Ask anyone who ran the TCS New York City Marathon last weekend, and you’ll see a good number of people blow out their cheeks out and mutter expletives about how windy it was, the cold temperatures at the start and that ‘crazily long bridge’.  Indeed, having just completed it myself for the first time last weekend, I can concur with any and all of those points.  It was incredibly windy, initially very cold and words can’t describe what it felt like to run along the Queensboro Bridge.  It simply went on forever! And ever! And then some…

But what I can also tell you with absolute certainty, is that the world’s biggest marathon is also one of the greatest. Not because of the route or the fact that it runs through five boroughs. But because of the people that both take part in the race and the millions that come to support.

From the moment I stepped off the plane at JFK airport in New York City, to the moment I got back on it again several days later, I was in a warm, gooey marathon bubble. People would come up to me in the street and ask if I was running the marathon and upon hearing that I was, shake their head in disbelief and respect.  For the four days surrounding the marathon, New York City was more alive than on any other day of the year.

The start of the race better resembled a refugee camp rather than a World Marathon Major. I was in Wave 1, which meant we had to hand in our baggage one and a half hours before the start. What we took into the pen we’d have to leave there.  With only a space blanket for warmth, I was less than happy.

But as soon as the race started, we quickly warmed up, despite the low temperatures and the strong wind, which was particularly noticeable as we crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island.

I didn’t have much of a strategy for the race, except to not go out too hard for the first 6 miles.  However, this is easier said than done when you’re running into a head wind.  I soon found myself hiding behind the biggest person possible, in the hope of drafting off them. But even that didn’t help!

Indeed, although I may have run some gnarly ultramarathons recently, I hadn’t prepared sufficiently for running a 6.30 minute mile into a headwind, often uphill.

And by the time I reached Central Park, I was feeling the effects.  2hrs 57 minutes and 23 seconds later I crossed the finish line feeling as though I’d given my all.  This was my sixth sub-3 hour marathon and I was overjoyed!

There’s no doubting that the New York City Marathon is one of those races that you’ve simply got to do. It’s not a course for PBs (even the winner, Wilson Kipsang, was almost 7 minutes off the record) but it’s certainly a course for memories. And as I look at the large bronze medal that I was awarded after crossing the finish line, I could understand why you’d not want to take it off.