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Monday, November 2, 2009

The 2009 New York City Marathon

2009 NYC Marathon
Photo by myself, of the New York City Marathon in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The New York City Marathon blazed through the city streets, Sunday morning.

Each year, thousands take part in this race, which traverses the five boroughs of New York City. Starting in Staten Island, runners wind through Brooklyn to Queens, up through the Bronx, down to Manhattan, ending in Central Park.

Along the way, crowds cheered and music blared. This was a landmark race, since the US managed to win the mens title, for the first time in 27 years.

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It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since the last marathon.

Last year, the weather was similar - overcast, a bit chilly, perfect running weather.

2009 NYC Marathon Mens Frontrunner
The mens lead in Brooklyn, running at a speedy clip. I believe this was a Kenyan runner who dropped out later in the race.

2009 NYC Marathon

2009 NYC Marathon

The mens and womens leaders sped by as usual. I stayed around longer this year because I was so inspired by all the runners. At times it was just a tremendous sea of people from all over the world.

2009 NYC Marathon

2009 NYC Marathon

This year, the race coincided with Halloween. Many runners dressed up in costume. Among those I saw were a banana, a bear, a clown, and a hula dancer.

For my post on last year's marathon, click here.

Related posts: Running Down the Streets of New York, Running Along the Brooklyn Bridge and Running Amok in the Streets.

12 comments:

Birdman said...

Marathons always provide excellent shots. Love the one of 'yellow' runner against the brick building. Nice.

Anonymous said...

I never understood people all running in one direction. When they get there they all get there at the same place. It seems like it would be more fun if they all ran in different directions. I don't know what you could call that kind of race but it would be a bad dream for organizers.

Washington Cesar Takeuchi said...

I have heard from runners that they have a real good time running. Kitty, didn't you join the marathon to take pictures from the point of view of the runners?

Terry at Blue Kitchen said...

I'm such a doof, Kitty. When I read your post, I couldn't imagine how the runners would get off Staten Island. I've only gotten there by ferry from Manhattan. Once I thought about it, though, I realized that of course this wouldn't be the only way on and off the island. I looked at Google maps and saw the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Duh!

Luis Gomez said...

Love the photo with the clown runner! Great shot.

Lowell said...

Lois Anne ran the NYC Marathon in 2003. It was a lifetime event and utterly fantastic. She was 68 at the time and despite a bad leg cramp about 1/2 which required some medical attention, she made in about about 5:30.

Great fun. I'd never seen a race with 35,000 people before!

Kitty said...

Thanks Birdman, I agree.
If only there were a marathon every week!

Hi Abe
What a funny sight that would be?

I do have to say it was pretty powerful to see all these runners with jerseys bearing all sorts of countries, running down the street. Cheering them on was poignant.

Hi Washington
Ha, I wish I could join them. I'm sure the backstage view is pretty interesting.

Haha, Terry. I should have put that in about the bridge. Yes, the race starts on the Verrazano, which is a pretty cool concept.

Thanks Luis, I liked that one, too. A lucky catch.

Wow Jacob, what a story? That's so very inspiring. What a person Lois Anne must be?

Unknown said...

je disais justement à mes enfants que pour un Marathonien, c'est vraiment une course "Mythique"...

ChickenUnderwear said...

I have run the NYC Marathon every year since 1993.

In 2008 I took my camera to show what the "media" does not.

http://whatyourdonotknowbecauseyouarenotme.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post_03.html

Thanks for your support. The fact that my neighbors are at the curb cheering makes it so great.

Liza Jane said...

great shots! what an amazing event!! cheers, liza

Kung Pao said...

I was actually just given this really cool book "The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live" as a gift, and it has the New York City Marathon ranked as #6. It actually tells you when it is, how to get there, what to do there, etc. so I'm really excited now thinking about going to one!

zbsports said...

Nice marathon event everybody is having fun with. I love the pictures.