New York City Marathon 2011

I ran the New York City Marathon last weekend. I finished at 3:32 which was among my best time. Unlike most participants, I never thought that this marathon was special and I didn't feel any extra excitement coming into this race. Here are a few things I remember:

1. Getting to the start line took a lot of coordination. I had to take a subway, a ferry and a bus to get to my participants' village. Then I had to wait around for about 2 hours to get into my corral. Once my corral got moved toward the start line, it would be about 20 more minutes until I crossed the start line. Wisely, portable toilets were readily available without long lines throughout the waiting ordeal.
2. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at the start was beautiful. I had to cross about 5 bridges but the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was the only one that made an impression on me. The rest I was probably too tired to pay attention.
3. This was a big race! There were people everywhere. For most of the 26.2 miles, I was surrounded by runners with barely enough elbow space.

4. The crowd support was amazing. People were everywhere cheering for all runners. It was so noisy and fantastic!
5. Fluid stations and electronic timing mats were on every mile. This was definitely a benefit of a big marathon.
6. Once I crossed the finish line, it seemed like I had to walk a mile in the runners-only zone until I could reach the general area.