Snapshot: NYC Marathon At A Glance

When - Sunday, November 2nd
Begins at - Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island
Ends at - Tavern on the Green, Central Park

With barely over a month until the race, I felt compelled to begin a series of "snapshot" blogs. These will be all about the NYC Marathon: general runner information, experiences to expect, and survival tips, as well as some typical visitor information for the Big Apple. First in this series, marathon information at a glance.

One of the world's most renowned road races, the New York City Marathon drew nearly 100,000 applications in 2007 alone. It is a travelogue of New York's five boroughs as it passes through neighborhoods which represent virtually every major cultural and ethnic group on earth. A remarkable event that celebrates individual achievement, it also brings together millions of New Yorkers who line the streets for an entire afternoon to cheer and encourage the participants - from the winners to those that finish hours later. It is a city that recognizes courage and perseverance, as well as coming in first.

Over the years, the New York City Marathon has grown from a modest race that took place entirely in Central Park to a city-wide event with well over 38,000 runners. Participants, as well as spectators, come from all over the globe with over 100 countries and all 50 states represented in one of the world's largest and most famous running competitions. The race attracts many world-class professional athletes - not only for the more than $700,000 in prize money, but also for the chance to compete in the media capital of the world before more than two million cheering spectators around the race course, as well as 315 million worldwide television viewers. Crossing the finish line in Central Park is one of the great thrills of a lifetime, as any one of the more than 700,000 past participants will attest (and something I am definitely thrilled to be able to soon consider myself part of!)

The course begins in Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island and the first two miles are over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, which offers a panoramic view of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, as well as the Fire Department boats that shoot geysers of multi-colored water hundreds of feet up into the air as the race begins. The route then wends its way through Brooklyn, the borough that features the largest segment of the race, with runners passing through an amazing variety of neighborhoods, including Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint. At 13.1 miles, runners cross the Pulaski Bridge, marking the halfway point of the race and the entrance into Queens. After a short stay in Queens, runners must take on the dreaded Queensboro Bridge before finally arriving in Manhattan. The race then proceeds north on First Avenue, crossing briefly into the Bronx for a mile before returning to Manhattan. It then continues south through Harlem down Fifth Avenue and into Central Park. At the southern end of the park, the course leaves the park and continues along Central Park South, where thousands of spectators cheer runners on during the last mile. At Columbus Circle, the race re-enters the park and finishes outside Tavern on the Green.

It is these final miles through Central Park that determine winners, and annually witness the most dramatic moments of the race as runners struggle to complete the 26.2 mile course. Central Park, the scene of the first race of 127 participants in 1970, is ultimately the center stage that welcomes the runners, all winners in their own right, to the finish line.

>> Download the Official Marathon Course Map
>> See an amazing pictorial of the actual NYCM course