NYC Marathon: Baggage and Transportation Options

Yesterday was the day to choose baggage and transportation options for the NYC Marathon. I really wanted to take the bus so I was online the minute the NYRR posted the options. Choices are on a first come basis. It just seems logical to take the bus being that it is only 0.7 miles from my hotel. And according to Apple Maps, it will only take about 18 minutes to walk to the New York City Library where I board the bus. Of course if I took the subway to the Ferry, it would only be about 20 minutes. The bus takes you directly to the Athletes Village vs taking the subway to Staten Island Ferry and then once at Staten Island, taking another bus to the Athletes Village.

The downside to that is that I will be at the start really early! And according to Runar Gundersen who has a wealth of information on his web site, my wave (predicted wave 2 by me 🙂 ) should start at about 10:15. My bus leaves at 6 and takes approximately 90 minutes to get to Staten Island. That leaves a lot of time to just be hanging out in the cold (praying for a warm sunny day!!).  I just look at it as being part of the whole experience.

I was a little nervous about this option being that most people posting on the NYC Marathon Runners Group on Facebook recommend taking the Staten Island Ferry. The Ferry does give more later time options as well as more options in general, but I would still want to be at the Ferry by 6:30 to avoid the crowds for the later starts. I hear it was pretty bad last year after 7-7:30. Waiting in long lines and crowds of people would be so stressful (uh, there are only about 50,000 people running ha ha) So, I don’t think taking the ferry will get me there too much later. There is still going to be a long wait. And I tend to show up early to most things so why not the NYC Marathon!! 🙂

The baggage option is a no brainer. As I mentioned in my post last year, I don’t want to have to deal with waiting in a long line to claim my belongings after having ran 26.2 miles. Just wrap me up in that nice lined poncho and call it good!

Now back to training….and counting down the days….:)