I ran my first marathon in NYC in 2017, when i gave up smoking two years earlier i realised after a week of quiting i needed to replace it with something or i'd fail so i replaced it with runningLupo Pazzesco wrote: ↑10-08-24 17:51I was over in NYC 2004 for the Marathon, a real party atmosphere & for early November it was actually quite warm (high 70s at Midday). I went clubbing at Shelter till 8am so as not to wake my room mate who was doing the marathon on the Sunday morning. He was a relative newbie to long distances then and did just over four hours but said the crowd support was amazing in all the boroughs.
I managed to see Paula Radcliffe put the throttle down and win in Central Park as well.
I got runners knee 4 weeks out from the start of NYC, probably from not doing enough strenghtening of the thigh muscles supporting the knee. It was gone when only halfway over the Verrazano bridge, about a mile into the race. Anyway finished it in 5:16
The bridges are silient because supporters are not allowed on them but when coming off the Queensboro bridge onto 1st Avenue the crowd seemed to be about 6 deep, it was just incredible, but i was warned beforehand not to get carried away at that particular point on the route. Going down 1st Avenue is a long straight stretch to the Bronx, but i noticed supporters were drinking beers and half jarred at that stage
The last five miles came back up Harlem and 5th Avenue into Central Park and they were just grueling, but the crowd there again were a good 4 or 5 deep. The crowd are amazing, there's no gaps the whole length. The organisation of it is brilliant as well, it's not a token gesture lip service like in some places, the whole city shuts down, runners get free public transport, it a big celebration the whole weekend, the expo is massive. My hotel was on 42nd street across from Central Station and when i was coming up the escalator with my medal on everyone on the downward escalator started cheering and clapping and giving it loads. People on the street constantly saying well done. Everyone is so positive there, they celebrate the marathon instead of thinking its a nausence for closing the roads. They've a great attitude. There's two NYC marathon videos from a youtuber called Casey Neistat that capture the feeling quite well, he has one on the half marathon as well. It felt really emotional because it was my first marathon but also i felt like the shackles of 23 years of smoking had finally been removed and smoking didn't control me by making me go outside in -5 celsius I'd love to go back to do NYC again, best crowd experience for sure.
