I came to New York City to watch my first major marathon not knowing what to expect. Around 9am Sunday morning, I joined members of the media from all over the world on the 36th floor of the Oriental Mandarin Hotel on Columbus Circle, just off the corner of Central Park. Well over 100 members of the media filled the room sitting in neat, compact rows watching the men's and women's marathons simultaneously on big-screen projections. Five screens in all, the outermost screens were set up to show every important kilometer or mile split for each of the top runners in the race. The center screen often was split-screen with men and women and each sex had their own large screen.
As the women started to run first, I scanned the room. Behind me was a reporter from "Sports Radio 66. The FAN! WFAN, New York!" giving periodic audio updates to their 20/20 hotline. To my right was a print reporter for the Queens newspaper, an older man who knew running fairly well. All around me people were tweeting, facebooking, socializing, and the guy directly in front of me was reading LetsRun.com. I came to realize throughout the day that very few of the media there to cover the race knew very much about the elite runners, or elite running in general. For example, no more than 5% of the room could have told you who James Kwambai was and why he was an important entrant in the race.
The Race - A Tough Major Marathon
No rabbits, windy conditions, bridge crossings, Central Park hills and tough, veteran competitors combined to make today's NYC Marathon extremely grueling and interesting. Almost every competitor I spoke with after the race spoke about how tough the wind was, how tough the last few miles were, and simply how drained they felt. One elite described the wind as "in your face for 18 or 19 miles." On a course that usually yields many negative splits, surprisingly few from either race could churn out faster miles in the second half. The men went through the half in 65:11 and only two men broke 2:10. Many elites ended up with second-half splits 8, 10, 11 minutes slower than the first half (you can see all of my various post-race interviews/videos on the letsrun.com youtube page).
The volunteers, spectators and many members of the media were understandably excited and joyous around the finishing area, but most of the athletes were so obviously beaten. Paula Radcliffe was crying and helped through the mixed zone by race staff. Former champion Hendrick Ramaala, Abdi Abdirahman, Brian Sell, Christelle Daunay, Ryan Hall, Yuri Kano and many, many others were simply beaten down by the toughness of today's race. And they were the finishers. A few of the big favorites didn't finish (former champion Marilson Gomes dos Santos, as well as the #1 and #3 fastest men in the field in James Kwambai and Patrick Makau), or even start (Martin Lel). Negative splits and smooth races produce happy, joyous runners. The runners today were not just exhausted (as is expected) but clearly sullen and humbled.
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