New York, New York… City Marathon

New York City Marathon, USA. November 2017.

Running the NYC marathon was a dream of mine, since I was a kid and watched on TV how thousands of runners crossed the Verrazano bridge. And in 2017 I was finally able to “run the 5 boroughs” and finish the biggest marathon in the world.

TLDR; “too long, didn’t read”

• I just want to run! Take me to RACE.
• I have 1 minute. Take me to USEFUL INFORMATION.
• Running is my excuse for travelling. Take me to POST-RACE TRIP.
• Running is my excuse for eating. Take me to CARBOLOADING.
• I want to know what to read in the plane. Take me to ONE BOOK.

🌍 The trip 📷

We ran the NYC marathon with a trip organised by the Spanish agency Fernando Pineda, and I cannot recommend it enough.

The agency is ran by an expert marathoner and takes cares of everything, with a strong focus on the running itself. You get detailed information, a curated itinerary, and you are surrounded by runners all the time. It was definitely a super good option if you want to run in New York.

Arriving to the City

While we were queueing in the airport, half asleep, to check in our baggage, we were surrounded by people with our same jackets (provided by the agency), of a bright red colour. I remembered that a few years ago, while on a trip stopover, we saw a group of runners from the same agency on their way to the NYC marathon and I promised to myself “one day we will run the NYC”! 🤟

I was very emotional about this marathon, because it was my dream since I was a kid.
🛬 After a direct flight, we arrived to “the big apple”. I wrote most of the lines of this post while resting in the centric hotel where we were lodged, the hotel “DoubleTree” in Manhattan. Our room had views to Lexington Avenue and the 50th. The cars honked continuously. Patches of sun illuminated the endless facades of cement and glass, while passers-by hurriedly walked through the streets shaded by giants, talking on mobile phones.

We saw on TV how the weather woman informed that the day of the race was going to be chilly when “thousands of runners will be in Staten Island, waiting to start running” 🏃🏿🏃‍♀️🏃🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️

I felt the marathon hype everywhere, and in our own group we felt like soldiers of a silent and tenacious army, united in some way by the effort involved in facing 42 kilometers. After months of preparation, wondering to which point you will be able capable of challenging yourself.

📅 The Marathon Expo 🎽

Getting there

On Friday, two days before the race, we walked from our hotel to the Jacob Javits Expo Center, to pick up our kit and BIBs.

It will move you, it will inspire you, it will humble you, it will motivate you, it will transform you

One of the New York City Marathon Slogans

No city is comparable to NYC, because it is already yours before you arrive.
On top of it, on television and in the marathon magazine, anywhere really, it is proclaimed that this is the best marathon in the world.

The Expo

We arrived at the exhibition without getting lost. As the driver who took us from the airport to the hotel mentioned, NYC is a grid and it is very difficult to get lost.

Upon entering we took a photo in front of a sign that welcomed us. More excitement!! 😬

Although it wasn’t the first time that we have walked through an exhibition before a marathon, I kindda experimented again the feeling of a beginner’s high.

We collected the BIBs and the T-shirts, not without trying them on first. The XS for me, we were in the USA and sizes were bigger than in Europe…

In the expo there was a monumental display of shops of sports items. It was so easy to get crazy shopping! We bought a few official items 😝, including a teddy bear with the logo…

Preparing for the marathon… on location

📓 Runner tip! You will spend a few hours in Staten Island waiting in the cold for the marathon to start (from 5am to even 10am in some cases), so you will need to bring old clothes to cover yourself... that you will leave at the start of the race for charity!

We did not bring clothes as we had not done our research properly. So, after a recommendation by the agency, we looked for “1 dollar stores” to buy some blankets that we could leave at the start line.

We finally found saw a “Jacks 99 cents” on 40th and Madison, we bought a couple of blankets (at 5,99 USD each) and they proved super useful!!

🍜 Carboloading 🍝

It is easy to eat pasta in New York!

We found an Italian restaurant only one street away from the hotel, the “Toscana 49“, which was a total success.

We ate super big pasta dishes: good, but relatively expensive to our standards: 78 USD but with a 18% tip (something we were not used to!). Still it was a great experience to dine on a New York sidewalk, sitting on a tiny table decorated with a tiny vase of flowers. Horns blaring, lots of police and ambulances going downtown, lights in the windows of tall buildings, and me feeling like I was in an episode of “Sex and the City“… 😍

On Saturday we dinned at the restaurant “Bitanko“, with a dress code “elegant casual”, so we left aside the red Fernando Pineda jackets for the first time and we got dressed up little to go to eat. The restaurant was inside the National Hotel, and had a sober decoration, with false windows overlooking a Tuscan field (being inside a skyscraper, natural light was absent). We ate pasta again, of course 🤤

After the race: Protein! 🥩

The day after we ate in a “Brooklyn’s diner“, a restaurant decorated as if we were on the 50s. Colorful and with fluorescent letters. It looked very busy and the menu offered what we were looking for: proteins and carbohydrates.

📓 Runner Tip: Even if you are not hungry, you need to eat proteins to recover muscle, carbohydrates to recover energy, and fruits and vegetables for vitamins.

We were welcomed by a very friendly man with a tie who congratulated us on the marathon. We ordered hamburgers 🍔 and milkshakes 🥤: typically American! And got milkshakes of epic proportions and super tasty hamburgers: in fact, they were voted the best by readers of the New York Times, and they were not wrong!

There were small plaques on the wall, next to where we were eating, with names of celebrities who had eaten here. Kathleen Turner was the one marked right behind where I had my huge chocolate shake.

Celebration

To celebrate, we chose and iconic restaurant, the “Club 21“, which appeared in movies like “Wall street” or series like “Sex and the city”.

Unfortunately, the restaurant closed during the Covid times 😢. So we were particulary lucky to have eaten there.

The experience was summarised in this old review:

A “New York institution” and “class operation”, this circa-1929 former speakeasy in Midtown turns out “dependably good” traditional American dishes in an “old-school”, “dress-up” setting (jackets required, no jeans) with “spectacular” old toys hanging from the ceiling and “serene” private rooms upstairs; an “impeccable” staff furthers the “welcoming” vibes, though you may have to “liquidate some stocks to cover the bill”.

I remember our lunch fondly: we ate excellent steaks with fries (of course, protein) and the friendly waiters asked us if we were celebrating something special: “That we ran the New York marathon”, we answered.

🏃‍♀️ The marathon🏃‍♂️

Getting there

The day had come! We got up at 4:30am ⏰ and we quickly got dressed. The hotel gave us two cardboard boxes with breakfast, which proved useful since we still had a few hours before the actual start.

Our bus stopped in front of the hotel and we queued to get in. It was still dark, but in front of the hotel there were at least three buses being loaded with runners. It is the biggest marathon in the world, after all!

We were all prepared to run the marathon, with our hats, caps, compression socks and other typical clothing of a good runner. We were part of the tribe, and we would even run with the official marathon t-shirts!

So we left Manhattan and crossed Queens. Leaving Manhattan was like arriving in another world, much more similar to any other American city, with its wide streets that look like highways, low houses that look like warehouses, gas stations and “7-11″s.

A guy sitting in front of us in the bus was explaining anecdotes of former years, saying that a few years ago when he ran this marathon for the first time, there was only one bus and it was half empty.

Regarding the next chapter, here you can find a useful video by “dirty old sneakers” with some “hacks” about the start.

Hours before the marathon

The bus left us at the coach parking lot before 6am.

We walked among legions of runners heading to the entrance area. Everyone was dressed warmly, with clothes that they would leave later, like our two beloved blankets. Volunteers surrounded us and shouted “good luck” to us and urged us to move forward. There were also a lot of police officers, with the typical black NYPD uniform, or even guys in army uniforms.

We arrived at the entrance area and we still had 4 hours to go before we start. We put on the BIB and had breakfast, sitting on the floor and with the blanket over our heads, held with our caps. A very funny look!

It was cold, very cold. There weren’t too many runners yet (compared to the 50k we would finally be), but it was super funny to watch them. People in pajama pants, in dressing gowns, with blankets or plastics over them. A guy dressed as a dinosaur, and another as a banana.

We were wave 2, and we had to start at 10:15am. We had time to walk around and even visit a therapy dog stand.

Slowly time passed: when we checked the time after a nap, it was almost 9:30am and on the screen just above the portable toilets, we were told that runners for wave 2 should go to their corral as it was closing in 15 minutes. Everything was perfectly organised and we went to our corral while on the screen we saw the likes of Shalane Flanagan and Mary Keitani.

We took some selfies with a very useful hat they gave us on top of our cap, and said goodbye to our blankets.

New York, New York

In front of me there was a guy who had “27th consecutive NY marathon and counting” written on his shirt. During the race, we would see many with people with similar messages, with one having 35 consecutive ones!

It was so emotional! Everything was about to begin. It was cold, but it was not raining. Roger and I did some stretching by throwing our legs in the air leaning on a UPS truck.

And then Sinatra’s “New York New York” was played!

We shared with all those thousands of runners the nerves and adrenaline, the excitement before starting to run… This was the NY marathon!

We heard the gunshot, walked a little… and crossed the start line. Off we went!

Staten Island

We started slowly. Legs fine, good sensations.

We ran over the bridge (I don’t know the rationale behind it, as others went under and we joined them when leaving the bridge). I contemplated the beautiful view: the sea and islands full of buildings in the distance, and the rainy atmosphere.

We greeted the photographers and moved forward, but without accelerating.

Brooklyn

We were greeted by a “Welcome to Brooklyn” sign and a lot of people on the streets.

We started seeing signs and hearing bells, but nothing to do with what we would find later in Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan.

Although it was in Brooklyn where I experienced the most special moment running ever:

I heard “Alive“, my favourite song, being played at kilometer 7. I will always remember that moment: I was running the New York Marathon while hearing the iconic Pearl Jam’s hymn.

Soon there was music everywhere and shouts of people cheering.

Queens

We were surrounded by runners with motivational tshirts and their causes (“running for Jason”, “for mum”, “for nan”, “imagine a world without cancer” or “Rangers lead the way”).

Runners of all the countries of the world as well! Spaniards, Chileans, Costa Ricans, many Argentinians, a woman with a map of Germany and Poland, other Poles, French aund countless Mexicans, Italians, and of course, a Marathon classic: guys sporting pants with the Texas flag on their ass 🤣

We mainted well our race discipline. Roger ate his energy gel every 5 kilometers “on the clock”, and I, every 9 kilometers. At 9, 18… We also took Gatorade or water whenever there was available.

We grew accoustomed to the aid stations “ceremony”: First there were gatorades, then, “Polar Springs” water, and finally, hundreds and hundreds of green paper cups covering the ground and making it even more slippery than the rain made it.

The Bronx

Lately I have seen a few articles, tik toks and instagram reels with the best NYC Marathon signs. But back in 2017 I already did my own recopilatory:

If a marathon was easy, it would be your mother

All of this for a free banana

Toenails are for sissies

Run faster I just farted

This looked like a good idea 4 months ago

You are running better than government

Finishing it is your only fucking option

Smile if you just peed a little

Run bitches run

You look so skinny

No Walken allowed (photo of Christopher Walken)

Run like this asshole was chasing you (photo of Trump)

We marched on, very much aware that this was not a good marathon to do a PB. There were too many runners, and even “traffic jams” in the aid stations.

Also, there were bridges. Four bridges!

When we got to the Bronx, it was raining quite a bit. A jazz band was playing in its streets, and my legs were very heavy. I passed the 21kms mark in a little more than 2 hours so I knew I would go over the 4h mark. But I did not care that much: this was New York and I was here for the experience!

We also saw runners lying on the sidewalks, tired or getting a massage or something. Throughout the race, there were lots of red “Medical aid” stalls and a lot of people struggling.

Manhattan

I was running by myself at this point, having left Roger at kilometer 20 something, and I was now on Manhattan avenues. I was really struggling, counting the kilometers.

Because I had overtrained the previous weeks:

📓 Runner Tip: Be super careful with the overtraining. I had squezed too many runs in the previous 2 weeks (9 runs, concretely) and I paid the prize in the NYC marathon.

Only 12 kilometers. Now, 10… “hey, a 10K race is nothing, is it?”, I was telling myself. I took a final gel at kilometer 36 and continued. Suffering. Only 4 left now. “Come on, come on, that’s it. Marta you can run 3 kilometers in the blink of an eye, can’t you?”

“Enjoy it, Marta.”. I saw the clouds covering the tops of skyscrapers. “It is beautiful, you’re running in Manhattan!”.

The finish line in Central Park

And then I was already in Central Park… the 40k sign, and shortly after the 25 miles one.

The noise of the people was deafening.

We turned right and there was a stage where they were playing “Don’t stop believing” (Glee version) .. what a high!!! “sometimes you win, sometimes you lose”, and that’s where I almost got excited. High, high 🤘

“There’s little left and I’m going to finish it”, I told myself. I crossed the line raising my arms. Ecstatic.

After the race

I walked amongst thousands of runnera. All tired, proud, excited.

I high-fived a couple of anonymous running fellows, and I started to feel super tired while a volunteer put the medal around my neck 🏅 Even the medal weighed on me!

Waiting for Roger, I asked a couple of the official photographers to take me a picture and I welcomed the thermal blanked handed over to runners. The organisation gave us water and chocolate.

Finally I was reunited with Roger. At the exit they gave us a poncho that turned out to be waterproof (very useful since it was still drizzling), and padded 💙. Excellent stuff!

At this point I could barely move, I was super sore, and Roger even had to help me put on my poncho. The organisation made us walk quite a bit down an avenue that circles Central Park. All of us were tired but happy, that tide of blue ponchos. All of us looked like the Smurfs 💙💙.

Later we found out that the female winner of the marathon was Shalane Flanagan, with 2h 26m, beating Mary Keitani and becoming, at 36 years old, the first American to win in NYC in the last 40 years.

We arrived at the area to meet relatives and there were many people with signs, and we tried to take the Metro to go to our hotel. It was collapsed with thoursands of “smurfs” 💙 so we finally decided to walk (20 blocks) to our hotel.

With our medals 🏅and an inmense sense of fullfiment 🤗.

Post race – Marathon Monday!

At midday we left to go to the “famous” “Marathon Monday” exhibition, located in front of Tavern on the Green, a famous pub that appears in the Ghostbusters movie, right where the finish line had been the day before.

We walked with great difficulty, and every step and every sidewalk was torture. We were dressed in marathon sweaters and we came across other people with marathon shirts and their medals.

The “expo” offers you a lot of possiblities: from engraving your medals to buy finishers’ clothes on sale!

And of course, we also bought the New York Times 📰, which publishes the names of all the runners. It was such a proud moment to see “our names in the New York Times”.

Post race – Visiting New York 📷

After the marathon, we spent a few days more in New York. Of course three days are not enough, but we managed to see a lot of iconic locations.

We visited the hyper famous Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island:

During those days we could not stop marveling at the city. The brick buildings with the famous fire escapes on their facades, the multicolored Broadway signs and the intuition, two streets later, of Times Square.

It’s fantastic to walk around and recognize places we’ve seen in a thousand movies.

The Empire State looming between elegant buildings.

On another street stands the upper part of the Chrisler Building. “Look! there is the flat building!”, and then we pass by a sidewalk and recognize the logo of the… Waldorf Astoria!

One special visit for us was to the 9/11 National Memorial, since we had visited the twin towers back in 2001, exactly a month before that fateful 11th of September….

Fernando Pineda agency also organised a New York Knicks game, which was super cool.

We got to see a “New York Knicks vs. Charlotte Hornets” game in the Madison Square Garden, and we enjoyed it massively! And, by the way, the Knicks scored an epic victory and the crowd went wild 🥳

🏆 New York City Marathon (42K). First edition: 1970

🌐 Website: https://www.nyrr.org/es/tcsnycmarathon

🏃 Number of runners: 50.000.

🗓️ First Sunday in November in New York, USA, America.

👟 Urban: Bring shoes for asphalt.

✅ Super cool atmosphere, a great show, the biggest marathon in the world and … New York! You run the 5 Boroughs.

✅ Perfect organization, and one of the Abbott Marathon Majors.

❌The weather can be quite unpredictable.

“The Catcher in the Rye”, J.D. Salinger.

There are so many books (and movies!) set in New York that it is difficult to choose one, but “The catcher in the rye” always comes to mind.

The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield.

Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days. The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.