Following the news of marked improvements for pedestrians and cyclists traveling around Grand Army Plaza, the DOT has announced [pdf] new improvements around Prospect Park's southeast entrance, including closing the East Drive entrance to automobiles. According to the agency, 20 people are injured at this corner every year, and Streetsblog notes that closing the entrance allows for a realigning of the crosswalks, which "should make motorists more aware of people walking across the street." 57% of the crashes between pedestrians and vehicles at Ocean and Parkside between 2005 and 2009 occurred when the pedestrian had the walk signal. more ›

A marathon runner suffered an apparent heart attack toward the tail end of today's 42nd NYC Marathon. FDNY said that the call about the man, said to be in his 30s, came in around 12:30 p.m. at the 22-mile mark on the marathon route at 5th Avenue and 117th Street— only four miles short of the finish line. “He fell on his face on Fifth Avenue, he just dropped like he was was shot,” Harlem resident James White told the Post. more ›

An 18-year-old aspiring chef was struck in the head by an oncoming downtown express train at the Union Square subway station yesterday morning. Adrian Rodriguez, who suffered a serious head injury and is currently at Bellevue, was apparently on his way to Marta Valle High School, where a school staffer said, "He's never late, and I know he was just trying to get to school on time. He was always on time—100 percent." And according to one report, he may have been running in the station. more ›

Tonight we turn back the clocks for Daylight Savings Time, and get to sleep in two hours later than normal (that's how this works right?), and tomorrow we will awaken to the start of the 41st ING NYC Marathon! More than 43,000 people, including Chilean miner Edison Pena, are expected to run in the race, which starts at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island and takes runners all the way through the four other boroughs, ending in Central Park near West 67th Street. more ›

Edison Pena, one of the Chilean miners who spent over two months trapped underground, arrived at JFK today. Although exhausted, Pena said he "always wanted to be here" in NYC. Pena is in town to run in the ING NYC Marathon this Sunday. During a press conference in Cenral Park, he told reporters, "It's a dream come true. The first dream come true was seeing the light of day again, and I had to go through all of this to be here today. And I did!” They gave him his bib, AND he got to meet former NY Giant star Amani Toomer! more ›

Edison Pena, the slight 34-year old Chilean miner who spent over two months trapped underground, gave an interview to the Daily News yesterday in which he detailed his experience in the mine and discussed his decision to run in the ING NYC Marathon this Sunday. He said of being trapped, "I became two people: the weak person who wanted simply to give up, and the person who chose to be strong - to run and to survive. Eventually, I chose to live." more ›

The ING New York City Marathon is this Sunday, and they've got you covered. In previous years we'd grown accustomed to the usual live broadcast on NBC, but this year there'll be complete media saturation, starting tomorrow. more ›

Flushing resident Yi-joo Kwon is passing through Missouri in his run from LA to NYC to raise awareness for diabetes, which he almost died from in 1996. Beginning on March 23rd, the 64-year-old has averaged over a marathon a day, and is currently a week ahead of his 110-day schedule. Facebook fans have nicknamed him "Flushing's Gump," and seem to be giving him a lot of support (in Korean). Supporter Sang Ho Seo writes, "Thorny path of suffering and self. Set forth in the way of your, Wishing you the glory." Poetry, or just Google Translate? more ›

The woman who chased down a cell phone thief in Prospect Park admitted that "it was not the brightest thing to do, and I will hold myself back from doing anything like that again." At 8-months pregnant, she was able to nearly catch up to the 18-year-old bandit before two other good Samaritans nabbed him. And it turns out they weren't the only two trying to help! more ›

Alberto Arroyo, a familiar face to decades of joggers around the Central Park Reservoir, died on Thursday at age 94 in a nursing home. Arroyo had said he was "the first man to run in Central Park," and the NY Times writes in his obituary, "Who could dispute him? What is certain is that generations of runners came to treasure the leathery-skinned gentleman with flowing white hair and matching mustache as a peculiarly New York institution." more ›

Yesterday's 40th running of the ING NYC Marathon saw over 40,000 people traveling across the five boroughs to clock in 26.2 miles of running, walking, handcycling, and more. Besides the men's and women's race winners Meb Kelflizighi and Derartu Tulu, there were other champs: more ›

This Sunday, not only is it time to fall back for Daylight Savings Time, it's the 40th ING NYC Marathon. An expected 40,000 runners will be ready to hit the roads from the start at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in Staten Island and through the four other boroughs with about a million people cheering them on from the sidelines. more ›

Things are heating up in marathon running circles, or should we say slowing down? The New York Times reported that by allowing slower runners on the New York City Marathon route, the intensity of the debate over how quickly an able-bodied runner should finish the once-elite event is increasing. more ›

As the New York City Marathon approaches (November 1st), the NY Times looks back at the first one in 1970 through the eyes of Steve Pusztay, who says on that day he was “just trying not to die,” He told them, “After I finished. I swore I would never run another marathon again.” And then he went on to run 47 more (but never returned to the one in Central Park). more ›

Yesterday morning, Briton Paula Radcliffe won the women's NYC Half Marathon, with a time of 1:09:45—her first race since winning last year's NYC Marathon. Tadese Tola of Ethiopia won the men's race, finishing at 1:01:06. Radcliffe, who had bunion surgery in March and is considering running a marathon in Berlin this weekend, decided to run in the race at the last minute. She told the New York Road Runners, "I needed to blow out some racing cobwebs. I’m the first to admit that this is an unorthodox way to test myself for a marathon—running a half-marathon a week out." more ›

Runner's World has an interview with Governor David Paterson this month, discussing how running have given his confidence, which he probably needs these days. (The Post is in a tizzy over the photo of running-shorted Paterson in his office.) Paterson, who is on the Achilles Track Club's board and ran the '99 NYC Marathon, said, "Running gave me the chance to be athletic, and to be good at something, which I think everybody wants to have. As a teenager it was particularly frustrating; all my friends would play these sports that I couldn't play." Paterson prefers to run with a guide and for distance (he has an 11-minute mile). On how his success in running has helped his political career: "Whenever they mention in my introduction that I ran the marathon, the audience just starts cheering, and I think that it did help me to believe in myself. I never thought I'd be Lieutenant Governor, and I never thought I'd be Governor. But I will run for reelection, and I'll be running while I'm running." Related: Former Governor Spitzer, also a runner, recorded a podcast to accompany a 3-mile run at a 9-minute pace back in 2006. more ›

The NY Times reports on a very original birthday gift. On his 40th birthday, Michael Chambers received a visit from Richard Kiplagat, former star Iona runner. Chambers, an investor, is an avid runner inspired by Kenyan runners. His family, who already planned a gift of a trip to Kenya, called up the New York Road Runners Club, asking if there was a Kenyan runner who could run with Chambers: "Sam Grotewold, manager of professional athletes for the Road Runners, made the connection with Kiplagat’s manager. Kiplagat was game. Not having a precedent for such a gift, they decided on the rather arbitrary figure of $400." Kiplagat, who used to run five miles to and from school (barefoot) as a child in Kenya, ran with Chambers in Hudson River Park and told the Times, "When it comes to running, I’m always ready to do it." more ›

Despite rising numbers of local participants running in its races, the New York Road Runners announced that will put caps on how many entrants they allow starting next year. The races in Central Park will now have a ceiling of 5,000 runners--a number surpassed by over a third of 27 its races this past year. The change is being made to enhance the overall experience of runners, not for any specific health or safety concerns. The 5,000 cap will not apply to the two biggest races--the New York City Marathon and NYC Half-Marathon, much bigger affairs--but those will now see limits as well. Mary Wittenberg, NYRR President, told the Times, “The biggest change is that it will force runners to decide early what races they want to run in. Up until now, they had the luxury of waiting basically until race day." more ›

We've already seen the Borat speedo marathon get up--but a new video shows Steve Guttenberg, of Police Academy fame, upping the ante in revealing running gear. NYMag notes that he's "clearly in on the gag," but 1 minute and 44 seconds of a pantless Guttenberg running and stretching in Central Park is the end result none-the-less (consider that a warning). more ›

On a very windy day, Paula Radcliffe, last year's ING NYC Marathon winner, won the women's race today with a time of 2:23:556. Radcliffe had looked to the NYC Marathon as her redemption, after a stress fracture earlier this year and a 23rd place finish at the Beijing Olympics. Second place winner was 40-year-old Ludmila Petrova, the 2000 winner, at 2:25:43 more ›

Today is the ING NYC Marathon, and you can check out the action by cheering alongside the route (see spectator guide here) or watching it on NBC 4 or on the Internet, via Universal Sports, which lets you choose between three feeds (men's, women's and main). There are also a few road closures. more ›

Photo of marathon runners last year by sgoralnick on flickr more ›

Last year Katie Holmes ran (or pretended to run) the NYC Marathon, and this year the sweating, panting herd of runners will be graced with the presence of soon-to-be now official Mr. Scarlett Johansson. Joining Team Fox in support of Parkinson's disease (his dad is afflicted), Ryan Reynolds invites one and all to come watch him on November 2nd, adding: "Feel free to bring a smile, automated defibrillator, or a fresh set of nipples." He also writes on the Huffington Post about seeing the marathon in Central Park a few years ago, saying, "I saw an incredible spectacle of people pushed to the very brink of collapse. The pain was etched into their faces so deeply ... I saw guys coming in to finish with bleeding nipples. Why in the hell were their nipples bleeding? People were crying. People were limping, hobbling, screaming, crawling." Good Luck, Ryan! more ›

A lawsuit against the MTA is about to go to trial surrounding the rape of a woman on a G train platform in Queens three years ago. And the victim, now 25, told the Daily News this weekend that she forgives her attacker ("I know he was sick in the head"), but not the token booth clerk at the 21st Street station, "I can't forgive those five seconds when I stared into his eyes, screaming for help, imploring him with my tears and all I got back was a cold stare." more ›

With less than two weeks to go until the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Kenya's Catherine "The Great" Ndereba came into today's NYC Half Marathon for a final tuneup. She walked away with her 2nd victory in the three-year event, (she was 2nd in 2007) finishing in a time of 1:10:18. 20-year-old Tadesse Tola of Ethiopia won the men's race in a time of 1:00:58, saying afterwards that it was his "best performance ever." Dathan Ritzenhein, running for the the United States marathon team in Beijing said that the conditions in today's race are similar to what he expects in Beijing. The 13.1 mile course began in Central Park, down 7th Ave through Times Square, west across 42nd St, and down the West Side Highway to a finish in Battery Park. For their winning efforts, Ndereba and Tola each walk away with $10,000. more ›

Just because Mayor Bloomberg has denied running for governor in 2010 doesn't mean it has to be true! The Sun's Davidson Goldin thinks that for Bloomberg, "Running for governor is likely, and becoming more so." more ›