New York. Concrete jungle where dreams are made of

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We all have joyous days in our lives that we will remember forever. Magical days when everything seems to go better than you could ever have hoped. Days that make you feel so, so happy. New York marathon 2025 was one of those days for me.

I could hardly have scripted it any better. The running conditions were perfect - bright and sunny, cool but not cold and without a breath of wind. Great for running and outstanding for spectating. And New Yorkers came out in the hundreds of thousands to cheer us on.

As far as the actual running went, I far exceeded my expectations. Just finishing would have been a huge achievement, given the circumstances. But I did much more than just limp over the line.

Regulars here will be well aware of the heart-related issues I’ve had recently, and for a fuller rundown you can read this piece from a few weeks ago. But to recap, I had a medical procedure in mid-September to try to fix an irregular heartbeat - atrial fibrillation (AF).

The procedure left me unable to run more than 60m without doubling over, gasping for breath. My cardiologist cleared me to run the marathon, saying it wouldn’t endanger me in any way, but the longest run I was able to manage between the procedure and leaving home for the US was 12k. Hardly ideal prep.

Now I’ll be honest, if this was the Brisbane, Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast marathon, I’d probably have pulled the pin. But New York has always been a bucket-list race for me, and my wife Caron, daughter Charlie and I were all committed to the trip. We were also looking forward to visiting family here. So we were locked in.

As I pondered how to approach race day, I did some research. It wasn’t promising. Basically the message seemed to be sure, you can run a marathon without training. But your body will pay the price - possibly for months.

At this point I became quite depressed. I was pretty confident my heart wouldn’t stop me from finishing the race, but there were questions marks over the rest of me. Then my natural optimism must have kicked in because I started to think about the overall context.

Sure, running a marathon on no training is bad. Really bad. But I think that advice is aimed at first-timers with little running experience who see the event as more of an Instagram moment than an athletic achievement.

And while my training in September and October may have been near non-existent, I have a solid base built over years. To top up, this year I have run both the UTA50k race in the Blue Mountains and the Guzzler Big Sipper 22k on the trails and the Sunshine Coast half marathon and Sydney marathon on the roads. So it’s not like I’ve had my feet up all year.

With that in mind I switched my attention to race strategy. I figured the most important factor here, given I had no aspirations or idea about what sort of time I might be able to aim for, was to coordinate with my support crew so they could meet me at various points around the course.

The New York locals - my sister and brother in law Heather and Stuart and my niece Izzy - had mapped out three rendezvous points, at eight miles (13k), 16 miles (26k) and at the finish.

My allocated start time was 11am (it takes time to get 55,000+ people away from the start) and I figured a pace of seven minutes per kilometre would get me to the first rendezvous point at 12:30pm and the second at 2pm. I was dubious about being able to maintain that pace, but at least we had a plan.

A start to remember

Getting to the start was a pretty amazing exercise in logistics, but once I got to Staten Island and the start line at the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, I got the first hint that the New York marathon was going to be a race like no other I’d ever experienced.

The Americans, of course, know how to put on a show. As I lined up waiting for my wave to start (wave four of five in total), we were treated to a live rendition of the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

The race director then called, “Take your marks,” and then the starting cannon - a 75mm howitzer - was fired. That was the cue for a very loud rendition of “New York, New York” by Ol’ Blue Eyes, and we were off.

The first 3k of the race was all on the bridge. It was a spectacular morning, with views to the left off towards Lower Manhattan below a brilliant blue sky. It was a calm and steady start, with just the sound of thousands of running footfalls as we looked to settle into a rhythm.

But pretty much as soon as we came off the bridge, we were amongst the crowd. The New York marathon is famed for its crowds, so my expectations were high. But I was blown away by the numbers, the noise and the full-throated enthusiasm of the 1 million people who lined almost all parts of the course to cheer us on.

The race is an excuse for a city-wide street party. People of all ages lined the streets making as much noise as possible. I must have given 15,000 high fives in the course of the day as thousands of New Yorkers urged me to keep pushing right to the finish.

It would be impossible to quantify it, but I have absolutely no doubt the energy of the crowd lifted me. It was noticeable that every time the volume on the sidelines went up, so did my spirits and my pace.

Even something as simple as running alongside the crowd - in the high-five zone - rather than in the middle of the road made a discernible difference. It was literally awesome.

On a par with the exhilaration I felt from the crowd was the pure joy I got from seeing my support crew. Getting around the course and coordinating where to meet takes a near military level of planning, particularly when 40 per cent of the crew are still hungover after back-to-back nights of Halloween shenanigans. It gave me such a boost each time I saw them.

Crowd participation

Part of my New York Marathon strategy, given I wasn’t aiming for a particular finishing time, was to lean fully into the race day experience. Crowd participation is a key part of the New York Marathon, and that goes well beyond cheering on the runners.

It’s a well-worn tradition for Marathon spectators to set up their own impromptu aid stations along the course. Some offer water, others electrolytes. Some offer tissues to wipe the sweat from your eyes, others offer salt-sticks, gels and lollies. Some even offload their excess/leftover Halloween sweets.

And then there are those who offer something a little harder - and a little more to my taste. Now, let me make it clear that I wouldn’t endorse this as best practice marathon strategy, but the first time I saw someone in the crowd offering “Free Beer”, I was in.

And then, when I saw someone offering “Matcha Jello Shots”, I was in again.

And again when I saw Fireball shots on offer. Let me tell you, these gave me a boost!

Obviously at this point in the race I was starting to turn my attention to my nutrition plan. So when I saw a man offering free baklava, well it was a no-brainer!

When I mentioned this after the race to my New York-born niece, she said, “Oh my God, you met the Baklava Guy?” Turns out Baklava Guy is a New York institution. Fired from his job after attending a concert for rock band Phish, he started selling baklava. And he’s made a living out of it ever since.

Then, a bit over halfway through the race, I spied a guy hanging over the railings with a tinnie in his hand. “It’s not even open,” he was muttering. Intrigued, I swerved to my left to check things out.

Turns out he was offering up an Angry Orchard Headless Pumpkin cider, which I was happy to take off his hands. And scull.

Now, I want to make two things clear: 1) I do not endorse this approach to marathon nutrition and hydration if you are serious about your race; and 2) I loved this aspect of race day. It was just brilliant.

Unexpected success

So, how did I go on this unorthodox fuelling strategy? Unexpectedly well. Despite my worst fears, my lack of training and my uncooperative heart, I was able to run the entire 42.2k course, apart from when I was using the bathroom or drinking at the various aid stations - official and unofficial!

In fact, I was able to complete the race with an average pace of 7 mins 23 secs per kilometre and an average heart rate of 113 beats per minute. I felt great at the end, like I could have just kept on running. It was more than I could ever have hoped for.

Once we’d crossed the finish line we were herded with unseemly haste into the finishers’ funnel, handed a goodie bag of pretzels, water, Gatorade etc, a bright orange poncho (very nice, I must say) and the all-important finishers’ medal.

Then we were sent on a forced march of about two kilometres to get out of Central Park so we could rendezvous with our loved ones. It was like a herd of zombies shambling forward towards some universal goal.

I actually felt quite chipper, but I was definitely in the minority judging from the gait of those around me. Once we reached the street we were offered our first complementary post-race beer! Unfortunately it was an alcohol free Michelob.

My most generous assessment would be to say it tasted vaguely beer-like, but I was parched so I downed it anyway. Eventually I was able to make my way through the throng of orange poncho-clad walking dead to find my support crew, then it was on to the hotel for a shower and “victory beers” with the rest of the RunFun crew.

I’ve had some time to reflect since the race - I’m putting the finishing touches on this piece a week after it all unfolded - and

I had been intending to give road marathons away after this one, because I enjoy running trails so much more. But having run New York, I’m thinking … If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere, that’s what they say.

So maybe London 2027. That’s the other big marathon on my bucket list. And a big international race every two years feels about right to me. And the glow from my time here may just linger for that long, it’s been such a beautiful and fulfilling experience.

Travel advice

One more thing … lots has been said in Australia about travel to the US and for many, it’s become a much less desirable destination, given the stories that are circulating about how much more difficult it’s become to enter the country.

If you are tossing up whether to delete the US from your must-see list of destinations, then consider this first. Despite the sometimes febrile political atmosphere here - and we were in New York for the mayoral elections which certainly were high-profile - at no point did that impinge on our experience.

We had no issues getting through customs. No extra checks, no seized mobile phones. That’s not to say that others haven’t been so lucky and I appreciate that as a white, middle-class man I’m not exactly likely to be profiled for extra attention. But my experience on that front was absolutely fine.

Whatever you think of the direction their country is heading in, I found Americans to be unfailingly polite and friendly. Even the street hawkers trying to sell me something were only too happy to help me with directions.

I genuinely had no idea what to expect on this front, but have been pleasantly surprised. I’ve found the US nothing but welcoming. And for all of those reasons, I wouldn’t recommend against travelling here.

Upcoming Events

There are way too many events for me to list everything that’s happening around the country, but here is a selection of upcoming races (with a bias towards South East Queensland).

The Running Calendar website is a great source if you want a comprehensive understanding of what’s available around Australia.