TCS New York City Marathon
November 25, 2023
Another World Major Marathon is in the books, that’s 3 stars for those keeping track, and it was so much fun to run. Almost a year ago Jessie and I came up with a plan to run NYC in 2023. With neither of us even coming close to time qualifying, we shifted our focus to the lottery. For the 2023 race there were over 128,000 lottery entries with approximately 5% of applicants being selected. When the lottery failed both of us, we switched our sights to joining a charity team. Jessie found Think Pink Rocks and we were both accepted to the team.
Think Pink Rocks is a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise awareness about early detection of and genetic testing for breast cancer and to provide critical funding for research.
After Jessies BRCA + diagnosis and preventative double mastectomy surgery in April of this year, Think Pink Rocks spoke to both of us as a cause that we wanted to partner with.
After I completed the Edmonton Marathon in August, my training was more about maintenance rather than building and peaking for NYC. Life got busy again with kids going back to school, a surprise trip to Germany with my company for the Invictus games, collective bargaining on a team representing 1200 members, and everything else that gets thrown on the pile. I did not run longer than 22km between marathons (11 weeks). Not exactly ideal, but you must adapt to what life throws at you. I also knew that I would be running the entire NYC marathon beside Jessie and our finish time would be around the 5-hour mark. Time for that lifetime mileage to kick in and get me to the finish line.
Race Morning
About 2 months before the race, the organizers have athletes select their ferry times to get from Battery Park in Manhattan to Staten Island. Athletes select a time between 0530 and 0900. These times filled up fast and we were left with 0615 as our ferry time. Three weeks out from race day, we received our corral assignments, our start time was 1055. Almost 5 hours from our ferry time. Transportation from Manhattan to athlete’s village is apx. 90 minutes.
Our alarms went off at around 0430 and we were on the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan around 0515. Once at the ferry terminal we realized that no one was really checking departure times, so we stayed delayed a little before we caught the 0630 ferry. We were greeted with amazing views of the sunrise over Brooklyn, lower Manhattan skyline, Jersey City skyline and the Statute of Liberty. The ferry ride was really nice and only about 25 minutes long. We then boarded school buses for the 40-minute drive to athlete’s village. As athletes exited the buses, they were met by 6 NYPD officers with metal detectors to ensure the safety and security of all athletes in the village. This was by far the most security I have ever gone through prior to a race. Athletes are divided into 1 of 3 color groups. This helps separate athletes in the village, at the start line, and for the first 3 miles of the racecourse. Jessie and I hung out together in her village, despite me having a different color assignment. Within athlete’s village there was coffee, bagels, Science in Sport power bars, Gatorade, medical, hundreds of port-a-potties and even a stress reducing puppy tent. Music was playing but most people kept to themselves and every 30 minutes or so there would be a loud bang from the howitzer cannon signaling the start of another wave.
Race Start
We were at the front of Wave 4 Corral A as we marched up the Verrazzano Narrows bridge to the start line. At almost 4.2km in total length, the first mile of the race was all uphill until we reached the peak and started to descend into Brooklyn. Fun fact about the course, we were informed that whenever you cross a bridge/body of water, we cross into another burrow of NYC (5 in total).
The Brooklyn crowds came out in droves to cheer on athletes. Jessie and I were decked out in our Think Pink Rocks shirts, pink sunglasses, wristbands, headbands and my infamous pink tights. The night before the race Jessie and Henry spent time ironing our names onto our shirts and both Jessie and I got lots of cheers and encouragement from the crowd. I was carrying a pack of fuel for Jessie and me, as well as my hand-held water bottle for hydration between air stations. There were athletes everywhere on the course and at times aid stations became congested and we were reduced to a walk to get through them. Jessie had friends scattered throughout Brooklyn and we made sure to stop for pictures, hugs and high fives from all of them. Little boosts from friendly faces are a welcome sight at any point of a marathon.
After mile 15 in Queens, we started to climb the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan. The fans were gone, the lower deck of the bridge was dark and quiet, and the gradual incline over the 2.3km long bridge was taking its toll on many athletes. Once we entered Manhattan, we had 10 miles to go, the crowds were back, and we had 2 hours ahead of us left to go. We did not have plans to see anyone else until my family at the 42km mark, so there was a lot of encouragement going back and forth between Jessie and me. We were staying on top of our hydration, fueling and salt intake just to make sure the last half of the race would not throw us any curveballs we couldn’t anticipate. In the Bronx Jessie was pointing out the location of her old studio space and other familiar sights.
The Bronx didn’t last long and pretty soon we were on the long road South towards Central Park. Entering Manhattan at 138 street, we would have to run 52 blocks just to get into Central Park and another 27 blocks until the south end of Central Park. Deceivingly, a lot of this time is up hill. There is a section between 36km and 39km where you gain over 30m in elevation. At that point of a marathon, this represents a significant increase in effort required and hurts. Thankfully the crowds in Central Park were similar to those of Tour De France fans cheering cyclists up a climb in the Pyrenees.
A quick stop to see my family at 42km and we crossed the finish line hand in hand, happy to be done and even happier to have done it together.
Post Race
Moving through the finish corral, we received our beautiful finisher medals, snack bag and fleece lined ponchos. The finish line is at 67st, organizers have athletes walk to 77st to exit and we were meeting my family at 59st. Lots of extra walking at the end of the race which is a good thing and a not so good thing at the same time. The area around the family gathering spots was very congested and I was happy Jessie had set out a good plan with my family so that we could meet in a ‘convenient’ location. As sunset was coming quickly, we were both very happy with the ponchos we received for finishing. We hopped on a train back to Brooklyn and met up with the rest of our fans at Black Forest Brooklyn for some celebratory drinks and food.
Race Overall
The Expo was easy to navigate and had many different vendors available for athletes to walk through. After doing this race for 52 years, I was surprised at some of the logistical issues that arose around the race organization. New York fans came out to party and created a great atmosphere. Completing the race with Jessie beside me was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to continue our run journey together.
