I didn’t realize the New York City Marathon was happening until I tried crossing some streets near Central Park (which is where the marathon ends).
I was headed for the park to bask in the glory of a 75-degree day in November. But what was great for me wasn’t as great for the runners–it was about 20 degrees warmer than they usually get for the marathon. It didn’t seem to slow them down, though. Some of the runners I saw (and this was near the end of the race) were going FAST, it almost looked like they were going faster than I can sprint. (I’ve never been a fast sprinter, but still.)

So I did the math. I was there when the leaders were finishing, so that’s a 2 or 2.5 hour marathon. So that means they’re running at 11-13 miles per hour. And that works out to a 4-something or 5-minute mile pace. And if we keep in mind that as recently as 1954 a four-minute mile was considered impossible … yeah, if they’re putting on a push-to-the-finish burst of speed, they’re probably going faster than I can sprint.
I made it to the other side of the street! (The helpful NYPD officers were telling people to cross using the underground subway station tunnel.) I didn’t realize how big a deal the marathon was. Almost 50,000 people (including some celebrities) run through all five New York City boroughs.
And speaking of big deal, look what I found once I made it to Central Park! New York City does everything right.
The crowd goes wild as men’s marathon winner-to-be Evans Chebet blazes past, about five minutes from the finish line. (He ran the marathon in two hours, eight minutes, and 41 seconds.)
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