Finally, after 3 years I am heading back to New York to run the marathon. This is my fourth New York City marathon after racing in 2017, 2018 and 2019. If the world had gone to plan this would have been number 6 after 2020 was cancelled and then missing out due to the travel ban in 2021.

I am just really happy to be back running the race I love the most.

This year I am travelling out by myself as my daughter’s school half term was a week ago we didn’t want to take her out of school for this trip. I am only out here for 48hrs but hoping to pack in the usual marathon weekend.

Travel:

My trip began on Friday morning after a 2:45am alarm, yep, it’s gonna be a loooong day.

I was flying from Manchester to London at 6:15am and then to JFK at 9:45am. I was expecting some delays navigating the two airports but to be fair, I had no issues. With only spending a couple of days here I wasn’t taking any checked luggage so I didn’t have that hassle, security at Manchester took 30mins which is on par for more normal times so I was pleased with that.

I parked the car at 4am and was sat in the departures lounge by 4:45am.

The transfer at Heathrow was as smooth as it goes for Heathrow. Thankfully, my arrival and departure terminal was the same so no messing transferring across the airport and no additional security checks.

The flight to New York departed 10mins late but made up time on the way and we arrived at JFK 30mins early. It then took 30mins to get through TSA. All in all, really pleased with my travel out here. Everything was on time and no queues or delays in the airports.

Once out of the airport things continued to run smoothly and to plan.

I am staying in Midtown Manhattan and there was no way I am taking a cab at those prices! so I took the AirTrain to Jamaica for $8 then the E train on the Subway to 7th Ave & 40th St for $1.25. That journey took 40mins which is probably just as fast if not faster than a cab and at less than $10 a lot cheaper than the $50-$60 cab fare (plus tip).

I had planned to walk over to the Expo at the Javits Centre on 11th ave but I had booked the 4pm – 7:30pm slot and it was just after 3pm so I thought I would walk over to the hotel, get checked in and drop off my bag.

I was staying at the Kitano Hotel on 38th & Park so it was a bit of a walk across town to then double back on myself to the Expo but it was easier getting rid of the backpack.

The hotel was really nice, I stayed in a King Executive room looking out on Park Avenue, I was on the 4th floor but the room was really quiet. Very little noise from the room and the bed was so comfortable!

It is always nice to look out of your New York hotel and have trees outside and sun light coming into the room.

After dropping off the bag and having a quick Facetime with my daughter, I walked over to 11th Ave for the Expo. I wanted to walk by Hudson Yards as I hadn’t been there before. I think it was open when I last came in 2019 but for some reason didn’t check it out.

I stumbled upon the Peloton Studio on the way too and saw this big line of people waiting to go in, I think Cody Rigsby was doing a live class an hour later so this must have been the queue for that.

Then walked along the Highline through Hudson Yards, it is an impressive area considering it’s all built over the rail lines.

Expo:

So the big change for the expo this time around for me (I missed 2021) was entering on the righthand side not the left, it doesn’t take much to throw me off.

Once I found the right entrance, which was actually clearly marked and very well sign-posted. The bib pick up for the marathon and the Abbott 5k Dash were very quick and efficient. There are loads of desks and volunteers to keep the process running smoothly.

One thing I like about New York is they don’t tie you into a specific participant shirt size when registering and you can try on the different sizes before picking up the size that best fits you. I haven’t come across this at any other races, although I am a bit out of practice when it comes to big-city marathons at the moment.

I am usually a medium but I went for a large this time, they felt like they ran a bit small or maybe I just ate too much junk food on the way out here.

The queue to get into the actual expo hall and New Balance merch was massive, it snaked all the way through the bib pick-up hall but it was moving constantly so it didn’t take more than 20mins to get in.

As with every year, I have run this marathon, I purchased one of the New Balance NYC Marathon jackets. Soon I will have enough for one every day of the week.

The only disappointment for me was NYRR had run out of the limited edition members’ pint glasses when I was there. Only a small disappointment, let’s face it, you can’t be down about missing out on a freebie.

After that, I headed out of the expo (wearing my new 2022 jacket)

I stopped by Shake Shack on the way back to the hotel which reminded me of a long-lost tradition where I took a photo of my marathon medal with a shake shack. Something that will be revived on Sunday.

That was day 1 done, the 4-hour time difference and a very early start were catching up with me by 8pm.

On to New York City Marathon 2022 Day 2 where I will be running in the Abbott Dash to the Finish 5k and just generally relaxing and spending as much time off my feet as possible.