New York Marathon Report 2007

This marathon is truly grand in every scale. I’ve never seen anything or even heard of anything this size. I had thought it would be big, with all those numbers thrown around by the race organizers, but it was just gigantic. I can’t believe they pull this off. Shutting down New York is no easy “feet”.Our day started at 5:40 and I was gone by 6:00. Caught a Subway to the Staten Island Ferry, just made the 7:00 crossing. We arrived on the other side at 7:30 and then a final bus ride. So many people! The start/waiting area was mad busy and was just buzzing with energy. Time went pretty quick and we could go to our start corrals around 9:10. I did so not long after and waited in there with my start group. Talked with a lot of guys, everyone amazing athletes so it was fun place to be. We got moved up to the bridge start line about 9:45 where we waited until the gun sounded.My start position was at the front, though I wasn’t as close as I thought. It took about 15 seconds to get a cross the start.. The bridge loomed and we zipped up it, but I held back. I’m pretty pumped to say that my slowest mile was the first and the 3rd fastest was the last. I desperately tried to run this race even paced and if you’ve seen the splits, pretty bang on!Two miles in we got off the bridge and in Brooklyn. And the crowds were there and never really left. It was unreal, almost ever block of every mile had people on it, some very loud, some quiet and subdued, but still out there. The diversity really sticks out, as there were so many foreign runners (seemed majority was either from France or Italy). Now imagine running through Little Italy with a pack of Italian runners. A tunnel of noise!I ran with someone from almost every nationality as well, or saw them. At the finish line, as we were high-fiving each other, a bunch of us shared where we were from. Not a single American was in our group! Its that diverse! Anyways, basically all of Brooklyn was a party with bands, gospel churches, garage bands, steal drums, you name it, it was there.An interesting part was running through the Jewish quarter. This was an orthodox area and they were out there, dressed in black with their hats and “sideburns”, but they lacked one thing. They did not make a peep! But hey, at least they were out there.Into Queens for a few miles was more an industrial area and the least populated area. Still good though. I was running with two Columbian runners that were about 5 feet tall, but getting huge screams.We crossed from Queens into Manhattan around mile 15, and from what I heard about the race, this was the best area. A few thousand feet while still on the bridge, I saw the people down on the street below and the roar of the crowd. It looked unbelievable and sounded even better. Imagine a football stadium 4 miles long. The best part is I got to see Tanya. We had made plans for her to be in a certain area and I somehow managed to hear her voice among the noise. Sweet!We ran into the Bronx where the street music was out in force, but were quickly turning back to Manhatten and the finish line. Again, a wall of noise for the final 5 miles through Harlem and Central Park. It went by quickly, which is a sure sign of feeling well. I never had a real bad patch during this race. My equipment, nutrition, pacing all felt good. So in all honesty, that is what is giving me the greatest sense of accomplishment, that I’m learning and figuring things out for these marathons. I ran near perfect split times (taking into account certain miles that were all up or down) and after mile 16 I don’t think I got passed by more than a couple of people all well passing hundreds. Felt great!The course is definitely up and down, the entire way. I wouldn’t say anything looked flat but I liked it. I still seem to like going uphill… and passed the most on the hardest hills in the last half.I got to see Tanya (somehow) one last time in the final mile and I gave the thumbs up. Its all uphill, but crowds just made you soar and I was going hard! Pretty quickly it was done. They do everything right here, you don’t have to stop at the finish line and could slow down over time. I never got sick or anything for once!I got interviewed by the New York Times (randomly) and the New York Runners Magazine (the people who put this all on) and I just raved to them about the quality of everything. I think the most send out a memo to anyone that lives here, because after leaving the race, any citizen would see you and give you congratulations.