Hardloper wrote:
I was wondering if you would comment since you seem to know a lot about the NYC marathon and/or live there. Have there been NYC marathons with a decent wind from the north in the past and does it affect the race much or do the buildings block it? 65:00 (should have at least written 65:xx) would be historically fast but I think that would be pretty slow with Mutai in the field.
I ran the 82 nycm mentioned above. It was not fun.
Most cities you have miles of suburbs. and light commercial before reaching a concentrated downtown of modest high rises.
NYC is unique. On both sides you have rivers that act as ventilation ducts bringing an unimpeded fetch of winds right into a long wall of very high buildings. Not a concentrated downtown like most citires but miles and miles of skyscrapers. The buildings dont block the winds they concentrate them. You also have the "canyon effect" which is an urban phenomenon that causes the winds to behave in wild and unpredictable ways. In the winter snow can actually fall upwards!
This years marathon does have a new benefit that the runners, especially high performance elites will notice -- they repaved First Avenue with a nice smooth layer of asphalt. No more rutted concrete hell just as your legs start to fall apart. Combine that with the previous repacement of the Willis Ave Bridge, the DMZ should be much more tolerable than years past.