New York Marathon 2025 Race Report

So here’s the deep dive, running nerd stuff. What did I do to run a 2:33:51, 58 second PR at New York City marathon. Arguably the toughest course of the original 6 majors and definitely a lot harder than London where I set my previous best time.

Control the controllable to reduce stress and sickness.

Choose Accommodation wisely

I looked at where I would need to get transport for the race start and booked the closest hotel (that was sensibly priced) to it. That meant that on race day, whatever else happened, I knew that my morning logistics for travel would be as minimal as possible. So, do your homework. Work out where the easiest place to be is and book accordingly as far ahead as you can.

What food do you eat before a marathon race?

I brought mine with me. From Thursday night to Sunday morning I lived off the things I had brought from home. Yes, as sad as that seems, being in an amazing food city, I did not eat out in any restaurant or cafe before the race. The only thing I trusted that I had not brought myself, was a plain bagel and banana provided by Puma (there were some lovely looking fillings, yoghurts etc, but I avoided them) on both Fri and Saturday. Otherwise it was bagels from Tesco, bananas, Maurten bars, Lidl fruit and nut mix, one apple per day and two packets of prepackaged, microwaveable, plain basmati rice. Mostly carb, almost no fibre. Very different to my normal diet, but I needed to hit the 10g/kg body weight of carbs for loading, I needed to trust the source so I didn’t get sick and I needed to know my GI tract could handle it. Minimal fibre meant less likelihood of needing the toilet during the race (London 2021 wasn’t fun….)

What fluids do you take in lead up to the marathon?

Black coffee or water were my only fluids apart from 500ml Lucozade sport on Friday and RePowr electrolyte mix pre race on Sunday. I was going to use Maurten 160 on Saturday, but ended up taking the solid Maurten bar instead to get my carbs.

Do you go sightseeing before New York Marathon?

No! Incredibly I still managed about 27000 steps on Friday and Saturday due to shakeout runs, the trips to the expo and bag drops. Plus a bit of shopping for presents for my wife and children! Adding sightseeing would have made that step count worse. I wasn’t in NYC for a holiday. I was there to race. I’ve also been twice before as a tourist, so I’ve done most of the common NYC tourist things.

What runs do you do before NYC marathon?

Thursday was a travel day so no running. A 4 mile super easy run Friday with the Puma Project 3 Team. A 5.5mile run on Saturday with Hamzah and Alan from Project 3. Easy paced plus 5x 100m strides. I wanted to recce the last 5k of the course but we didn’t quite manage to get the last 1km done due to the Saturday 5k race happening on the marathon course. I went back to recce the last 1km when I dropped my finish line bag to the drop off in Central Park (NB there is NO finish line bag collection before the start). So to be clear, I knew exactly what the course had in store for me at the end. Vital when trying to work out when to let go of that last bit of energy and empty the tanks. Too early and you risk race ending cramps. Too late and you finish feeling like you could have given more.

What sleep did I get before race day?

The race was going to require a 4am alarm. So I kept my bedtimes around 8:30-9pm on Thurs/Fri/Saturday. My body clock was waking me at 4ish anyway. I slept ok in the hotel. I don’t think it was a big positive or negative. Some people really struggle to sleep pre race. I use meditation apps to play relaxing soundtracks through AirPods and employ breathing techniques if I’m struggling. It normally works for me.

Saturday night before the race

I laid out my kit. Pinned on the number. Got all my clothes ready for the bus journey. Gels were counted and re-counted. Watched half of Star Wars Episode IX with my plain rice meal. Lights out at 9pm. Rock ‘n’ Roll 😂

New York Marathon Race Day!!

4am alarm.

Black coffee. Shower. Race kit on. Bodyglide nipples and waist band. I put my spare layers on, filled water bottles. I had a 500ml bottle of weak electrolyte to sip pre race. Two toilet visits.

5am

Queue for the transport buses outside NY public library, with thousands of others. Actually moved along quite quick and was on a warm bus by 5:15am. But glad of the layers I’d brought.

6am

Arrived at Staten Island. Through the security checks, nothing brought with me that wouldn’t fit into the clear bag provided.

6:30am

Found the Abbott Age Group World Championships start area. Our own marquee with coffee, bagels, Gatorade etc. I had a half cup of black coffee. I was there early so it was quiet and I got a seat. Luxury!!

7am

Breakfast. I was getting hungry by this point, but I resisted the urge to eat too soon. I eat 2 hours pre race, it’s tried and tested. Bagel, banana. Sip electrolytes.

7:30am

Still hungry! I had brought an extra chocolate chip cereal bar, so ate that. The tent was filling up, it was crammed with people staying out of the cold morning air. It was turning into a beautiful morning but the sun had no strength at that point. Two more toilet visits! Very little being produced, but I don’t take chances with this. Gels were then loaded into pockets on my shorts. With 3 SiS Betafuels on my right side, 2x Maurten 160 on my left. The third gel, closest to my right leg was the nootropics version. SIS electrolyte gel and 500ml plastic bottle of water into my Salomon pulse fuel belt. 500ml water bottle to carry in my hand.

8am

Walk to the start corral. Queue for the toilet one last time. Long queue as there weren’t many toilets. Starting to get nervous!

8:40am

Final ablutions to ensure nothing left in my gut! Phone wrapped in plastic and stashed into my fuel belt pocket.

8:50am

Took a Maurten 100 gel (25g carb) as the start pen opened. Clothes discarded into recycling.

I dashed/barged to the front of the pen and got myself to the second row. We were corralled with all of the age groupers, amazing athletes in their own right…but for their age! I didn’t want the world’s fastest 80 year old in front of me before the gun. This was not a time to be polite.

9:05am

The elite men started next to us. They cruised by, Eliud Kipchoge in the centre of the pack. This was the second race this year where I’d been on the same course at the same time as the GOAT🔥

The start for the orange group was on the top deck of the Verrazano Narrows bridge. The road stretched away in front, upwards like a concrete beginner ski slope. Ted Metellus and Frank Sinatra on the loudspeakers, then BANG. The cannon.

9:10am New York Marathon 2025 Let’s GO!!!!

Miles 1-13 This race was run mostly off feel, partly off heart rate, but never using pace. From the start to mile 26 I didn’t look at a timing screen on course or a timer on my watch. I had heart rate and distance on my data fields. Even that wasn’t accurate initially because my HRM seemed to be kicking out very low numbers until mile 2. No way was it 140bpm up that first climb! This was time to trust the body, enjoy the spectacle and forget about the clock for once! I went with the second pack up the Verrazano Narrows bridge, a 1 mile continual ramp, but that pack ended after the top and the field quickly strung out on the 1 mile descent. I was feeling good, and got a bit carried away. The downhill mile 2 was a 5:11 according to Strava! My HR was hitting 180 by the time the HRM started functioning, that’s 10km race levels! My max is only 189. There was a big pack on the other side of the road, from a different start colour (there are separate starts at NYC - top and bottom decks) but on my side of the very wide 4th Avenue I was isolated. I slowed down and let a couple of other athletes catch me so we could work as a pack.

Once the starts merged, there was more help, more people to work with. I was still in heart rate zones that were not sensible, I kept trying to relax and ease off. It worked periodically but then someone would pass and I’d try to hang on. With no idea what pace I was doing I was having to be instinctive. My breathing was controlled and I didn’t feel on the edge. HR178-180.

The miles from 2-13 are really a bit of a blur. I tried to hold back on long uphill stretches and pick up the pace on downhills. But the gradients weren’t too bad here. Nothing to really hurt the pace if managed correctly. I did seem to be losing places almost continually. Others had probably been more disciplined on pace and I lost a lot of places up the Lafayette climb at mile 8 as I eased back the pace to maintain the effort level.

Took Beta Fuel neutral 40g carb at 7km and 14km.

500ml water drunk to mile 10. Discarded the first bottle, pulled the second plastic one out of my fuel belt. I knew I’d lost skin on my back from the bottle bouncing. That was the only chafe in the whole race, so it was a relief to get rid of the weight around my waist.

Mile 13.1: The Pulaski Bridge marks the half way point, it was the first hill (after mile 1) that really slowed me down. It’s a short sharp ramp. I managed my effort level and accepted a few people would leave me behind. But picked up the pace on the downhill. Took a Nootropics Beta Fuel, 40g carbs plus caffeine and stimulant.

Mile 15: The Queensboro Bridge. Yikes. An almost 1 mile drag on the bottom deck, no sky overhead, restricted view and with no crowd. I quickened my cadence but dropped my effort. Sure that my pace was dropping off a cliff but determined not to blow a gasket with 11 miles to go. Largely held my place against others, so there was no panic. That was my slowest mile at 6:23 according to Strava. Possibly some GPS issues though.

Miles 16-23: onto 1st Ave, you pick up the crowds and a more flat/rolling road. The course is then fairly steady and not much to hurt the pace.

Took Maurten 160 40g carb at 28km

Mile 21: First signs of fatigue. I’d started to get a bit of a stitch in my upper abdominals. My respiratory system had been working hard for nearly two hours. I tried to relax but then my breathing rate started to go weird and disconnect from my stride, I guessed I was on the verge of LT2 (upper lactate threshold) I eased off a fraction, my HR now a more reasonable 175-177. I did worry a little and wondered if I was about to hit ‘the wall’ in some way, but it never materialised. I was well fuelled. I could sense I was slowing though.

By this stage I was supplementing my bottle water with water sips from the aid station cups, which were very frequent. But more went up my nose than in my mouth! I’m so glad I did not attempt this from the start and made that decision to start with a litre of fluid on me. I would have been very dehydrated by half way using only cups and likely that would have seriously hurt my finish time.

Took Maurten 160 40g carb at 35km

Mile 23: 5th Avenue. Discarded my final bottle. No more fluids. This is less steep than some of the other hills but feels like a wall at this point in the race. I took an SIS go electrolyte gel at 37km, only 2km after the last Maurten, but I was trying to stave off the cramps I knew could be about to bite. It was a slight risk in case my stomach rejected it, but I forced it down with minimal issues. That took me to 223g carbs consumed during the race. I probably could have taken more, but I’m not sure fuelling more would have made me faster. Amazingly, as the road ramped up 5th Ave, I was catching people. Like the Queensboro, I upped my cadence, the Puma Fast-R3 shoes really working for me. Popping off the ground. Runners who had disappeared up the road miles ago were now in view. The pace was slow, but not as slow as it was for most of those around me.

Mile 24-25: The right turn into Central Park feels like the true beginning of the end. It’s continually rolling up or down but the roads are lovely and smooth. The rest of the course is full of broken concrete, potholes and bumps. I tried to open up my stride on the descents but I could feel my hamstrings twinge with cramps. Worrying I’d have a muscle melt down, I held back. I had no idea what the time was, but I knew it would be slower if I had to stop!

Mile 25-26: The right turn up 59th Street. A long but gentle drag up again, but big crowds and more smooth tarmac. Time to start emptying the tanks. Hit the right turn back into Central Park at St.Columbus.

400m to go: I dared to look at my watch. It said 2:32:30 ish. A quick calculation and my first bit of maths for the whole race, meant I just needed to run with everything I had. Full send time. I desperately wanted a 2:33!! I put everything into that last ramp with 150m to go. Hamstrings were cramping, I had to shorten my stride significantly and just get to the line. I could see the clock ticking down but I was ticking down the metres faster!! Strava is showing 5:17/mile average for the last 0.3 miles. I crossed the line, pumped my fist, stopped the watch!! 2:33:51 was the official time. The emotion was pure joy. There was no overwhelm, no tears today, just a beaming smile!!

So a very unorthodox strategy. There was 1:12 between my fastest mile and my slowest, but the effort and HR was very stable throughout. This shows the nature of the course, it’s a beautiful beast. If you’re looking for a PB here, then make sure you’re ready for those hills…all the way to the line!

Keep Showing Up Nick RNNNG