New York Marathon Race Report

I want to be a part of it New York New York! Many a marathon runner dreams of running the New York Marathon. This year it was my turn, in this post I’ll share my experience running the 2017 NYC Marathon.

I blame two people for getting me into marathons: my sister, Judy Andrew-Piel, and my friend, Christopher Harrison. I think of the Boston marathon as my sister’s race and it was just amazing to run the 2015 and 2017 Boston marathons with her. NYC is Christopher’s race, so racing it with him was inevitable and a treat.

Getting a bib

There are several ways to get a bib to the New York marathon: lottery, qualifying time, fundraise, run 9 + volunteer at 1 NYRR race, or pay for a tour package. Of the 50,000 runners this year only 867 were from Canada, so odds of getting in through the lottery for Canadians seem pretty low ( I did try) . I am not fast enough to qualify, the 9+1 system is great for the locals, raising $3000 for charity is a great idea but they are US charities so tougher to raise for outside the US because your friends can’t easily claim tax deductions. So I coughed up the money for a tour package through the running room that included hotel + guaranteed race entry.  It works out to paying about $600-$1000 CDN more than if you got in through the lottery. 

The Race Expo

Christopher and I arrived Thursday night so we could do the race expo and any bits of shopping for race supplies Friday, leaving Saturday to rest. According to my GPS we logged 22341 steps Friday, so I am really glad we did! The expo opened at 10 AM, we arrived around 10:20 and there was a huge line to enter, but it moved quickly and it wasn’t long until we split up for bib pickup. In a moment of serendipity I met 3 of the 4 runners from my running club, K2J while standing in line for my bib!

Before picking up my shirt and gear check bag, I took advantage of the t-shirt sizing area to try on a sample shirt and figure out what size fit.

Next up was the NYC marathon shop, they had some really nice gear: jackets and shirts of various shapes, sizes and colors, backpacks, gloves, wine glasses, stuffed bears, tights, shorts, visors, hats, a dangerous yet awesome place to shop 😊 I immediately picked out a nice long sleeve shirt, a t shirt, and a new visor thinking those would make perfect souvenirs, but couldn’t resist a nice warm hoodie and a pair of running gloves as well.  To make myself feel better at the checkout I asked the volunteer what the largest bill was he’d tallied that day.  Knowing someone else had splurged $2500 made my purchases seem downright modest!

Having been to race expos before, I know they can be a little chaotic, so this time I had an actual to-do list for the expo. First up- pace bands! I grabbed a 3:50 and a 3:55 pace band and took a picture of the sign listing the corrals where each pacer would be on race day. I was quite surprised to see that the pacer for a 3:50 was 6 corrals back from my assigned corral. Maybe they do that deliberately, since you can move back corrals but you can’t move up. 

Next up was a pair of recovery sandals. If you aren’t familiar with these, you want to be! My sister got a demo pair at work and decided to try them after Boston. Since then, she is frequently seen sporting them post-race or just post-workout. Oofos didn’t have a booth, but Jackrabbit sports carries the brand, and sure enough their booth at the expo had the recovery sandals, as an added bonus they had NYC marathon branding.  They cost $50 and they look like they should cost $5. (Spoiler alert, they were worth it!).  Finally we went in search of name bars to wear so the crowds could cheer us by name, but sadly the charity booth that offered that service last year was either not there, or was not offering the same service this year.  A trip to Staples for some sharpies and stickers would have to do.

Christopher eyed the recovery sandals, but balked at the price. When we walked out of the expo I stopped to put on the sandals since my feet were already sore from the expo. The look of relief on my face when I slipped them on must have made an impression because Christopher asked to try one on and you guessed it, we had to go back into the expo and buy a pair for him too 😉

The race expo was busy but it was still easy to walk around, we checked out Pepper the bot with her bib, we posed for pictures at various booths and signs, we added Thank you notes to the wall, we reviewed the map and hill profiles. All in all a great race expo and a great way to get stoked for the race. Oh and in case you are wondering, yes they had gels (sorry inside joke for the K2j Runners who did the Petit Train du Nord marathon).

Scoping out the finish

I find it really helpful to walk the last mile of the marathon. We hopped on the metro and made our way to Central Park. We walked along South Central Park and then we rented bikes so we could ride the surprisingly long (and hilly) stretch of the course through Central Park itself. Renting bikes seemed like a good idea, but when we rode out along the race route and back again we discovered the bike path in central park is one way. So yes we were *those* people riding the wrong way through Central Park. Sorry!

When we walked to the finish line we had an extra treat. Meb was there with his daughter and fundraising team. They were taking some pictures for his charity. But Meb being the amazing ambassador for the sport that he is, posed for individual pictures with every member of his team and then turned and said we’ll take pictures with that group there and then we are done. “that group there” included Christopher and I, in fact we were the last runners to get a pic with Meb, who was clearly exhausted and tired of taking pictures, but always the trooper took the time so we could get a picture with him and his daughter!  Love Meb!

Pre-race dinner

The rest of Friday and Saturday were spent drinking water with Nuun, eating pasta and rice, and generally trying to stay off our feet as much as possible. For a pre-race dinner we made 5 PM reservations at a Gyu-Kazu restaurant.  Kanako, one of my K2J trainin partners, came to join us for BBQ, rice and Smores! As an added bonus it turns there were happy hour prices until 6 PM, so we had a great meal and Christopher indulged in some superior sake at a bargain price!  Kanako works at the Japanese embassy in Canada and informed us that particular sake was given to prime minister Trudeau as a gift by the Japanese prime minister. At $35 a bottle (half price happy hour!) Christopher could not resist, but limited his intake given it was the night before the race so his brother Abram had to step up and make sure it did not go to waste 😉. 

Getting to the race village

We got to the ferry terminal just before 6:30 AM and it was packed with runners in various pre-race get-ups.  My favorite was the runner in the polka dot onesie and penguin hat. Christopher and I got a lot of compliments on our pre-race bathrobes.  It was crowded but it wasn’t long until we were on the ferry.  All the seats indoors were taken, so we went to the far side of the boat and outside where we had a fabulous view of the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano bridge. What could be more inspiring pre-race!

We were chugging along and suddenly they shut down the boat engines. Apparently, they were only operating one dock on Staten Island so we had to wait 15 minutes or so until another ferry vacated our dock and we could move in. The cut off for my bag check was 8:40, so I was a little nervous, but we figured the delay in docking would just reduce the line for the buses at the other end.

If it did reduce the line-ups I’d hate to think what they were like before! Once we disembarked it was ordered chaos. There was something resembling a line but it was a bit of a free for all with people lined up about 15 across, dividing and merging around various obstacles until we were funneled into a covered line about 4 people wide. After that things moved along fairly well, but it must have been 30+ minutes before we finally boarded a bus. The bus ride itself probably took another 20 to 30 minutes. Security checks were quick and efficient, it was the transportation and the waiting for transportation that took so much time.  I would take the ferry again, but I would give myself 2 and a half hours to get there from the ferry terminal in Manhattan.

The hunt for the Dunkin Donut hats!

When you enter the start village you see a number of people walking around in pink and orange hats. These are the Dunkin Donut hats and they are clearly a “thing” at the New York marathon because “America runs on Dunkin Donuts.” We entered the village at 8:25 AM, 2 hours after we had arrived at the ferry terminal. But, just enough time to seek out the famous Dunkin Donut hats before checking my bag. We asked a volunteer who directed us to the Orange Village, but when we found the Dunkin Donuts trucks we were informed they had run out. They suggested we check the blue and green villages.  By the time we walked back to the blue village it was 8:36 so I had to check my bag to make the 8:40 cut-off. We continued into the village and located not only the hats, but also Kanako, who had been visiting the therapy dogs! Fortunately I was able to repurpose a safety pin to attach the hat to my belt (Sorry James, since I had already completed bag check, I couldn’t grab an extra hat for you) 

Start corrals

I have a tendency to start too fast. So I decided to follow a pacer to help me hold back. I was assigned to Blue Wave 2 Corral F but I moved back to Orange Wave 2 Corral F, home of the 3:50 pacer.  Moving to the orange corral worked out well. Christopher’s cousin Miriam was in the orange village preparing for her first marathon! (She did it, way to go Miriam!) We made our way there after the mandatory stop at a port-a-potty (NOTE: The port-a-potty lines were quite reasonable, there are also port-a-potties in the corrals themselves but they seemed to have longer lines). We had a few minutes to catch up with Miriam, including a bit of a scare when the cannon for the elite start went off. Given events at Boston in 2013 and an incident with a terrorist in Manhattan 5 days before the race, loud bangs bring to mind the worst fears. Fortunately, this time it was just the start cannon. No sooner had we sat down to chat when my pacer walked by holding her sign. It was time to head to my corral. Very different from all my past marathon starts, I never really had a chance to sit down and hang out before heading to my corral. I underestimated the time to get to the start village. I did have one nice bonus when Diane from K2J found me in the corral (congrats on the BQ Diane!)

The pacers

Did I mention I decided to follow a pacer so I wouldn’t go out too fast?  Boy did that plan backfire! We walked to the start line and then she took off! 

When we hit the half-way mark of the race we were 4 minutes ahead of the time on my pace band indicated for a 3:50 marathon. (Side note, do they make large print pace bands? I discovered on this race that my arms are too short, apparently, I need reading glasses to read the pace band 😊). I held on and thought perhaps she was just trying to gain us time before the Queensboro bridge climb. But she had a shoe problem just before the bridge so we all ended up running that at our own pace. To her credit she caught back up to us about 2 miles later and for the second half of the race at least we were not g! I decided to make it a game, how long could I hold onto her. I’ll let you guess from my split times below when I let her go and decided to treat myself to walking the water stops.

Split	3:50 split time	My split time
5 km	27:15	26:17 (-0:58)
10 km	54:30	52:09 (-2:21)
15 km	1:21:06	1:18:27 (-2:39)
20 km	1:49:00	1:45:11 (-3:49)
25 km	2:16:15	2:12:38 (-3:37)
30 km	2:43:30	2:39:22 (-4:08)
35 km	3:10:45	3:07:21 (-3:24)
40 km	3:38:00	3:36:42 (-1:18)
42.2 km	3:50:00	3:49:19 (-0:41)

I don’t think I would try to follow a pacer again at a big race. You spend too much time trying to figure out where your pacer is and not enough time soaking up the atmosphere. Why they put the pacer that far back in the corrals is beyond me. We were running faster than all the runners around us for the first half of the marathon. I expended way too much energy zig zagging around runners trying not to lose her as she set the pace. Also when you follow a pacer, you follow their race plan not yours. My strategy would not have been to bank 4 minutes in the first half. To put that in perspective we were on pace for a 3:42 at the half way point. But hey, I did get my sub 3:50, and I do appreciate the volunteers who pace! Thank you!

The race course

There are three colored corrals to split up the runners at NYC: blue, orange, and green in order of speed. The blue and orange corrals go on the top level of the Verrazano bridge. The green corral runs on the lower level. I was assigned to the blue corral but moved back to orange (allowed because that is a slowed corral) to be with the 3:50 pacer (more on that later). I have to say running over the Verrazano bridge is awesome. Yes it’s a hill, but you are too stoked to really notice. 

As soon as you step off the bridge you are treated to the famous New York marathon crowds. These crowds will stick with you through the entire race (except for the bridges). The weather was cloudy and a slight mist so the crowds may have been a touch lighter than usual. New York typically has over a million spectators lining the course!  The crowds peaked at mile 8, after the Queensboro bridge, and around Central Park. I managed to find Christopher’s brother Abram and his girlfriend Julia at Mile 8 and I heard Vincent from K2J call out my name on South Central Park. Always a treat to see a familiar face during the race!

I knew that the second half of the marathon held some good hills.  I actually felt pretty good going over Hill #1: the Queensboro bridge. It’s a fairly long climb, and the quiet after 15 miles of crowds cheering you is quite the contrast. For the first couple of hundred meters you aren’t even over the river and because you are on the lower level, it’s hard to see the top of the hill. Christopher told me the trick: there is an island in the middle of the river, when you are over that island you have reached the top.  Half way down the other side you can hear the crowds waiting for you on the other side.

I found hill # 2, the Willis bridge,  a little tougher,. It’s shorter and steeper than Queensboro but still a good climb. When I reached it, my brain was focused on getting into the Bronx and making the U-turn to head South back towards Central Park and I really wasn’t in the headspace for that hill. Hill # 3 is the climb to Central park. We did the bike ride through Central park Friday in our course preview, but, I had not appreciated the long climb to reach Central Park! (PS there is a small park about 1 km before Central park designed to trick you into thinking you are in Central Park (thanks for the heads up on that Christopher, I was ready for it) It was only on the final climbs along South Central Park and up to the finish line that I felt the twinges and pulses of various leg cramps threatening to stop me, but I was able to breathe through it and get to the finish line. There was no finishing sprint or leap for the cameras, but I finished intact if exhausted.

Exiting Central Park

Okay seriously whose idea was it to put the bag check that far away from the finish line? It was 800 meters from the finish to the bag check and most of that was uphill! I sat down on the curb for a break and a stream of medical team volunteers came over to see if I needed help (one of them was kind enough to crack open my Gatorade and water bottle for me). I knew if i stayed any longer they would drag me off to the med tent, so I got up and kept walking. I stopped at another curb further up, and once again was decended upon by concerned medical volunteers who encouraged me to keep moving to avoid cramps. Finally I made it to the bag check and once I got past the last UPS bag check van I was able to sit down uninterrupted. I put on some dry clothes, I got out my phone and looked up my official finish time, I took the photo you see above, I put on my cushy recovery sandals. But eventually I knew I needed to walk again. 

They have a timing mat to let friends and family tracking you from the NYC marathon mobile app know when you exit the park. A brilliant idea because it took me 50 minutes after crossing the finish line to actually exit and make my way to the area where you could meet friends and family.

My feet, legs and back were sore, I had some serious chafing issues, but I was done. I was happy (okay I was hiccupping and hyperventaling when I first crossed the finish line as I tried to keep myself from crying as I walked to the bag check from exhaustion, but yes I was happy) . This is the point where all the friends who don’t run marathons and read this report ask “why would you do that to yourself” . To them I say, go watch a movie like Spirit of the Marathon, or watch the Barkley on Netflix, then the marathoners will only seem a little crazy.  Oh one last note, after I exited Central Park up by 88th street I had to walk all the way back to 72nd street to meet up with Christopher and his brother. I was amused by all the pedicab drivers offering to give me a ride. But at $3 a minute and now wearing my recovery sandals and some warm clothing I chose to stumble along on my own.

Post-Race celebrations

At some point your body realizes you need food! We ate dinner at a german Bierhaus and the whole restaurant cheered when we came in with our thermal blankets and race medals. it was awesome! We returned the favour and joined the cheering when any other runners entered throughout the evening. One of the runner’s girlfriends got all of us together for a group photo at the restaurant. I would love to see a video of each of us struggling to get out of our seat and walking very slowly to their table for the photo.  A nice salty pretzel and some bubbles in the form of Prosecco , and a little ibuprofen, and I was feeling much better!

The next day I met up with Christopher for breakfast. Wearing our race shirts and medals of course! En route to the restaurant we stopped at a news stand to pick up a copy of the New York Times. The top 30,000 runners finish times are published in the marathon section the day after the race. The man selling the news papers asked Christopher if he could hold the medal. He caressed the medal and congratulated us both. Concierge, waiters, and random strangers congratulated us as we made our way to French toast with strawberries and a mimosa. Given the challenges of getting a bib and the sheer number of other marathons out there to try, I don’t know if I will run this again. But, I think this old commercial sums up the NYC marathon for many of us.  I Love New York

Here the rest of my running related posts and race reports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advertisement