I was feeling a bit lazy, so I decided that I would watch
this year’s show from the balcony – aka my apartment.
We’re on the 7th floor so it’s the perfect height
for catching the action. Once the
marathon gets going, you can feel the energy surging, and the roar of the crowd
is so loud you can even hear it through closed windows. Happy, supportive – pure joy. Marathon Day in NYC is simply the best.
When these folks showed up at 8 am I did wonder how they
could start drinking so early and last through the day. Mimosa’s?
An American woman - Jessica McClain – came in second. That’s her in the light blue in the middle of the pack at mile 17.
When the men went past, I thought the pack seemed to be
larger than usual. And the surprise
winner was Andreas Almgren – a Swede running in his first marathon, followed by an Italian. 😊
Once the running masses arrived, Edward commented that the crowd
of viewers, always thick on First Avenue, was even thicker this year. I know we set a record for runners with
61,000 crossing the finish line – making it the largest marathon in history, so
it would make sense if the audience was the largest too.
I guess those folks who showed up early knew what they were
doing after all.
The fire escapes across the street were more crowded
too. Maybe visitors came for Halloween
and decided to stay.
While there were still plenty of cool signs on display,
supporters have upped their game and now appear in matching outfits and hats. I didn’t get a photo of it, but one fan group shot off confetti when their runner arrived. I have a feeling we will see lots more of that next year.
Here are links to previous marathon blogs…
https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2013/11/new-york-city-marathon.html
https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2017/11/congratulations-shalane-flanagan.html
https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2018/11/2018-nyc-marathon.html
Cheers!
PJ
© 2026 PJ Lehrer
