The New York City Marathon Course (Read 122 times)

I put together for my stupid blog twelve things about the New York City Marathon Course. I'd be interested in hearing other people's ideas about the course.

Nice.  You captured most of my memories of the race.

Mile 2 is the fastest mile I've run a marathon.  I was ~50 seconds faster than goal pace.  It's a ski slope, more so than the 1st mile at Boston (which was shockingly steep the first time).  Plus there was not the sense of being overly crowded.  And that was the surprising thing about NYC; beyond the 1st mile, it did not feel crowded like other big marathons I've run.

The 4th Ave stretch is awesome.  It gently undulates and you can get in a rhythm, which is then thrown off at mile 8 when you turn and get squeezed up that hill on Lafayette.  LOL.

I found the Hasidic neighborhood to be oddly comical.  The residents are going about their business as if the marathon is not occurring.

Queensboro Bridge isn't THAT bad.  I slowed maybe 10 seconds per mile.  The off ramp onto 1st is where you can pick it up way too much.  You ride the wave until past mile 18 when suddenly, as you noted, it goes quiet.  I felt my pace drop at that point.  Then you head for the token Bronx visit, which is laughable ugly.

The welcome into Harlem is cool.  Then the stretch on 5th is indeed a long sneaky incline - it seemed to go on forever and I found this to be the toughest part of the race.  Going into the park and hitting some rollers after mile 24 was easy by comparison.  Just my experience.

A great read.  I love reading this kind of stuff, especially coming up to the marathon again.

Good luck, maybe I'll see you out there, if not, I'll look for you in the hood running loops of PP.  :-)

Nice blog, you should check our Runar's website for NYCM info, amazing, I met that man a few times,  awesome guy.

http://www.runarweb.com/nycm_e.php