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New York City Marathon Runner Comments
Back to New York City Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.7 
Organization 4.3 
Spectators 4.9
Number of comments: 604 [displaying comments 41 to 51]
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Tely Diallo from VA
(5/20/2014)
"The best Race in my experince" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This is the mother of all the races, best course best support. If you have not run this race please try to. Then you can retire in peace. | |
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A. D. from Chicago, IL
(12/4/2013)
"One and done" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 After 3 years of lottery losing, I was finally in. I felt that if you run marathons, you need to do NYC once. So I did. I can only say - I'm glad I'm done. No, thank you, I would not come back. Cons: Expensive - entry, hotels, etc. Logistics - omg - where to start? How about at the expo. You start inside to go in a long way outside, to come back in, your number is checked multiple times, seriously? Did they consult TSA on efficiency? Oh yeah, out of certain sizes of shirts by the time I was there (Sat morning). How can that happen? Anyway, 5:30 ferry ride, just to spend another 3 hrs waiting. Thank you Dunkin Donuts. For hats and coffee. And then, of course, the infamous post-finish line drama. I guess it helps your recover when you are forced to walk another 3 miles. Cluster. The only nice touch were the fabric ponchos. And my personal pet peeve - no beer at the finish line. Really? Where is Brooklyn Lager when you need it? Pros: Crowds - as mentioned, crazy, few people deep. There were several miles when I could not hear music from my ipod, it was so loud. Hydration stations - plentiful and well-manned. | |
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J. W. from The Berkshires
(11/28/2013)
"If I could give the spectators 6 stars, I would" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Yeah, what they said: Every marathoner needs to do this race. Even though it's expensive. And a bit of a logistical nightmare. And the wait before the start is long. My only glitch happened when I ended up corralling with the green group by mistake and I ended up running on the lower level of the Verrazano Bridge, not the top (I had an orange bib and I was supposed to run on the top). This may have been a good thing because it was windy. I don't think the course is that tough until the Queensboro Bridge and the 1st Avenue flats from miles 15-20. The crowd is so insane and supportive you can't help feeling good even if you're hurting. The volunteers were super too. Still, my time wasn't that greatbut I really got my money's worth. Stay in midtown and take ferry to the start; make sure you practice getting there and know for sure what subway you need. Don't do it for the first time on Sunday morning. Make sure you get in the right color corral. I wish one of the zillion volunteers looked at my (very visible) bib and told me I was following the wrong crowd. All in all though, it was an uplifting bucket-list memory in the great metropolis. | |
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DC Pattie from Wash DC
(11/19/2013)
"Must Do North American" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 The 2013 NYC marathon completed the three North American Majors for me. Like Boston - point-to-point races require lots of logistics which makes for a very long day for runners. Advice - stay by the NYC Library and take the bus for a stress free commute to the start. In total, the NYC course is more difficult than Boston. Nothing in NYC is harder than Heartbreak Hill but in total (especially the last 10 miles) NYC is a few minutes slower. Crowds were great but not quite as fanatical as Boston. If I had to pick between Chicago or NYC (and couldn't choose both), Chicago has similar crowds, a much faster course, typically more favorable weather, and is logistically far more straightforward. Still in my book nothing compares to Boston! | |
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D. B. from Mexico
(11/11/2013)
"I'll do it again, but." (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 -Great race but very expensive -More than a Marathon, this race is a big business, very few locals, -Public in the streets great - My biggest complain is, organizers do not allow to register as a team in the lottery. Why ? My answer is $$$$$$$ -This was my 47th marathon and my 1st NY. I will run it again, but there are many races that you can run for one-fourth the budget. | |
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T. D. from Alabama
(11/10/2013)
"It's all about the experience, not the time" (about: 2013)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 New York City Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I ran this race with two of my good friends. All 3 of us agree that this race was a TOP 10 experience in our lives! Although this race is expensive and consists of unnecessary hassles before/after the race, anyone who runs marathons should make every effort to participate in the New York marathon. I've run the Chicago marathon and it's a GREAT race, but it doesn't compare to NY in terms of sheer excitement. The crowd support is off-the-charts! You feel like a rock star. You could literally give 'high 5' to the crowd along the whole course without essentially any gaps except along the bridges! We had the best time engaging with the crowd. This is NOT a race to do for a great time. Afterwards, all of my friends were inquiring about my time and they don't understand that this race is slow due to crowds/hills and that it's much more about the experience than an impressive time. Good luck getting your friends to understand that. I ran Chicago 15 minutes faster with essentially the same degree of effort before and during the race. The extremely long wait (over 2.5 hrs) before the start is unnecessary. It appears that at least 1 hr could be shaven off the wait. I had no baggage and the required to walk approx 15 blocks after the race to 77th Street. This is simply ridiculous! Then I had to walk 18 blocks back to 59th St. This is a major drawback to the race and took away from the overall experience. Regardless of the negatives, all runners are missing out if they fail to do NYC at least one time. I strongly disagree with the previous poster that gave an opinion to the contrary. All other marathons simply cannot replicate the excitement of the NY marathon. | |
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S. S. from Washington, DC
(11/6/2013)
"worth running once(?)" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I'm glad I checked this one off, but you shouldn't feel too bad if you never get to run this race. It's a lot of money and a lot of hassle (I was on the Staten Island Ferry at 5:30 for a 9:40 start) and NYRR may be the least runner-friendly race organizer I've encountered. NYRR emailed us all the time in the days leading up to the race, but was deafeningly silent in the preceding months. It would have been helpful if they had sent us an email in July alerting us that we had until 7/31 to choose our transportation and baggage options, or NYRR would choose the (worst) option for us. And I don't understand the exit procedure. People who chose no-baggage could leave the park at a closer exit than people who chose (or had chosen for them) checking baggage. Why make people who did not check a bag walk an extra mile-plus to the baggage exit? It's not due to the number of ponchos, because ponchos were given only to people with 'no-baggage' bibs. It's just perverse. | |
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J. V. from NYC
(11/5/2013)
"Great course and crowd" (about: 2013)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was a great marathon. The first half of the course isn't bad. The Verrazano bridge looks bad on the elevation map, but the wait for the start is so long that the bridge feels like nothing. After the Verrazano bridge, the first half is mostly small rolling hills. The second half is tougher. It leads off with the Queensboro Bridge at mile 15. Towards the end of the race is a long climb up 5th Avenue leading into Central Park, a hilly run through Central Park (though thankfully not on the west side or on the hill in Harlem), and an uphill kick to the finish. The course winds through a good cross-section of New York: tree-lined streets in Brooklyn, skyscrapers and Central Park in Manhattan, neighborhoods in Queens and the Bronx. Bridges with some spectacular views. And Staten Island, because why not :). The crowds really helped: they were excellent. Not many dead spots. The volunteers were fantastic. Lots of live music. The crowd of runners never thins out. I've never seen anything like that: just a constant stream of runners at every pace. Think about that when you seed yourself. It's possible to PR the race, but really tough! I beat my PR from a month before by a few minutes. It's really easy to start too fast: the pure spectacle of the start caused me to start over half-a-minute per mile too fast, and I'm usually careful about running negative splits. The start and the finish were as well-organized as they could be. Getting to the start is a pain because 48,000 runners need to travel to Fort Wadsworth. I had to wake up at 5:30 to get there from Manhattan. The starting line is basically a sensory-deprivation experience. People milling around drinking coffee and sports drinks, and waiting multiple hours for the start. After the finish line is a 20-block walk (likely to prevent congestion spilling over the finish line back into the course), and an extra 20 blocks to get back to the family meeting area. The finishers refreshments bag was well-stocked, and early-exit (no baggage) got a *surprisingly* nice reusable poncho. The only complaint I had for the entire day was that Columbus Circle was completely closed and the finish maps do not show this - I wouldn't have arranged to meet with my family on 57th if I knew how difficult it would be to get there. Mostly complaining because I had to figure it out on tired legs :), it really wasn't that bad. | |
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Sophie George from Damascus,Oregon
(11/5/2013)
"Well done NY!!!!!!" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first NY marathon & I must say 'great job NY'. Well organized. The ferry ride to Staten Island was smooth & beautiful. Water & Gatorade stations at every mile from mile 3. Enough toilets along the course. Security was at it's highest. Great crowd support. Very nice medal & shirt. I chose the early exit option and the poncho I received at the end kept warm until I got to my hotel. The course was harder than I expected. Not an easy course for BQ. Only complaint I had is people were crossing back & forth on the street which created a safety hazard for the runners & spectators. Overall I had a great time. Again 'We'll done NYRR' | |
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T. G. from Nyc
(11/5/2013)
"Great experience" (about: 2013)
2 previous marathons
| 2 New York City Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 My first nyc marathon was in 2008 and ran with the charity team for kids.. It was such a great experience meeting people from all over the world and learning from great coaches..my time was 5:20:46. My second marathon was on November 3, 2013 and the training was very different .. I was no longer with a team and trained myself .. Although, it was very challenging I never gave up and finished at 4:58:59 .. My training and my dedication motivated me to push as hard as I can to achieve this goal. |
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