Learnings From NYC Vets

Since establishing my intentions to run the NYCM, I've contacted several friends about it - all in the name of fact finding. One of them is my colleague in LA who is currently training for the Chicago Marathon. Besides the coming Chicago in October, he has also run LA, Singapore and New York before and so he's a great source of good info. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from him last week when he was in Singapore for a business trip. In the 20 minutes or so that we spoke he enlightened me on some very interesting points.

1. The atmosphere in New York simply has to be experienced. The crowd support were deafening to the point that my colleague was unable to hear the music via his earphones.
   
2. It's not necessary to get hotel rooms in Manhattan. Look instead for options in Brooklyn or Queens as it will half your accommodation expenses. The subway services run 24-hours so travelling to the shuttle pickup points are not so much an issue. My thought is that staying in Manhattan will let me be where the action is without travelling around so much. An important consideration unless I'm travelling in a group.
   
3. There are cheap disposable gloves and raincoats for sale at the Expo, so if you didn't bring any along or decide to throw them away as the race progresses, these are cheap alternatives. I don't know if I misheard him but my colleague mentioned that the gloves went for something like $1+.
   
4. It's easy to get dehydrated in colder weather as you can mistake your freshness for state of hydration. Another friend informed me that he cramped big time partially due to salt loss. I've also read in forums that some runners skipped the initial refreshment stations thinking they're fine except to suffer from cramps later.
   
5. Layering is strongly adviced. Either bring along scarves, sweatshirts, windbreakers and trackpants or whatever to keep you warm while waiting for the start. This can be up to 3 hours long. You can chuck your sweats once you're warmer or on the Verazzano Bridge for the volunteers to pick up. Personally I think the garbage liner makes for good windbreaker but it doesn't offer anything thermally. So an option would be to put on the bin liner on top of your sweatshirt.
   
6. It's advisable to bring along some light carbs to eat while on the bus. Once you reach the holding point at the Fort, you can grab the bagels, bars, coffee, tea and other refreshment setup. You should eat since it's still 3 hours away till the start.
   

Liep, if you're reading this, I wanna say thanks for all your feedback. If you think of anything else, please feel free to let me know. Will post something on layering the next round. Meanwhile I leave you something from Nike here.