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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 191 to 201]
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K. R. from Connecticut
(11/7/2008)
"Couldn't ask for better race!" (about: 2008)
1 previous marathon
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon, and I'm still dreaming about it a week later. Crowds - awesome, scenery - awesome, bands along course - awesome, weather - awesome. Felt well taken care of with food, drink, toilets, etc. Only issue: they should hand out/sell blankets in the starter village. I was freezing for four hours waiting to start! | |
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Sid Busch from Goose Creek SC
(11/6/2008)
"5 stars are not enough" (about: 2008)
50+ previous marathons
| 6+ New York City Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 What can you say about this marathon, except that it is the best. NEW YORK sure goes all out. This was my 9th NY, and every year it's an event. The wave start was great; it cuts down on crowding. I sure hope I make it into the 40th running next year. | |
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Y. W. from New Jersey
(11/6/2008)
"incredible experience" (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 The NYC Marathon is really unlike any other marathon you will experience. The crowds are amazing and you get to see all 5 boroughs from a totally new perspective. Cons: The shirt sizing was a bit frustrating; I got there Saturday morning and there were no more smalls. My shirt is a medium and it almost touches my knees. The finish line baggage area was a disaster! Walking out with thousands of people in a slow march... it was very cold and I wasn't even allowed to stop and get my shirt out of my bag once I got to it (45 minutes after I finished). They need to organize this better!!! Also... there was almost no schwag in the bags, which is a bit disappointing considering how much money we paid for it. At Cincinnati you get a duffel bag for half the entry cost of NYC! Also, the corral starts in Staten Island were a bit messy; they could organize this better. | |
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Avigdor Book from Israel
(11/5/2008)
"Tough course made up for by amazing atmosphere!" (about: 2008)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I luckily read this site before I traveled to New York, so was quite prepared for the race course. Obviously the cold at the beginning does not happen every year and I heard one guy say it was the windiest start he could remember in the last 10 years - not the best thing to hear before you start running a marathon. :) The first half of the course flattened out after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and the crowds in Brooklyn really did make a lot of noise! Running up First Avenue was really an unforgettable experience, but as it says on the official NY Marathon site, it is NOT flat! This is followed by the most disappointing section of the race in terms of crowds - The Bronx. The best thing about The Bronx is that its the section before you come back into Manhattan! Miles 20 onwards are where it gets tough, as again it is either flat or uphill, and all uphill from when you enter Central Park (mile 23ish) until pretty much the end. Nothing like sprinting to that finish though... so, I got my PB of 3:23:25, but I really had to fight for it. I would love to be back next year to soak it all up and get my revenge on the last 10K.... | |
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D. C. from Mountain View, CA
(11/5/2008)
"Great Marathon Destination" (about: 2008)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 New York City sure knows how to host a marathon. Although pricey (high entry fee, and then there are the hotels - ouch), any runner who likes mega-marathons has to do NYC at least once. First the bad. The expo is very small for a large marathon. It doesn't compare to Boston or Marine Corps. However, the finisher's shirt is a very nice long-sleeve, technical shirt, which I will proudly wear. The pasta party could also be improved: there was poor quality food, and the very loud music made it difficult to talk to other runners. Skip it and instead try one of the many excellent local restaurants. Finally, try to avoid the buses. I was assigned to a 5 a.m. bus, which got me to the waiting area by 5:45. Then I spent about four hours waiting outside in the cold, until the race started. Instead, go for the ferry, which departs much later. Now for the good. The excitement and energy at the start is palpable. When the gun goes off, it's hard not to sprint up the bridge. The crowds are incredible. Everyone knows about the Manhattan crowds on 1st and 5th Ave., but I was amazed that 4th Ave. in Brooklyn was lined with spectators. Yes, the entire 8+ miles! The course is challenging. Many runners know about the bridges, but underestimate the difficulty of the final 6.2 miles. Lots of undulating hills that don't look like much on the elevation chart. I ran a one-minute positive split, but passed lots of runners during the final miles. Save something for the end. You will need it, if you want to truly appreciate Central Park and the finish line (plus you will need it for the 20-minute walk to exit the park). Overall, the race directors should be proud. For a mega-race with 40,000 runners, everything runs very smoothly. So come on runners, stop reading the reviews and go apply for NYC. It's a great race! | |
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Galen Carnicelli from San Francisco, CA
(11/5/2008)
"Best one yet" (about: 2008)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I've run three other courses (San Francisco, California International in Sacramento, and Boston), and this was my favorite marathon yet. And not just because I PRed by five minutes. The course is terrific and fair, except maybe for the hills coming from mile 24 to the end. Even then, forewarned is forearmed. Otherwise, a great mixture of ethnic neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, lots of bridges, posh urban landscapes in Manhattan, and of course Central Park. Plus enough rolling terrain to engage all the leg muscles and give you bragging rights over folks who run flat courses like Chicago. The crowds are as great as everyone says. They even line up on the two-mile long Verrazano Bridge that connects the Staten Island start to Brooklyn. Nonstop support plus even some decent bands along the way. Wear your name or home town/nation and you'll hear it shouted throughout the race. Pick an election year and wear a shirt or sticker touting the Democratic candidate for President, and you'll hear tons of shout-outs from like-minded voters. We really lucked out with great weather in 2008: mid 40s at the start, low 50s at the end, clear skies and low humidity. Okay, there was a decent headwind for much of the first 20 miles, but you can't have everything. I'd heard horror stories about the bag check at the start, but the split into three different villages seems to have solved this problem. I didn't check a bag, but I didn't see any lines in front of the UPS trucks in the blue village. There was an abundance of porta-johns in the villages and starting corrals, meaning no wait even in the minutes leading up to the start. I do knock the race organizers a star for the following areas that could use improvement: 1. NYPD officers and volunteers were present all along the course, but they made absolutely no effort to keep non-runners from crossing or otherwise entering the course. I lost count of the number of times I had to dodge road-crossers and baby-strollers during the race. This is dangerous to both runners and non-runners, especially with such a crowded course. 2. I planned to duck out and meet my girlfriend after getting the timing chip removed since I didn't check a bag, but the walk to the chip removal area was at least a half-mile. This walk must have been shoulder-to-shoulder for mid-pack finishers. Have a little empathy, race organizers, and move up the chip removal and first exit from the finishing area to 72nd St. This is definitely a "run it in your lifetime" marathon. I'd rank the overall experience above even Boston, while admitting that no other public race can match Boston's prestige and nothing compares to the pride from qualifying for and running one's first Boston. So run Boston once for the bragging rights, then run NYC for a great racing experience. | |
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M. R. from New York, NY
(11/5/2008)
"It doesn't get better than this!" (about: 2008)
4-5 previous marathons
| 3 New York City Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Ths was my third NYCM in three years. This year was the first year of the wave start. I was somewhat skeptical, but the wave start went off without a hitch. There was less congestion in the pre-race waiting area, at the start, and at the finish. I was scheduled to start at 10:20 a.m., and I crossed the start promptly at 10:20 a.m. Even though I am a New Yorker and this was my third NYCM, I still excited about every aspect of this race: the "NY, NY" song playing at the start, the helicopters hovering over the Verrazano Bridge, the fans lining the course, the huge jumbo screen in the Bronx and at Columbus Circle, the finish at Tavern on the Green. I am always bringing up the rear and it is so touching to me so see so many spectators still lining the course, even as it's starting to get dark and cold. This is a difficult course, especially the last 3 miles. The hills of Central Park are cruel! I don't see any ways in which this race could be improved. Great job, Mary W. and the NYRR! Looking forward to 2009! | |
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R. G. from Reading, England
(11/5/2008)
"Cold, Windy, Fantastic and More than 26.2 miles" (about: 2008)
4-5 previous marathons
| 3 New York City Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 What a day - again. My 3rd NYC Marathon, and never a dull moment. Not much can be done about the whole Fort Wadsworth thing - they have to get us all together in advance and they do as well as can be expected. Despite a warm day in NYC the day before and the day after, Sunday was cold, cold, cold - and a sharp wind made 1st Avenue in particular a chilly experience. The biggest issue: a running colleague and I were both wearing Garmin GPS watches that measured our run at 26.52 miles. We followed the blue line all the way and actually cut a few corners. Is Garmin not accurate ? Comments please.... | |
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R. F. from Washington, DC
(11/4/2008)
"World-class 26.2 with some glitches" (about: 2008)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 NYC was my 8th marathon, and, by far, the most incredible experience. Kudos to the organizers! Two things to fix: (1) Only distribute t-shirts in sizes ordered. I attended the expo on Saturday afternoon, and unfortunately received a HUGE size-large shirt instead of the small I ordered when registering. With all the attention to logistics in this race, it blows my mind that the organizers messed this up! (2) Find a new way for runners to exit the park. It was way too congested and there was zero room to stretch after the race. | |
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D. B. from North Carolina, USA
(11/4/2008)
"One of a kind" (about: 2008)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 New York City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Terrific experience. Running through this city is just unique. The spectators, music, volunteer support, and the course itself are all very special. Running on the broad avenues, looking across the river from Brooklyn, seeing the skyline, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, etc. - everything impresses you with "big." For me, coming down the Queensborough Bridge after that long, quiet climb, starting to hear the yelling somewhere "down there"... wow, the most electric feeling I've ever had in a race. In distinct contrast is that long pull up past the park. Oh boy - almost seized-up both hammies. My ONLY complaint is the death march after the finish line to the baggage trucks. I guess they have their reasons, but I seriously wasn't sure I was gonna make it. Plus, I needed a porta-potty BAD, and there were none in sight. I was begging for water, but instead they've got people taking pictures. But really, everything else was A-1. |
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