I will start off by saying NYC Marathon is one of my favorite marathons, which I have run 7 times. Overall NYRR and TCS do a great job with managing and running (no pun) the marathon; however, I thought the ball was dropped for this year's marathon.

As many NYC Marathon runners know, getting to the start village is a marathon itself. In previous years, the process (for the most part) has been pretty seamless. This year, however, there were several issues regarding the transportation from St. George's SI Ferry terminal to the start village. This year, I felt the bus loading situation was a bit of an unorganzied mess, In the past, there were nice, ordered lines for boarding the bus, but it was more of a free for all this year. At one point, several runners started to push their way to the front out of frustration. In the start village, I overheard several people say that folks who arrived on later ferries arrived to the start village before they did.

Unfortunatly, there were several fluid stations that did not have water, Gatorade, and/or cups, which I found unacceptable. I noticed empty fluid stations around Mile 8 (I was in Wave 4) and a couple later one in the marathon, so I imagine that it was worse for the last wave. I will say that it was such a sad sight watching runners having water poured into their hands, mouth-to-mouth sharing one Poland Spring jug, and/or gabbing entire liter containers of Flow Water. I guess this situation was especially annoying because NYRR constantly sent emails all week about taking it slow and hydrating, yet they did not have all of their supplies in order. While the fluid situation was horrible, I am so glad that I went against my better judgement and carried my own hand-held water bottle.

Ok, I guess that I'm done ranting, so now I'll discuss some of the positive things about my NYC Marathon 2022 experience.

Other than those two major blemishes, the marathon itself was great . . . I just wish my performance was a bit better. I always have to give love to the thousands of volunteers that did they best they could with the supplies that they had. Also, it was an amazing sight to see runners helping each other (not counting the intensity at St. George Terminal). During my run-jog-walk of 26.2 miles through NYC, I saw countless runners slowing down and ignoring their pace and goals to help other runners who were having health issues. It really showed me the true spirit of the NYC Marathon. As always, the crowd support was out of this world. I'll have to say that my favorite spots for crowd support were Bay Ridge, Park Slope, 1st Avenue (Manhattan), Marcus Garvey Park (Manhattan), and Central Park.

Whille the logistics of getting to the start were less than optimal, I will say that the marathon expo was pretty straightforward because bib pick up was a breeze (as usual). As always, the expo had everything that a runner would need and then some. While I tend not to break my piggy bank at the expo, I appreciated the wide array of vendors. Although I get that New Balance is a major sponsor for marathon, I'm not a huge fan of having to go through its store at the expo before visiting the other vendors. I guess it is what it is.

Although my review is less than positive for this year's marathon, everyone gets to have a bad day or two. However, if this was my 1st NYC Marathon, I'm not sure that I would be too gung ho about coming back . . . if I did not live in the city. Since I have participated in previous NYC marathons as a runner and a volunteer, I would gladly sign up for another one in the future based on my NYC Maration experiences prior to 2022. I know that NYC Marathon 2023 will come back stronger than ever.