I love the week leading up to the NYC Marathon and it only gets better on Thursday, the day the Expo opens and 50,000 people filter through the convention center to pick up their race credentials, buy running gear and gawk at all the new shiny new gear they want from vendors.
It’s like the holidays came early! And I had my eye on one specific thing (which doesn’t get released to the greater public until the holidays, but I knew would be sold at the Expo), so I was double excited!
This year I planned to spend a little more time at the Javits than in past years as I still needed to fulfill my volunteer requirement in order to get guaranteed entry to the 2016 NYC Marathon.
What better way than to hand out bibs to runners? I mean, I get to talk to runners all day, most of whom had never been to NYC, let alone run what Peter Ciaccia, the TCS NYC Marathon Race Director calls the “biggest block party in NYC!” I was made for this gig.
I fulfilled my requirement, picked up my own race credentials and made my way to the Garmin booth to pick up the just announced Forerunner 630.
And, as Bill Bowerman chided, nothing new on race day, so I decided at the last minute to sign up for the Dash to the Finish Line 5K on Saturday to test the new gear, work out the settings and get in a super scenic shakeout the day before the Big Dance.
It was all I could do to make it through work on Friday and get to the start line of the Dash. I love that this race runs through the streets of Midtown Manhattan, where I’ve worked for years and into Central Park, it literally ends at the finish line for the marathon. Seriously, what better way to celebrate the marathon (I mean, besides run it).
I brought the GoPro with me to record the race as it runs by some pretty iconic NY places (the UN building, Grand Central Station, the NYC Public Library, Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall). And the streets of Midtown are shut down just for us.
I’m putting the finishing touches on my 2015 marathon video and will have it posted in a few days. In the meantime, enjoy this little slice of NYC running.
