The NYC Marathon is amazing. If you ever get the chance to run it, do it, you will not be disappointed. For how insanely large the event is (over 50,000 people whaaaat??) it’s really well run. What really makes this race is the crowds though. Holy moly, they were amazing! I’ve only run 3 full marathons (Boston 2006, Berlin 2013 and NYC 2013) so I don’t have a whole lot to compare it to, but I don’t think it can get any better than the support you get on the streets of all 5 boroughs. It was Ross’s first marathon, and he did so good (better than me, which I’m trying to forgive him for).
I’d heard that waiting to start in the morning could be tough, but we didn’t have an issue at all! We got on a 8:15 ferry to Staten Island (which really felt like 9:15 thanks to day light savings, score!) and had just enough time to check our bag, get some hot coffee and snacks, shed a layer of clothes, find a port-a-potty and make our way to our corral for the 10:45 start. It was so exciting to be standing on the edge of the Verrazano Bridge with all the other runners singing along to the Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York that was blasting on the loudspeakers and waiting for the start gun to go off. I still get chills thinking about it (and not just because it was kind of cold to be standing out there in shorts).
On the ferry
A not-so-great shot of the start
I wore a VERY special shirt for this event. The front had the Boston Red Sox on it. I wasn’t sure how New Yorkers would feel about me wearing my Sox shirt through Yankeeland, but people were actually pretty great. As I said, best crowd ever. Check out these signs for proof. I got a lot of ‘Boston Strong’ shouts, and bonded with anyone I saw in the crowd wearing a B hat. Hey, I couldn’t be home to watch them win the World Series or attend the parade, this least I could do was represent . And it’s not like I wrote out Yankees Suck or anything…I kept that in my head.
On the back of the shirt, I wrote that it was my birthday. I didn’t account for the fact that the only people really reading the back of my shirt would be passing me, but I got a lot of happy birthdays from people before eating their dust!
In the midst of amazing supporters was my brother-in-law Will, his girlfriend Paola and Ross’s Aunt and Uncle who also live in Brooklyn. For some strange reason, their signs didn’t make the list above, but they were pretty stellar. The support we got from the crowds and family really helped push us through and we finished the marathon in 4:49, and spent the next 2 hours shivering our way out of Central Park (for as easy as we had it at the start, the end of this race is no joke.)
Speaking of awesome family members, I recently discovered the HILARIOUS speech Ross’s brothers (and best men) gave at our wedding on Youtube. It’s a long video, but definitely worth watching. Possibly best best man speech ever? http://youtu.be/rn1rOtq4mYQ
Balanced in Boston 