This year, there was only one race that I knew that I wanted to run and it was the NYC Marathon. If the race was held, I was determined that I would be at the starting line!
Our journey to the 50th Anniversary of the NYC Marathon started back in June 2019 when we were two of the lucky ones to register for the guaranteed entry Strava Virtual Challenge race.
We paid a $150 fee for the challenge and then after running the virtual in Nov 2019 got our spots for the 2020 race.
We ran our virtual race at the Mount Laguna Trail Marathon & got our Strava badges.
A bit later we got emails from NYRR telling us that we were in!
We had signed up in early 2020 for the 2020 version of the race, as we know, that got cancelled and then we waited to see what would happen for 2021.
Fortunately NYC is the last of the world majors in early November so by that time a good portion of the population was vaccinated and the city allowed the race to be held! As soon as the date was announced I booked our hotel even though we didn’t know if we would get in yet or not.
In early April, we were sent an email asking us to make a choice in what we wanted to do & rank those choices. They gave us the option to run in 2021 or defer to 2022 or 2023. This was similar to what happened in 2012 after the race was cancelled 2 days prior.
In mid May, Sean & I both got emails saying that we were in for 2021 & that we would be able to register on June 8. Since we had paid in 2020 we did not have to pay for the 2021 race.
On June 8 we received our email telling us it was time to register and that we had until June 15 to accept the invitation.
At the end of August an email went out asking runners to select a time for packet pick-up, for transportation to the start & for baggage.
Packet Pick-Up: Only vaccinated runners were allowed into the convention center and in an effort to limit the number of people inside at any time they asked us to select a time to attend.
We picked noon – 1pm on Saturday, just in case our flight was delayed, etc. and I know that Sean is not an early bird so I wanted to give us some time to wake up.
Transportation to the start – You can pick to take a bus or the ferry. I took the bus my first time, in 2013 because I was with a charity but the last 2 times I have taken the ferry and it’s really fun. They had various times available for you to pick based on your start time. Since Sean was in Wave 1 – he only had 5:30, 5:45 & 6:00am to chose from I think? I was in Wave 3 so I had more options to choose from but we picked 5:45am so Sean & I could go over together.
Baggage – This year all runners received the post race Poncho and then you also had the option of checking a gear bag. The only caveat to that was that the bag had to be dropped off at location in Central Park before the race, not at the start.
We were all set and all that was left was to train, get to NYC and run the race!! Next up…training.
