The Running Thread --2025

[marty3d]

Finally getting around to writing my recap of the NYC Marathon.

NYC Marathon - November 2nd

I've been wanting to run NYC for almost as long as I've been running. I finally started entering the lottery in 2022 but decided my odds of getting in weren't getting any better - and I wasn't getting any younger. Since I don't live in the US, I have the option of booking guaranteed entry through an International Tour Operator and I finally pulled the trigger on it this year.

I felt really good going in. I took my marathon training more seriously than any since my first in 2014. The gorgeous fall weather here certainly helped as I never had to move any of my training indoors (I find long runs on the treadmill to be brutal and not looking forward to it in the lead up to MW). Based on my training paces and half marathon race pace, I went in knowing that I could likely hit about 4:45 on a flat marathon. NYC is not flat, plus I wanted to take my time, enjoy it - and also enjoy the 2 post marathon days we had scheduled in NYC. My target for the race was to finish in 5 to 6 hours.

Getting to NYC was a different story - with the high winds in NYC, we ended up with 2 ground stops and another 40 minutes of circling before landing. All told we arrived almost 4 hours late on Halloween.

Race Day

Unlike Friday, the weather was perfect (for me) on Sunday. I was in Wave 5 and it was about 55F and sunny at the start and the temperature seemed to remain pretty constant for the race.

• The NYC Marathon is incredibly organized - best I've seen
• Starting uphill on a bridge for the first mile was a challenge. I'm glad I was prepared and didn't try to race it.
• The crowds - I've never experienced anything like it - it's wall to wall people cheering on for almost the entire 26.2 miles - I wasn't planning on listening to music but it would have been impossible to anyway. Just incredible - NYC really knows how to party. @fatmanatee - based on your pictures I might have passed you twice along the course!
• The bridges - they were tough - but again, I was prepared and just took it easy on the uphills. This may be just my opinion but I think I'll take the NYC bridges over the WDW overpasses any day.
• We planned it out well and DW was able to see me twice (once on 1st and again in Central Park)
• Finishing in Central Park. No words.

I finished in 5:28:56. Right in the middle of my target time and also beat my previous PR by over one hour 17 minutes (to be fair - all 5 of my previous marathons were at WDW).

All in all, one of the best experiences in my life. Maybe coloured a bit by the fact that NYC was already one of my favourite cities anywhere.

Of course, now I want to do it again. I'm going to go back to entering the lottery with no expectation of getting in that way. But I do think in 3 to 5 years, I'll want to do it again - either the ITO or charity route (I think I'd try a charity next time).

One last thing - I know the medal was posted on here when it was announced. It's even nicer in person and a great example of less is more. runDisney could learn a thing here (even though I still love a lot of the rD Medals).

 

[jmasgat]

@marty3d ”Finishing in Central Park. No words”……. I had words…for all the walking and contorting you had to do to get out of CP once you were done!. Glad you enjoyed the race. I will continue to remain an outlier as one who doesn’t have stars in her eyes over the course. (It was just too loud for my liking) I think I would have liked the half though-probably should have signed up when I got a guaranteed entry.

 

[marty3d]

@marty3d ”Finishing in Central Park. No words”……. I had words…for all the walking and contorting you had to do to get out of CP once you were done!. Glad you enjoyed the race. I will continue to remain an outlier as one who doesn’t have stars in her eyes over the course. (It was just too loud for my liking) I think I would have liked the half though-probably should have signed up when I got a guaranteed entry.

So strange I almost forgot about the extra km or two after the finish. It felt like a shuffling orange zombie apocalypse.

 

[LatebloomerultraF3]

Thanks for the insight!

 

[DianaMB333]

Finally getting around to writing my recap of the NYC Marathon.

NYC Marathon - November 2nd

I've been wanting to run NYC for almost as long as I've been running. I finally started entering the lottery in 2022 but decided my odds of getting in weren't getting any better - and I wasn't getting any younger. Since I don't live in the US, I have the option of booking guaranteed entry through an International Tour Operator and I finally pulled the trigger on it this year.

I felt really good going in. I took my marathon training more seriously than any since my first in 2014. The gorgeous fall weather here certainly helped as I never had to move any of my training indoors (I find long runs on the treadmill to be brutal and not looking forward to it in the lead up to MW). Based on my training paces and half marathon race pace, I went in knowing that I could likely hit about 4:45 on a flat marathon. NYC is not flat, plus I wanted to take my time, enjoy it - and also enjoy the 2 post marathon days we had scheduled in NYC. My target for the race was to finish in 5 to 6 hours.

Getting to NYC was a different story - with the high winds in NYC, we ended up with 2 ground stops and another 40 minutes of circling before landing. All told we arrived almost 4 hours late on Halloween.

Race Day

Unlike Friday, the weather was perfect (for me) on Sunday. I was in Wave 5 and it was about 55F and sunny at the start and the temperature seemed to remain pretty constant for the race.

• The NYC Marathon is incredibly organized - best I've seen
• Starting uphill on a bridge for the first mile was a challenge. I'm glad I was prepared and didn't try to race it.
• The crowds - I've never experienced anything like it - it's wall to wall people cheering on for almost the entire 26.2 miles - I wasn't planning on listening to music but it would have been impossible to anyway. Just incredible - NYC really knows how to party. @fatmanatee - based on your pictures I might have passed you twice along the course!
• The bridges - they were tough - but again, I was prepared and just took it easy on the uphills. This may be just my opinion but I think I'll take the NYC bridges over the WDW overpasses any day.
• We planned it out well and DW was able to see me twice (once on 1st and again in Central Park)
• Finishing in Central Park. No words.

I finished in 5:28:56. Right in the middle of my target time and also beat my previous PR by over one hour 17 minutes (to be fair - all 5 of my previous marathons were at WDW).

All in all, one of the best experiences in my life. Maybe coloured a bit by the fact that NYC was already one of my favourite cities anywhere.

Of course, now I want to do it again. I'm going to go back to entering the lottery with no expectation of getting in that way. But I do think in 3 to 5 years, I'll want to do it again - either the ITO or charity route (I think I'd try a charity next time).

One last thing - I know the medal was posted on here when it was announced. It's even nicer in person and a great example of less is more. runDisney could learn a thing here (even though I still love a lot of the rD Medals).

View attachment 1022581

Congrats!! Sounds like you have a great experience!!

Curious.. are there real restrooms on the course? Or only porta-potties?
(Odd question, but this is one of the main excuses I have for not doing races outside of Disney lol)

 

[marty3d]

Congrats!! Sounds like you have a great experience!!

Curious.. are there real restrooms on the course? Or only porta-potties?
(Odd question, but this is one of the main excuses I have for not doing races outside of Disney lol)

There were LOTS of ports-potties - at least every mile. What I can't answer because I didn't try is weather any business might allow the use of their real restrooms. That is definitely a plus for Disney races!

 

[Disneyhanna]

Finally getting around to writing my recap of the NYC Marathon.

NYC Marathon - November 2nd

I've been wanting to run NYC for almost as long as I've been running. I finally started entering the lottery in 2022 but decided my odds of getting in weren't getting any better - and I wasn't getting any younger. Since I don't live in the US, I have the option of booking guaranteed entry through an International Tour Operator and I finally pulled the trigger on it this year.

I felt really good going in. I took my marathon training more seriously than any since my first in 2014. The gorgeous fall weather here certainly helped as I never had to move any of my training indoors (I find long runs on the treadmill to be brutal and not looking forward to it in the lead up to MW). Based on my training paces and half marathon race pace, I went in knowing that I could likely hit about 4:45 on a flat marathon. NYC is not flat, plus I wanted to take my time, enjoy it - and also enjoy the 2 post marathon days we had scheduled in NYC. My target for the race was to finish in 5 to 6 hours.

Getting to NYC was a different story - with the high winds in NYC, we ended up with 2 ground stops and another 40 minutes of circling before landing. All told we arrived almost 4 hours late on Halloween.

Race Day

Unlike Friday, the weather was perfect (for me) on Sunday. I was in Wave 5 and it was about 55F and sunny at the start and the temperature seemed to remain pretty constant for the race.

• The NYC Marathon is incredibly organized - best I've seen
• Starting uphill on a bridge for the first mile was a challenge. I'm glad I was prepared and didn't try to race it.
• The crowds - I've never experienced anything like it - it's wall to wall people cheering on for almost the entire 26.2 miles - I wasn't planning on listening to music but it would have been impossible to anyway. Just incredible - NYC really knows how to party. @fatmanatee - based on your pictures I might have passed you twice along the course!
• The bridges - they were tough - but again, I was prepared and just took it easy on the uphills. This may be just my opinion but I think I'll take the NYC bridges over the WDW overpasses any day.
• We planned it out well and DW was able to see me twice (once on 1st and again in Central Park)
• Finishing in Central Park. No words.

I finished in 5:28:56. Right in the middle of my target time and also beat my previous PR by over one hour 17 minutes (to be fair - all 5 of my previous marathons were at WDW).

All in all, one of the best experiences in my life. Maybe coloured a bit by the fact that NYC was already one of my favourite cities anywhere.

Of course, now I want to do it again. I'm going to go back to entering the lottery with no expectation of getting in that way. But I do think in 3 to 5 years, I'll want to do it again - either the ITO or charity route (I think I'd try a charity next time).

One last thing - I know the medal was posted on here when it was announced. It's even nicer in person and a great example of less is more. runDisney could learn a thing here (even though I still love a lot of the rD Medals).

View attachment 1022581

Love the recap, congrats! NYC is definitely a bucket list for me. Have you thought about doing the lottery for the virtual marathon? I believe if you complete the virtual, you're guaranteed entry for the next year! I don't know the odds of that lottery, but I imagine far higher than the regular lottery. That medal is beautiful, the funny thing is if Disney did something that simple (but elegant), I know some people would think it's too plain

My fastest Disney marathon is like an hour and 13 minutes slower than my single non-Disney marathon, so we are in a similar boat! Having the crowd support the entire race sounds amazing. That is my favorite part of the marathon distance, the cheering! I keep begging for a major to just let me in so I can experience it I always get emotional when leaving Studios during the marathon, because that is the first time you encounter a lot of cheering after such a long stretch of miles. I can't imagine having crowd support for 26.2 miles, incredible.

 

[marty3d]

Love the recap, congrats! NYC is definitely a bucket list for me. Have you thought about doing the lottery for the virtual marathon? I believe if you complete the virtual, you're guaranteed entry for the next year! I don't know the odds of that lottery, but I imagine far higher than the regular lottery. That medal is beautiful, the funny thing is if Disney did something that simple (but elegant), I know some people would think it's too plain

My fastest Disney marathon is like an hour and 13 minutes slower than my single non-Disney marathon, so we are in a similar boat! Having the crowd support the entire race sounds amazing. That is my favorite part of the marathon distance, the cheering! I keep begging for a major to just let me in so I can experience it I always get emotional when leaving Studios during the marathon, because that is the first time you encounter a lot of cheering after such a long stretch of miles. I can't imagine having crowd support for 26.2 miles, incredible.

I've never looked into the virtual. And yes, I'm sure people would complain that it was too plain for a Disney medal. That might even be me!

I'm right there with you - love that section coming out of HS - it's actually where I stood to cheer on the runners when I skipped the full in 24.

If NYC is a bucket list item - I'd suggest looking at the charities. You will really enjoy it!

 

[fatmanatee]

Ideal for the virtual is if you have a marathon coming up in that time frame you can sorta fold that into your training. I think Philly is soon, doing this as part of a Dopey training cycle might be interesting. Would need to start earlier and build up. One VERY important lesson I’ve learned, and I sorta figured this out myself when running last year and heard a horror story this year: make sure you have your tracking locked in for the whole length of the run. Heard a story from someone whose watch battery ran out while recording the virtual marathon run. I think they tried a workaround and recharged to fit in MORE miles but they have to explain to NYRR that they legit did it and the watch just failed. Not sure if it worked.

 

[The Expert]

Great recap @marty3d and it ALMOST makes me think about doing NYC someday. The logistics of getting to the start, the late start for slow runners, and the hills give me pause. We'll see how my first non-Disney marathon goes first with Chicago next year. I'm looking forward to finding out what I can do in the real world -- hoping for anything in the range of your PR!

 

[marty3d]

Great recap @marty3d and it ALMOST makes me think about doing NYC someday. The logistics of getting to the start, the late start for slow runners, and the hills give me pause. We'll see how my first non-Disney marathon goes first with Chicago next year. I'm looking forward to finding out what I can do in the real world -- hoping for anything in the range of your PR!

I was worried about the logistics to get to the start but it really wasn't that bad. I was in wave 5 - 11:30 start. I was on the 8:30 Ferry to Staten Island (and with the time change I had an extra hour's sleep). I was staying in midtown - left my hotel at 7:30, took the subway to the ferry. Then bus. I was in the start village by 9:45. Compared to getting up at 2am for rD races, this was decidedly leisurely.

TBH, if I ran NYC again, I might drop back to Wave 4 or 5 even if I got slotted for a higher wave. And with my marathon pace the chances of that are pretty slim

I'm sure you'll do great in Chicago! I'd love to run that one - I entered the lottery but not holding my breath!

Edit: And the bridges weren’t as bad as I was expecting. I think they may be worse for faster runners/ runners looking for PRs. The advice I had going into this was maintain effort not pace on the bridges. And I wasn’t kidding when I said that for me, the late overpasses at WDW are worse.

 

[The Expert]

Compared to getting up at 2am for rD races, this was decidedly leisurely.

Fair point!

And the bridges weren’t as bad as I was expecting. I think they may be worse for faster runners/ runners looking for PRs. The advice I had going into this was maintain effort not pace on the bridges. And I wasn’t kidding when I said that for me, the late overpasses at WDW are worse.

What makes the overpasses unbearable for me is the camber rather than the elevation, so I totally get this!