Marathon Sunday is My Favorite Day in NYC
Plus, some tips if you’re following a runner along the course this Sunday!
Marathon Sunday is my favorite day in New York City. One million people get out of bed to cheer on 50,000+ runners for hours and hours. Bars overflow into the streets. Dance parties break out. Grills fire up. Spectators bring bananas, tissues, candy, and water bottles to hand out to runners. It’s the city’s 26.2-mile-long block party.
The marathon starts on Staten Island and runners make their way over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn. The route snakes through Brooklyn and Queens, then over the Queensboro bridge to Manhattan, up into The Bronx, and back into Manhattan for a dramatic Central Park finish. You’ll see every type of person participating in the race. Runners of every race and every size, teenagers, 80-somethings, a woman eight months pregnant, people in mermaid costumes and wedding dresses.
My fascination with the NYC Marathon isn’t new. In 2014 — the year my husband and I moved to Park Slope, I dragged him to Fourth Ave and 6th Street to watch the elite women and to take some pictures. It was the first marathon either of us had been to in person. I still remember my excitement seeing Des Linden and Kara Goucher, two of my favorite long-distance runners, fly by.
I didn’t know it then, but exactly two years later, I’d run the same 26.2-mile course as Des and Kara.
The 2016 NYC Marathon was my first marathon. I didn’t deliberately sign up for the marathon. The truth is, I wasn’t even interested in running 26.2 miles. But my friend needed to fill some spots on her team, and after thinking about it for a few days (I couldn’t get it out of my head), I finally texted her. “I miiiiiight be interested in the NYC Marathon, if you still have space on your team?” She immediately responded, “Would love to have you on the team!” And just like that, I was in.
I set two goals: 1) Don’t die; 2) Get to the start line.
Over the next five months, I ran nearly 200 miles training for the marathon. I followed a predesigned, 20-week schedule, and I mostly ran in Prospect Park. I also jogged around the perimeter of Green-Wood Cemetery and Sunset Park a lot. It didn’t take me long to learn that you do not skip the anti-chafe stick or foam rolling.
One thing I didn’t expect about the NYC Marathon was the arduous journey just to get to the start line on race day. I took a train, a ferry, and a bus to get from Park Slope to the Start Village on Staten Island. My alarm went off at 4:45AM, and by 6:15AM, I was waiting for the R Train on Union Street. I waited an hour to get onto the Staten Island Ferry and another 45 minutes to get on a bus that shuttled runners from the ferry to the Village.
Once I finally got to the Village, I had an hour and a half before my corral opened. It was just enough time to (stand in another long line to) use the bathroom, have a banana, and switch into my running sneakers. I wore old shoes and unwanted clothes to the start line and then dropped my shoes in the donation bin and shed layers during the first two miles of the race. Tens of thousands of pounds of sweatshirts, pants, hats, gloves, blankets, and other random things are collected for charity each year at the marathon.
The first mile of the race is on the Verrazzano Bridge. You’ve probably seen the iconic photos of runners shoulder to shoulder charging uphill — that first mile has 151 feet of elevation gain. Runners climb on top of the lane dividers to snap pictures of the view of lower Manhattan. I ran on the top level of the bridge, and at one point, I was at eye level with a press helicopter. Is there a more dramatic start to a marathon? I remember the Verrazzano Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge as two of the quietest stretches of the race because there are no spectators allowed on the bridges.
My favorite part of the NYC Marathon was when I spotted my family and friends on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope. I got hugs and high-fives and cries of encouragement. It’s hard to describe what I felt, but their willingness to show up and their genuine desire to watch me reach my goal is something I’ll never forget. That emotional buzz flooded my veins months later when I enthusiastically entered the lottery for the 2017 NYC Marathon, and then again in 2019.
I’ve had the pleasure of running the NYC Marathon three times, and each time has left me better than before, more in love with this city than before. The same can be said for all the marathons I watched from the sideline too. Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, wrote, “If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon." I couldn’t agree more.
On Sunday, I’ll get out of bed and head down to Fourth Ave with my family and friends. We’ll be screaming until our voices crack. We’ll have bananas and tissues and leftover Halloween candy to hand out to runners. Our eyes will fill with tears — for complete strangers — several times. And, once again, I’ll recognize that familiar buzz. Maybe I’ll even enter the lottery for the 2025 NYC Marathon.
