (how he was allowed to bring that I had no idea, it was way larger than the rules dictated), and passing through one of the first towns there was what looked like a trucker bar, where seemingly all the patrons – primarily large burly men – were standing outside watching the run with drinks in their hands. The moment the runner with the flag appeared most of the onlookers started loudly chanting “USA! USA! USA!” pumping their fists, one saluted it and two started singing the national anthem. It was so surreal. And it felt so American. And honestly? You know when you watch those documentaries about North Korea and we laugh at the amount of indoctrination that’s going on there? This felt eerily similar. I’m sorry, but looking in from the outside some of you have a pretty freaky relationship with identity and the symbols that represent said identity. Oh, well, all part of the experience.

Oh, and I got to see the runner with “Fauci is the Anti Christ!” painted on his shirt. Gotta flaunt your ignorance whenever you get the chance!

Only a few 100 meters left. Trinity Church in the background.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

The support along the entire run was so intense – I’d say even more so than what I experienced in New York. The marathon here seems to have a special place in peoples’ hearts and this is the first since the beginning of Covid, so there was a bit of catching up to do. People had BBQ-parties involving the entire neighborhood on their front lawns, everyone from kids to the elderly were waving flags or signs of encouragement. Live music everywhere. Outside Wellesley College there was a long line of screaming students screaming their hearts out (such a moral boost, but my ears couldn’t forgive me for high-fiving almost the entire row), aptly named the Scream Tunnel. The roar of people nearing the finish line was the conclusion of a run where the volume from the onlookers for the most of the run was overwhelming. 

Crossing the finish line. Never doing this again - until next time, that is.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

Having crossed the line in 3:59:30, just within my goal of 4 hours, I waddled back to the hotel, a route that took significantly longer than when I walked the same path in the morning. I slowly moved to my room (thank you for inventing elevators!) and had a much needed shower followed by a few hours’ rest. The group met up to go and have dinner at Hard Rock Café, and returning at around 2130 I returned once again to my room and as expected stopped doing anything for the rest of the night.

Update on the Abbott World Marathon Majors

For someone who enjoys travelling it has been some frustrating years to get through, and carefully laid plans got moved around, cancelled and postponed. With the pandemic seemingly reaching the end one could hope that the current planning might hold going forward.

I was supposed to run in Boston April last year, and after being postponed multiple times it seems like I now have a spot for the run next year. Similarly with Chicago, and with the US borders not opening until November this year it looks like I'll be running that next year. Also, due to cancellation of Tokyo a marathon and them being careful on the first post-pandemic (halving the capacity), my spot for Tokyo has been pushed back to 2026. So the schedule for the 4 remaining marathons (having already done Berlin and New York) looks something like this:

Boston – April 2022

Chicago – October 2022

London – April 2025

Tokyo – March 2026

It looks like, as things are currently, that this schedule should hold, but I have learnt not to rely on any vacation scheduling more than a couple of weeks in advance. Hopefully things settle down and I can look forward to joining some of the big runs in the world again, it'll feel great getting back out and running.

Update on Chicago marathon

Chicago marathon was planned to be in October but due to the pandemic it has been cancelled - not being postponed but just downright cancelled. With the current situation I can't blame them for that decision. As opposed to Boston, though, they let you defer your spot to one of the future runs in 2021, 2022 or 2023. No big issue, when signups open for a run you just sign up and refer to your application from 2020 and you are guaranteed a spot, so they say at least. Easy.

My plan is to sign up for next year (2020), but if this are still going significantly downhill with regards to the pandemic I am free to wait another year or two. The extra freedom seems smart in this situation.

No date has been formally announced, but they usually have the marathon some time in the middle of October. They don't even know when they'll open up for applications for next year's run so there is still quite a lot in the wind yet.

This year is turning out very anti-running.

Second update on Boston Marathon

The Boston marathon was, as previously mentioned, moved to September this year due to the pandemic. I also expressed my concern what would happen with my spot if the run was further postponed or cancelled. Needless to say, the run has now been cancelled and we have been informed that all spots would be refunded and there was no possibility of being transferred to a future run.

Well, that sucks.

I contacted the travel company that I had gotten the spot through, and they informed me that while BAA (Boston Athletic Association) refunded all tickets they would transfer all their participants for this year for the run next year. Of course we shouldn't miss out on this after waiting, just because of a pandemic.

Great success!

While no dates have been presented for the trip next year, the run is on April the 19th. 

With that aside and secured, BAA offered all of this year's participants a spot on a virtual marathon; if you run the marathon distance between the 7th and the 14th of September you'd be getting a goodie bag and medal. So I signed up for that, if for nothing else then to have something to aim for in the near future. The location of the run is where ever you want so it'll be easy setting up. Get dressed at home and start running. Couldn't be easier. Except for the running part, obviously.

Boston and Mexican beer

With the Corona virus ravaging the world these days it was no surprise that my plans of running the Boston marathon would also be affected. Having the run on the 20^th of April put it right in the middle of the pandemic so there was no hiding. But instead of it getting cancelled it got moved to September instead. 

The marathon is normally run on a Monday, on Patriot's day, which will obviously not happen this year. But they will keep with the tradition of running on a Monday so we will be going on the 14^th of September. This is the day after the Copenhagen half marathon that is run on Sunday the 13^th of September, but despite me looking forward to that, Boston marathon takes priority and all I can say to the Copenhagen half in the situation is "suck it".

Apart from the date change not much will change from the original plan.

12^th – 13^th of September

Flying to Boston via Reykjavik and arriving in the early evening. We have the Sunday for ourselves where we will be going to the Expo where we get to pick up our bib-number. I have never been in Boston so it’ll be interesting to have a bit of time to explore the city.

14^th of September

Race day. The run is on a point to point course so we will be picked up by busses near the finish area at Boston Public Garden that will bring us out to the starting area, and pickup will depend on what starting wave you are part of. The race starts in Hopkinton and brings the runners through the suburbs Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton and Brookline before arriving and finishing in Boston near the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.

15^th – 16^th of September

We have a full day on our own in Boston (the 15^th) so another day to explore. I have no plans, but considering the Red Sox stadium is close by I am tempted to go to a baseball match just to see one of those now that I have the chance. On the 16^th we will fly out on the evening before coming back to Copenhagen on the 17^th mid-day.

There is another small change, though. Previously we were supposed to be staying at a hotel only a block away from the pickup and finishing area. Now we have unfortunately been moved to a different hotel, maybe 2-3km away from the finishing area. Won't be as comfortable getting back as was originally planned, but at least we are still (relatively) close by and not at the other end of the city.

I am very worried about what will happen if the race has to be cancelled/moved again due to Corona still being present in September. By grabbing this late cancellation I lost my guaranteed spot in 2024 so if I lose this spot for one or another reason I fear I'll be back at the end of the queue and have to start all over trying to secure a spot. Stressful times we are living in.

Going to the old city

So, as I mentioned in my previous post it isn't necessarily easy to sign up for the marathon majors. Either good run times, a big chunk of money for charity, through a partnered travel agent, or a bit of luck in the ballot draw.

There is another option, though: Be very lucky. Like, really, really lucky.

I was sitting at work on a Tuesday and at 0955 I received a mail basically stating "We've had two late cancellations for the Boston Marathon and therefore two available spots, first come first serve." Despite having just spent 3 weeks on a ship with too much food and barely any running practice (the magic number is 14.320 – that's how many photos I need to sort through before any updates get published) I gave them a quick call and quickly grabbed one of the two spots. Less than 20 minutes later another mail was sent out stating that they were now sold out. Boston can be hard to get a spot for – I have a guaranteed spot in 2024, but being impatient I loved the prospect of being able to cut the waiting time down to only a few months.

18^th – 19^th of April

Flying to Boston via Reykjavik and arriving in the early evening. We have the Saturday for ourselves where we will be going to the Expo where we get to pick up our bib-number. I have never been in Boston so it’ll be interesting to have a bit of time to explore the city.

20^th of April

Monday, Patriot’s day, race day. The run is on a point to point course so we will be picked up by busses near the finish area at Boston Public Garden that will bring us out to the starting area, and pickup will depend on what starting wave you are part of. Bonus is that our hotel is a few hundred meters from the finish area, so it’s easy to get there and more importantly getting back after the run. The race starts in Hopkinton and brings the runners through the suburbs Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton and Brookline before arriving and finishing in Boston near the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.

21^st – 23^rd of April

We have a full day on our own in Boston (the 21^st) so another day to explore. I have no plans, but considering the Red Sox stadium is close by I am tempted to go to a baseball match just to see one of those now that I have the chance. On the 22^nd we will fly out on the evening before coming back to Copenhagen on the 23^rd mid-day.

The Boston marathon is the oldest annual marathon starting in 1897, making this year’s run the 124^th in a row. But the number of participants is only around 30.000 runners so it’s a fair bit smaller than New York, Berlin and Chicago. In any case it will be an interesting race, and with so many places taken by those qualifying it’ll likely be a fast race so I do not expect to be well placed. But never mind about that – participating in the Boston marathon will be a great experience.

Going to the windy city

The thing with the Abbott World Marathon Majors (Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York and Tokyo) is that there are no way to just sign up for a spot, but instead you have to gain access by other methods. Among other methods there are donations to charities, meeting a qualifying time, a ballot draw or getting a spot through a partnered travel agent.

The donations required to be taken into consideration are usually in the equivalent 100s or more often 1000s of USD. The qualifying times are strict enough that if you just run casually you won’t really have a chance to reach the cut-off time. In the ballot draw you have, depending on race, between a 4% and 50% chance to get picked (Boston differs as they don’t have a ballot). So in the end, for a runner like me, most of the time the only realistic chance I have is going with a travel agency and as I am not the only one in that situation many of these departures are often sold out several years in advance.

But at times you are allowed to be lucky. Chicago has the highest chance in the ballot (50-ish percent) and it fortunately went my way this year. So added to the marathon in Calgary and the SuperHalfs Chicago is now on the list for 2020’s runs.

7^th – 9^th of October

Flying out to Chicago (yes, it’s two days after coming back from Cardiff) and spending some time in the city. I have never been there before so it’s going to be new for me. For ease I booked a hotel close to the start and finish line of the marathon which puts me in downtown (in The Loop, for those who knows Chicago) which means getting back will be a breeze – relatively, at least. No up and down stairs to subways as in New York, at least.

10^th of October

The International Chicago 5K run is in the morning which brings us on a short 5km course round downtown, ending up near the marathon’s finish line. The afternoon will be spent on relaxing and (mentally) preparing for the marathon tomorrow.

11^th of October

Race day. The first wave with wheelchairs gets started at 0720 and from 0730 and the following hour the three runner waves will be sent off. The race starts in Millennium Park and after circling downtown we go north to Uptown before returning to downtown and heading west. This will be a few kilometres before we return back and circle south through the University Village, Little Italy and Pilsen before heading south through Chinatown to Bronzeville, returning up north finishing in Grant Park, bordering Millennium Park to the south. The course is relatively flat (seems like there is a variance of app. 10 meters) so for a marathon it doesn’t seem like a technically hard course. The rest of the day will obviously be spent on relaxing and recovering.

12^th – 13^th of October

Flying out the 12^th in the evening means I have most of the day to walk around while being sore.

The Chicago marathon has around 45.000 runners each year which makes it one of the big ones, on par with Berlin and New York – but being one of the Marathon Majors it does attract a lot of runners in general. The small ones can be fun but participating in a big run just has a completely different feeling and something I am looking forward to experiencing again. And it’s just a plus that it’s in a city I haven’t visited before.

3rd of November – Race day

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 1^st Avenue you could hear an almost roar from the people lining the street on both side waiting for us to come down. Running 1^st 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 5^th 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 59^th 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 8^th 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.