My PF running friend and I are both doing the NYC Marathon Nov 4 instead of the Portland in October. Is anyone else doing this? We are looking for suggestions and advice: running schedule changes, traveling to a marathon and still have peak energy, any NYC Marathon experience tips. Thanks.

NYC is so much fun! The energy is fantastic. The only downer for me was the super late start time. By 10am i have to go to the bathroom mid race whereas I usually don't for a whole marathon. It's got lots of hills too even though (to me) it didn't look bad on the course elevation map. Save some energy - the usual advice - don't start too fast. Make sure you look around a lot because there is so much to see over the course. Going through all five boroughs is just fantastic. There are fire trucks and police men all over the course and the fire boats as you go over the Veranzano bridge are spectacular. The pasta party is at the Tavern on the Green and I thought that was pretty neat too, but the meal was nothing special. I wish I was going again! Have a fantastic time!

I signed up to raise money for the NYRR's Foundation Team for Kids. If you are motivated to raise money, running with them really enhanced the trip. There are a lot of perks plus the good feeling of making a difference for children.

Good luck!!

Here are a few suggestions. If you can, go a few days early. Cost becomes an issue. This allows you to adjust to the time difference and travel, being in a new city if it's your first time there, time to check out the course and have fun in a great city.

If you follow the USAfit schedule with a three week taper, your last long run would be on October 14. The Portlandfit schedule has the last long run, 21 miles, on September 15. I see a couple of questions 1). Do you do the 21 miler on September 15, and 2). What do you do between September 15 and your last long run on October 14. It's good to think about it now and plan but you may have to adjust based upon your running health at the time; are you recovering from an injury. Many marathon running programs have more than one run longer than 21 miles. If you have experience running marathons you may have a good idea how your body handles the runs longer than 15 miles and it should be easier to set your program. Personally I like to have more than one run of 21 miles under my belt prior to a marathon, but I doubt that I could have handled that my first year. For the Eugene Marathon this year I did runs of 20, 21 and 25 miles and had less injury and less fatique problems than ever before. I attribute this to running with a heart rate monitor and mostly following it and I had a new PR. So, think about doing our 21 miler and then on October 14 doing another 21 miler. If you do this you MUST run these slower to avoid the injury. A heart rate monitor can help; but even without a monitor you just make yourself run slower. I would suggest a pace 1:30 slower than what you think may be your marathon pace will be. After October 14 copy the last three weeks taper schedule of Portland fit. Another option is on September 15 run with Pfit but only make it another 15 to 18 miles. While Portland is in its taper you will need to keep the miles up but you can do this by following the schedule that is laid out between our 18 and 21 milers

Good luck and enjoy NYC.

Hi Cindy,

In my particular case, I had 5 weeks between Portland and NYC last year. I decided to run Portland as my last long run and then tapered. I found it to be very useful, although I was 10 minutes slower at NYC. It is definitely a harder marathon than Portland due to the bridges and elevations. However, it is truly a fantastic experience.

Here are my personal observations and things to think about:

1) As someone already said, try to get there a few days earlier. That way you can adjust to the time change and relax;

2) Avoid the temptation to go sightseeing too much, especially the day before the marathon;

3) The wait before the start was the low point for me. Depending on where you are staying, pay for the bus to take you to the starting line. You will wait at least 3 hourse before the start since everyone has to be there by 7 AM when they close the roads. Wear warm clothes that you can discard before the race starts and bring some plastic to line the ground. Although they do serve some stuff for breakfast (bagles, coffee, gatorage, doughnuts, etc), bring your own stash as well.

4) Start slow. The marathon has more gradual uphills than Portland and the bridges can be quite challenging.

5) The food at the end was more than disappointing. You head to the UPS truck that has your personal belongings, if you checked any, and they give you a small plastic bag with a bagel, an apple, a water, and a bar. That's all.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with the other 39,000 + runners through all the boroughs. It is a terrific experience. I tried to get in again this year but didn't make it.

Enjoy and have a great race,
AC Clemisom