New York Marathon 2021

FYI, I believe starting the 14th... ie Thursday.. we should get access to our bib info online. like seeing which waves we are in, etc.

Im going to be in the last wave #5 that actually starts at 12 noon. Kind of wish i knew about that wave starting so late because I'm on the 8am transportation.

What also sucks is there now a 13:45 mile oer minute pace requirement based on last person. Being in the last wave that will likely still mean that will be my required pace but i currently can barely sniff 15 min pace. In the past this race had a 8 hour time limit to finish... now you have to do it in 6 or less, or you get removed from course. sigh, i had high hopes, but i got chubby so this sucks.

Oh, don't worry, you won't get to the start area until 9:30-10ish. I was on an 8am bus when I did it and it took an hour to get over the Verazzanno bridge. And I'm not sure the buses run any later than that, because they need to clear the bridge before they start the race. Ferries might run a little later but probably not much.

In terms of the finish ... I don't know what's going to happen this year, but historically they have reopened the streets but let people finish running on the sidewalk, and the finish line stays open until everyone finishes. I can tell you that I'm volunteering in the grandstands at the finish line and my shift ends at 7:30pm, which means they probably expect to have spectators there until at least 7. And there's usually still staff and a DJ out there (and some spectators) after the official end of the race waiting for the final finishers.
 
well, i completed this marathon... barely. I'm sad i didn't see @SarahDisney at the finish because it was dark and my feet were killing me... why did no one tell me the last 5 miles are up a dang hill. actually i overhead that 5th Avenue was uphill by someone on the ferry... but dang that was long and hard. the race has lots of support all around the Burroughs, only the bridges were obviously empty except for runners. here are some pics... i didnt take many at end cause battery died 20211107_075259.jpg20211107_075439.jpg20211107_075829.jpg20211107_080354.jpg20211107_080726.jpg20211107_083442.jpg20211107_083943.jpg20211107_092252.jpg20211107_092730.jpg
 


no finish line pics - battery dead due to old phone that drained from 20% to 0% in last mile....after I powered it off for majority of race just to save for last photos. LOL
 
btw, if you do this race in the future and you had poor training, like I did, here is my advice. hope for cool weather, walk the uphills and run the downhills and there will be many downhills in early part, though start line is uphill till middle of bridge so i ran that. stay positive and you will get lots of positivity from crowd, especially if you have a name printed on you, say "Brandon" or whatever. Last halves are harder in general but in this race the last 5 miles seemed to be mostly uphill and dont be surprised if you run way more that 26.2 miles. Most marathons i am usually max at 26.4 to 26.6, but this one i ended 27.2 (I go the extra mile) even though first half I was only up by 0.25, so last half definitely added another 0.75 miles... ughhh
 


@Z-Knight congratulations on completing that challenging race! I will keep the uphill in mind when I run it in two years.

Have a good recovery!
 
@Z-Knight Congrats and thanks for the great pictures. I knew the very end was uphill, but will need to look at the course map more closely next year.
 
My wife and I ran this year as well. It was much hillier than we both expected.

I knew all about the start. One mile up over the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge. That wasn't overly bad on fresh legs and purposely going very slow out the gate. The Queensboro Bridge at mile 15 was another matter all together. That was another very long mile up on tired legs.

That being said, when you come down off that bridge and turn onto 1st Ave, there is nothing quite like it. Thousands of people lining the streets for 3-4 miles. It is just one big street party.

The whole race is one big party. The whole city really does come out and cheer on the runners. It is impressive and certainly helps to push you along when things start to break down.
 
My wife and I ran this year as well. It was much hillier than we both expected.

I knew all about the start. One mile up over the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge. That wasn't overly bad on fresh legs and purposely going very slow out the gate. The Queensboro Bridge at mile 15 was another matter all together. That was another very long mile up on tired legs.

That being said, when you come down off that bridge and turn onto 1st Ave, there is nothing quite like it. Thousands of people lining the streets for 3-4 miles. It is just one big street party.

The whole race is one big party. The whole city really does come out and cheer on the runners. It is impressive and certainly helps to push you along when things start to break down.
Nice! Congratulations to you both.

btw, this is not a NYC marathon question/comment...just my own commentary. I've been to new york to visit in 2016 and 2019 and I never smelled marijuana at all - nearly every corner of Time Square and near surrounding areas just constantly smelled of it - it was bad. And they were doing it in the open with Cops doing nothing - sad city.
 
Nice! Congratulations to you both.

btw, this is not a NYC marathon question/comment...just my own commentary. I've been to new york to visit in 2016 and 2019 and I never smelled marijuana at all - nearly every corner of Time Square and near surrounding areas just constantly smelled of it - it was bad. And they were doing it in the open with Cops doing nothing - sad city.
It’s legal in NYC (even outdoors). If it was truly everywhere, then the city sounds pretty happy to me.
 
btw, if you do this race in the future and you had poor training, like I did, here is my advice. hope for cool weather, walk the uphills and run the downhills and there will be many downhills in early part, though start line is uphill till middle of bridge so i ran that. stay positive and you will get lots of positivity from crowd, especially if you have a name printed on you, say "Brandon" or whatever. Last halves are harder in general but in this race the last 5 miles seemed to be mostly uphill and dont be surprised if you run way more that 26.2 miles. Most marathons i am usually max at 26.4 to 26.6, but this one i ended 27.2 (I go the extra mile) even though first half I was only up by 0.25, so last half definitely added another 0.75 miles... ughhh

When I did the race, I had my name on my bib. I happened to run next to a guy who had "Duff's dad" and his shirt. He was black (I'm pasty white) and maybe 10 years older than I am. We got a lot of double takes and laughs.
 

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