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More than 38,000 runners ran for over 26 miles in front of a crowd of 2 million-plus spectators spread across the 5 boroughs. Here's more about what happened with race:
- Women's race winner Paula Radcliffe referred to her disappointing losses at the Athens and Beijing Olympics, which were then followed by NYC Marathon wins, "It does make it frustrating, You think, 'Why can I get it right in New York and can't get it right there? But you have to take what life gives you."
- Men's race winner Marilson Gomes dos Santos discussed his unexpected 2006 win, "I proved it wasn't a fluke last year. I've seen many races decided in the last minute. I didn't lose hope. I kept pushing: That's why I won. In the marathon, you know you've won when you cross the finish line, not before."
- A 58-year-old man who completed the race in about 4 hours 30 minutes complained of chest pains and later died at a hospital. Other runners collapsed, one on the 59th Street Bridge and another at Fifth Avenue and 107th Street.
- Cabdrivers suffered through the day, which they think is the worst day of the year for driving, what with chunks of all boroughs shut off.
- Howard Stern's wife Beth Ostrosky finished the race in four hours 15 minutes, raising $300,000 for the North Shore Animal League in the process. Actor Ryan Reynolds ran the race, too, raising $79,000 for Parkinson's disease research; he vowed to the Daily News' Joe Piazza that he would eat his body weight in raw dough.
- Firefighter Matthew Long, injured when riding his bike to work and a bus hit him during the 2005 transit strike (he was hospitalized for half a year, had surgeries and many blood transfusions), finished the race in seven hours and 21 minutes.
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It's a shame about the folks who had so much trouble with the course. I was at mile 8 handing out drinks, and it's amazing how many are already walking, shuffling their feet that early in the race. Listen, I know it's a huge achievement, kudos and all, but maybe you're not a marathoner, eh? How many people were unable to gain entry so you could do this? C'mon, pick some other way to try to hang on to some optimism from you glory days.
And proper kudos to Beth Ostrosky. With all the animal abuse we read about in the Gothamist, way to raise money for North Shore Animal League.
Looking at all those cups makes me sick. Why can't they run this marathon like auto races? You carry your fluid with you. If you underestimate how much you need, you won't finish. If you overestimate, you'll carry too much weight and slow down. It becomes more of a mental, strategic race that way, rather than just a test of endurance.
And yes, maybe they should have some kind of qualification races. What's the point of entering a "race" if you just want to survive it and will finish hours behind the leaders? You can run 26 miles any time you want, it doesn't have to be at the marathon.
The NY marathon is an obnoxious event creating frustration and turmoil for drivers in the boroughs. You want to run? Pick a college track and run in a circle.
I love the NYC marathon. It promotes a sense of community and it's so wonderful to see how many runners have raised money for various charities. No matter how you cross the finish line--sprinting, limping, crawling--it's a remarkable feat to complete a marathon. Congrats to all!
Running a marathon is great training to acquire both patience and discipline while getting in shape. Training for it pretty much forces you to eat healthier and drink a little less – it does promote a healthy lifestyle. It also makes you feel great, therefore a great alternative to antidepressants and alcohol!
Furthermore, it hardly costs anything (some running gear and a marathon entry fee) and doesn’t cause any harm to the environment.
Running a marathon is an unbelievably difficult challenge for an average individual. I have run a few and undoubtedly the hardest thing I have done. Very few people are built to compete, for most others it’s a personal challenge. People who are suggesting that runners should just run a marathon distance around a track rather then shutting down a city obviously have never run long distances. A marathon provides a great venue with encouragement (which helps a lot), water stations, paramedics and running through the best parts of the city without worrying about traffic.
NYC should consider itself blessed in hosting one of the best marathons in the world. In this day of fat asses, antidepressants, over consumption and pollution, we should truly embrace and support distance running rather then complain about the fact that you cant use your car for one Sunday a year…
jdsx,
haha, thats good. frustration and turmoil for drivers. never mind the fact that 40,000 people participate, a couple thousand more watch. that it raises the profile of the city and that most major cities host a marathon. that its a tourist attraction and raises revenue for city merchants (for those of us into capitalist modes of thought). or that its just pretty fucking cool that so many people run that far, and on the streets of a city as big, dense, and diverse as new york.
fuck all that. it causes FRUSTRATION and TURMOIL for poor drivers. how will they get to old navy? its not like nyc has a mass transit system.
you want to drive a car? pick a suburb and move there, you stupid twat.
If you want to make it just a run, go ahead. But don't keep up this pretense of it being a race for many if not most of the participants. Why even bother keeping finishing times for most of the crowd if "very few people are built to compete"? Why not just make it a casual event like the Five Boro Bike Tour?
If you think marathons are hard, you should try a double century, a one-day 200 mile bicycle ride. You don't think it takes patience and discipline to prepare for that? I've done a few solo, without encouragement or support. Besides, bicycling is a far better participant sport than distance running. Many people can't run, mainly for medical conditions. Especially bad knees. Uncounted former runners have taken up competitive bicycling because their knees can't stand the pounding anymore. Almost anybody can bicycle, at almost any age. You can't say that about running.
No harm to the environment? Look at all those cups on the ground. 40,000 participants. How many water stations? Including spares for cups that might be dropped, we're probably talking a few hundred thousand disposable, non-recyclable cups introduced into the waste stream.
"The NY marathon is an obnoxious event creating frustration and turmoil for drivers in the boroughs. You want to run? Pick a college track and run in a circle."
You want to drive? Move to the suburbs. Even we mere walking New Yorkers hate cars. Not just on Marathon day. EVERY DAY.
I'm really sick of people who criticize the amazing diversity of things that go on in New York City because they make the city less hospitable to suburbanites then Glen Ridge.
http://flickr.com/photos/32140330@N03/