I will remember this race for the rest of my life. I am glad I made this my first marathon. The course is hard - not very flat and a lot of slow inclines. The crowds are AMAZING: they really help you along they way. The organization is top-notch: communication is constant and efficient and there are LOADS of volunteers along the course. The course is never boring and I rediscovered New York. Your running "career" has to include this marathon to be complete.

What can you even say about this marathon? This year was my second NYC in a row, and third marathon overall. As soon as I crossed the finish line on Sunday, I couldn't wait to do it again. This race is unlike any other in the world - not that I have a ton of marathon experience, but how can you beat NYC?! The crowds are unbelievable and the course is fantastic. All the non-runners and runners alike in NYC love the marathon. I know people who have been spectating for 20 years and get excited to watch the race every year. Everyone in the city has fun on marathon day. Don't go into this marathon expecting to PR or have a congestion-free course. The New York Marathon is what it is because of the crowds and number of runners. PR'ing isn't impossible though; I managed to shed 15 minutes from my prior best time this year!! Don't miss this race. I can't wait for next year!!!!

This was my first NYC Marathon. I loved the course and the spectators. However, running out of food at the finish in a race like this, especially when it was pre-bagged and handed out to prevent taking more than one, is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.

This was my first NYC Marathon, and my third overall. The organization is to be commended; getting 40,000 plus people from start to finish is a monumental task. The fans were great. It felt like we were crossing the finish line at times along the way with the loud crowd support. The fans that provided brownies and doughnut holes in Brooklyn, God bless you. You really picked up our spirits. My only complaint is the finishing corral. Everyone is tired and weary, and want to get with family and friends, and off their feet, only to be herded like cattle for 30 to 40 minutes. Great experience overall. I ran with my daughter and we both had PR's. Thanks to all of the volunteers.

This was my fifth marathon (first in four years), and it was a stunningly amazing experience. The crowds were wonderful everywhere; even where sparse, they interacted more than I've ever experienced in a race. I had dozens of comments on 5th Avenue and in Central Park about my shirt (which said "UCLA"), and everybody loved it that their comments got me going again. The kids in the early part of Brooklyn lined up for a hundred high-fives; and there was the fun rapper in the Bronx riffing about "The Wall," the lady in Harlem saying, "This is how we do it in Harlem," and on and on. I have a thousand memories of the crowds. The course is tougher than I expected - I train at 7,500 feet and it still got to me, but I loved it. The only downer? Waiting for 3.5 hours at the start, trying to decide whether to keep walking and tire your feet or to sit and get stiff, and then the really random cramming of all those people into the so-called corrals. They need to take some wave lessons from Boulder. But bottom line, this was a unique experience. No other place can compare. Loved it.

Just returned from the 2009 NYC marathon. This was my fourth marathon (Chicago, Twin Cities, Houston). New York is a vibrant city and is awesome for a huge race. It should certainly be attempted by any marathoner at least once. It is great to see the boroughs, and the crowd diversity and size is quite impressive. That being said, here are my "good" and "bad."

The good:
1. It's New York City!!!!
2. Good crowd support.
3. Nice shirt.
4. It's the New York City Marathon !!!!!

The Bad:
1. The corral system was chaos. Was scheduled for first wave, but when I finally made it to the corrals 30 minutes early, the "wave" was already on the bridge; so we went with the second wave, and just jumped into a random corral. VERY difficult to find anyone who could point us in the right direction. It was like everyone vanished when you arrived on the island.
2. While the crowd is great, I found them to be quite quiet a lot of the time, especially through parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Twin Cities is still the best overall crowd support you can find, in my opinion.
3. Central Park is awesome to finish in, but the exit after the race is WAY too crowded. I had read reviews that said to escape Central Park as fast as you can and not check bags, and I wish I had listened. You had to walk what seemed like a mile to the "official" exit, and the police made sure you couldn't escape any quicker. Luckily I felt good at the end, but many were staggering around and a few passed out and got sick in the middle of everyone. Finally after getting out of Central Park, it became chaos again, trying to get south out of Central Park down to Times Square. In all, I estimate that I walked another four miles after the race just to get 10 blocks south to Times Square.

Overall, I will still recommend this race because, again, it is the biggest, and it is New York and should be done once. That being said, Chicago is MUCH easier logistically to get to and from, and Twin cities has better crowd support. Houston is just a flat, FAST course where you can PR.

This was my first NYC after three Bostons. Make no mistake: NYC is more challenging than Boston. I ran 3:09:20 in NYC and 3:09:43 in Boston, both in '09, but I was definitely beaten up more in NYC. That said, Brooklyn, First Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Central Park were extraordinary, almost surreal. The spectators are awesome, as are the volunteers.

This was my fifth New York City Marathon in the past 12 years, and this race NEVER gets old. I will list the positives and a few slight areas that could turn some off.

Pros:
As mentioned here, the crowd support is unlike any other race that I have ever done. If you wear your name on the shirt, you will hear hundreds of people cheering you on directly. Coming on to 1st Avenue from 59th Street is unmatched in any race that I have done. I also found that there were plenty of fluids on the course. The quality of the water improved from past years.

The few things that would be a little tricky would be: 1) The course, which is harder than many others I have done (and thus not conducive to a PR). 2) Getting to the start and waiting at the start can be a challenge. I also felt that the course was a little more crowded than the past years, but I never felt "boxed in." 3) I would have also loved to have seen someone hand out pretzels or something like that, but it's OK.

Overall a GREAT race that is worth repeating, especially since it is in my backyard (which also means no airfare or hotels, etc.), and the positives easily outweigh the small negatives.

This is my second time running the NYC Marathon. They closed the first relay corral early, forcing me to start in the second wave (even though I was there 20 minutes before my start time... so get to your corral gate early if running in the future). Other than that, it was well organized. Race is tough (hilly) but fans are fantastic and volunteers handing out fluids are outstanding. Many thanks to all of those who volunteered. You all made a difference to me!

This was my first marathon, and I was very excited. I felt like I was just coasting for the 1st half of the race, and then the Queensborough Bridge kicked my butt at the 15-16 mile mark, and then I lost that four-hour goal and started to slow down. The finish was so crowded and I was crammed in amongst all of the other finishers with no room to move. It was hard after being in a crowd for so long, and you just wanted some space. I would agree with another comment that it would have been nice to open up the park a bit for the runners to have some room at the finish after they got their food and blanket. Other than that, kudos to the organizers for running a great race.