Well done to Keith Fowler on completing the NYC marathon
From everything I had read about the race and everyone I had spoken to beforehand, I knew this was going to be a special run. The moment the NYPD helicopters buzzed overhead, the national anthem finished and cannons fired to start I wasn’t disappointed.
Pretty much the whole city came out to cheers the runners on. The route was jam-packed with people cheering, high-fiving (not just the kids) and music every mile. I’d heard a lot about the crowds on First Avenue, but for me, the neighbourhoods along the Brooklyn section had the best atmosphere.
I’m more used to running marathons in cities like London and Manchester or off-road over the downs. So the miles-long straight avenues with steam billowing up from the manholes, with no twists and turns gave a unique view on where you had been and where you had to get to. The long straight sections were only really broken up by bridges. And as these bridges were the only place where the crowd couldn’t access they were the only place where there wasn’t any cheering and shouts of ‘you got this’.
The final few miles along Fifth Avenue, although on paper was only a gentle climb was brutal on tired legs. I suffered, but the view of Central Park and my family cheering kept me going to the end.
It was a pretty hard marathon, what marathon isn’t. I, without doubt, picked up a PB on the number of high fives during a marathon but struggled to speed the legs up in the final section. That’s two ticked off on the marathon majors list so far.
