I cannot believe it has already been a week since the 2023 NYC Marathon. This was my 10th marathon overall and my 2nd NYC marathon. I wanted to share my recap and thoughts on the race with you.
How to Get into the NYC Marathon
NYC marathon is one of the 6 World Major Marathons. There are several ways to get into the race - lottery, time qualifier, charity, NYRR 9+1 program. This year I got in through none of the above! I won an Instagram giveaway at the end of the summer, and knew I wanted NYC marathon to be my 10th overall race. And having run it last year, I had some unfinished business!
The Trip
I threw a quick 5 day trip on the calendar, booked a hotel in FiDi (walking distance to the Ferry), got plane tickets and we were off to NYC. I used to live on the Upper West Side in my early 20s, and have gone back to New York a lot over the last 10 years, so I know my way around Manhattan pretty well. I was also excited to go see my childhood friend Kat, who still lives in Brooklyn.
We landed on Thursday afternoon and headed straight to the hotel. We got a room facing the Oculus and the World Trade Center - the view was amazing and I was so happy the hotel worked out.
Shortly after checking in and grabbing a snack, we headed to the expo. I am not a huge expo junkie (I think once you've seen one, you've seen them all), so I quickly grabbed my bib, race shirt, bought a marathon jacket and headed to John's of Bleecker for pizza (one of the recommended Where to Carb-load in NYC spots!)
Pre-race events
NYC Marathon has so many pre-race events and I had signed up for so many of them - at least 5-6 different shake out runs and the Ali on the Run live podcast. Guess what? Once I got to NYC, I decided to skip out on all of them, with the exception of the Nike shake out run (which I had also done in the Chicago Marathon.) Instead, I decided to spend all Friday in Brooklyn with Sam and my friend Kat. The weather was perfect - sunny and 50s- and we could not have asked for a better, more relaxing day before the marathon.
Nike Shakeout Run
The Nike shakeout run took place on Saturday morning at Pier 17, which was less than 10 minutes away from the hotel. On my way there, I ran into Sifan Hassan - Olympian and winner of both London and Chicago Marathons this year! We talked a bit as we walked to the event, and I told her I ran Chicago and was now prepping to run NYC. She was incredibly encouraging and told me how tough I was. Her words really helped me during the marathon on Sunday when going got tough.
There were so many local run crews on Saturday, it was really cool to see New Yorkers come together for their big day. I can now only imagine that's how visitors see us in Chicago when they come for the marathon.
After the shakeout run, I met up with a couple of my friends for lunch, then headed back to the hotel for a lazy Saturday. I wanted to stay off my feet for as long as I could.
I tried my best to carb load, had 2 bagels from Zucker's, a Maurten 320 drink, pizza, Kate's Real Food Bars and a few other snacks. Sam also brought some donuts from The Donut Pub, which were absolutely delicious!
Race Morning
Race day did not start as planned. The night before race day, we had to urgently move to a different hotel room. The room next door (even though it seemed unoccupied) had an alarm going off starting at 7 pm. I had to ask the hotel staff to go in and turn it off. Then it started going off again at 9 pm. In the end, we ended up moving to a different room in hopes of finally getting some sleep.
Sadly, I didn't sleep well at all, I kept tossing and turning, and maybe got 2 hours of sleep total. My brain was going in all sorts of different directions. When the alarm rang at 4:30 am, I honestly did not know how the day was going to turn. I got dressed, and left the hotel around 5 am to walk to the ferry. I got there early enough to grab a seat in the ferry terminal and look around. Soon it was time to board. The ferry ride was short and sweet and soon we were on Staten Island.
Even though I was assigned Pink Wave 2 designated to start at 9:45am, I was on the 5:30am ferry. Remembering the hot mess that the ferry to bus transition was in 2022, I was still nervous. But luckily, I was able to get onto a bus without any issue. Even though our bus driver got a bit lost, we made it to Fort Wadsworth around 6:30 am.
Start Village
The plan again was to stay off my feet for as long as I could. I grabbed the free Dunkin' beanie, a bagel, a SiS protein bar, a coffee and found a spot in the pink village facing the Verrazzano bridge. The view was amazing and I was enjoying time off my feet and people watching. I was also waiting for a few of my Chicago friends to arrive. Once Matt and Liz got there, time went by so much faster.
The cool part about being in Wave 2 was we got to see elites and Wave 1 start on top of the bridge and cheer them on. I honestly enjoyed that part as I didn't get to see it last year (when I was in Blue Wave 1.)
The Race
Soon it was time to go to the corrals. The Pink wave starts on the bottom of the bridge and runs a bit of a different route than Blue and Orange waves until mile 3. To my surprise, I really enjoyed being tucked on the lower level of the bridge, taking in the new route and keeping an eye out for the 8 min/mile pacer. The day was turning out to be warmer than expected, and I was starting to get hot in my arm sleeves.
Mile 6 came up faster than anticipated. I got saw Sam and Kat, tossed my arm sleeves to them and keep going. The course was familiar to me. I couldn't believe how much I actually remembered from last year. When I got to Pulaski Bridge I spotted Peloton Trainer Adrian Williams sitting on the left! I was so shocked to see him there but somehow managed to exchange a simple Hi! I swear this gave me energy to get over not only the Pulaski, but the daunting Queensboro bridge as well.
I knew that once I got to Manhattan I would need to dig deep. I had trained for the hills, bridges and inclines mostly on the treadmill (Nell Rojas told me to do that when I met her in Boston earlier this year). And I knew I could finish strong. To be fully honest my only 2 goals going into the race day were - run the whole thing (last year I walked a lot) and beat my time from last year (anything below 3:33.)
Once we got off the bridge into Manhattan, First Avenue is flooded with people and it is such a great boost of energy. I am getting warm but keep sipping my LMNT and taking my UCan gels. I see friends from Heartbreak Hill in Chicago and keep pushing.
Bronx is always a quick in and out, and soon I am back in Manhattan, again digging deep at the incline which is 5th Ave. I tell myself:"Gotta make it to Central Park." My friend Jess jumps out of nowhere and snaps pics of me running.
With 2 miles to go, I am incredibly excited to finish the race. I am hurting, I am soaked from pouring water over my head in attempts to cool myself off, and my hamstring and right hip are screaming at me. I am ready to finish this. Central Park South - I always look at the Columbus Circle statue and reel it in. Then it is uphill to the finish line.
I am done! 3:30:13 - 3 minutes faster than 2022 NYC marathon! I am hoping I did not damage anything as I still have CIM to run in 4 weeks. But for now, for now I am so happy to have finished the 2023 NYC marathon!
And now to answer some questions I received on Instagram....
What would I do differently?
Honestly, I would choose different gels for my nutrition. I ran both Chicago and NYC with UCan and I just don't think they are working for me. I plan on running CIM with GU and Maurten.
How did I fuel during the race?
I brought 6 UCan gels with me and a 22 oz bottle with LMNT. As mentioned above I think I need to rethink my gels, but I will keep LMNT as my source of hydration.
What was the toughest moment during the race?
Approaching QB bridge, because that's where I fell apart last year, and mentally I painted this bridge to be a mountain. Turns out the incline and hill work I did in preparation to NYC marathon was enough and QB isn't as bad as it seemed to me last year.
How did I train for the hills and bridges?
I tried to run as many hill repeats and incline workouts as I could. I also focused on strength training. I am still figuring this out, and I wish we had rolling hills area in Chicago that didn't require driving to get to.
If you have a chance to run the NYC marathon, I highly recommend it! It is an iconic race!
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