It’s 51 weeks until next year’s NYC Marathon! With my cancelled entry for this year, hopefully I will be toeing the start line on November 5, 2017.

It was weird to not be carb loading on Saturday night at the team pasta dinner. Instead we went out to an early birthday dinner at Halifax and ate a lot of seafood (a must try if you’re in Hoboken). Even though I was not running the race, we still participated in the festivities. For the last 8 years, there was only one year that I was not out spectating or running the race and it was because of a wedding. This year I ran the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K and on marathon Sunday, Josh, Charlotte and I went out to cheer on all the runners. Before we went out to the city, it was fun to watch the pre-race coverage and the elites finish their face. It was awesome to watch Molly Huddle finish in 3rd place in her marathon debut!

Josh and Charlotte spectated for a bit right before mile 26 on Central Park South and I went up to 130th and 5th Avenue, around mile 21.5, to meet up with a friend and run the last 4 or so miles with one of my cousins. Before he arrived, I was able to cheer on a couple of friends and another cousin (I have a big family and many runners in it!). The weather was gorgeous albeit maybe a bit too sunny for the runners but great weather for the spectators.

I had coached my cousin on his first marathon and was glad that I was able to help pace him for some of the hardest miles of the race — 5th Avenue hill and the last couple of miles through Central Park. It was extremely exciting to hear the roar of the crowds and amazing support for all the runners.

The NYC Marathon is an experience for runners and spectators and not to be missed if you are local or coming into the area on the first Sunday of November! Congratulations to all the runners again on an amazing accomplishment!