Continuing to submit this every year (see last years for extra info).

Roundup

Are you running? Want to know who's in your corral or who's going for a similar goal?

Advice for Runners

• If you chose the ferry, just get there whenever, they don't really pay attention to what time you chose. It's a 30 minute ferry, and a ~30 minute bus from the ferry to the village. (In fact if you didn't choose the ferry, they've never stopped you from getting on anyway -- theoretically this could change but if you're in a bind, you shouldn't worry too much).

• Bring throwaway gear. You'll probably enter the village an hour or two before the corrals, and the corrals 30-50 minutes before the gun goes off, meaning you'll be sitting and standing around for a longggg time. You'll be hit in the face by no less than 2 pairs of sweatpants aimed at the fence with 5 minutes to go.

• With any race peaking above 50,000 runners, no amount of portapotties is enough. There will be lots, but the lines will be long, and there are very few in the corrals. Try to go in the village. When they open the gates and move you up to the line, it's another 15 minutes of standing around, this time with no portapotties. Unfortunately, many, many dudes will be relieving themselves in gatorade bottles or even the donation clothes piles in the corrals. It's gross, but also, welcome to NYC where everything smells like piss anyways.

• Miles 1-3 - Depending on your corral, you'll either be in the upper deck or lower deck of the Verrazzano. Though widely claimed as rumor, I've seen people pee over the sides of the bridge. If you're on the lower deck, stay on the inside lanes just to be safe. The bridge is a good way to start, going "uphill" so you're forced to go a little slow, but don't get too excited coming off the bridge. The two decks merge at mile 3, which creates some nice confusion.

• Miles 4-13 - All flat, just hit your cruise pace. Crowd support is "limited" in the first half of this (still more than most non-majors I've run). Once you hit Flatbush (mile 8ish), it starts getting loud. Williamsburg (mile 10) you'll see a lot of hipsters cheering you on with their craft beers and avocado toast.

• Miles 14-16 - This section of the course is more difficult. There's a bridge going into Queens, the Pulaski, around mile 13.5. It's the first real hill you'll come across. Two miles later you hit the Queensboro Bridge. This is a very difficult section of the course -- there is zero crowd support, and it's almost a mile uphill of silence. You're rewarded on the other side of the bridge by some of the most deafening cheers you can imagine.

• Miles 17-21 - Do not speed up yet. You're going to feel good, it's only mile 17, your adrenaline will be pumping because of the crowds, and you just hit flat ground again. It's too early and the rest of the course is too tough. Don't speed up. After several miles of flatness going up 1st Ave, you hit a bridge going into the Bronx. This section is crazy, you're only there for a mile, enjoy it. Once you hit the Bronx and the stereotypical reggaeton is pumping, now you can make a decision to speed up or just hold on.

• Miles 22-26.2 - I'm not going to sugarcoat it, this part of the course is difficult. Central Park has deceptively many hills. At 24.5 you're again rewarded with a reprieve, running down Cat Hill. You exit the park at 59th Street, pass the Apple Store, and re-enter the park in Columbus Circle. The last .25 miles is uphill. Sorry.

• Get a heat sheet at the end. If you don't check bags, they'll give you a really nice fleece poncho, but get a heat sheet anyway, it'll take you ~10-15 minutes to get to the ponchos -- and it's about a .5-.75 mile walk before you can exit the park and meet anyone. If you checked bags, it's probably closer to a full mile walk. Get a heat sheet either way! I didn't get thinking I'd be fine because I was getting a poncho and seriously regretted it.

Advice for Spectators

• You can see runners 3 times if you try and they're ~3:30 or slower marathoners, but easily twice. For 3 times, you can watch from the Williamsburg stop in Brooklyn (around mile 11), then take the L to Union Square, take the 4/5/6 uptown to 86th, and walk to 1st ave (mile 18). This takes about 30-35 minutes, and the runners have about 6.5 miles between the two spots.

• My suggestion is to watch from the 80s/90s. The crowds get kind of thick, but you can see your runner / the leaders twice, once on 1st Ave, and then a 10 minute walk to 5th Ave to see them again. And then cut across the park to meet them at the exit.

• The Finish Area map shows where you can exit. Pick a spot on Columbus Ave to meet, you won't be able to enter the blue area and they're pretty strict about that.

• The app is pretty great, it shows a moving tracker to estimate where your runner is. This is not GPS. It extrapolates based on the previous recorded pace, so if they speed up or slow down, it might be off. But it's useful either way.

Info

• Join #nycmarathon in the ARTC Slack.

• Course Map

• Weather is looking perfect.

Elites

Both elite fields aren't spectacular this year. Probably having to do with the Trials next spring, at least for the US athletes, but both fields are pretty shallow overall.

Men:

Lelisa Desisa (ETH) and Shura Kitata (ETH) both sprint finished last year's race, and they'll both be back this year. Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN), as well as the usual faces of Abdi Abdirahman (USA) and Jared Ward (USA) will be somewhere in the front of the pack too.

Women:

Mary Keitany (KEN) will likely win it, having won NYC 5 times already and was the previous world record holder. But there's always the chance for Joyceline Jpekosgei (KEN), as well as some of the fast American women, including Des Linden, and Sara Hall. Allie Kieffer is running as well, assuming she's not injured again.