We flew out at 11 in the morning and made it to the hotel in NYC by 10pmish local time. We’re here! Time to go to bed. We made it to sleep by midnight, even though that was only 9pm Vancouver time. We’re in New York City, hooray!

Waiting like strange running refugees	In our disposable jackets, ready to go, go, go

Hmmm, it was really cold and the race wouldn’t start till 10:10am. So about 5 hours waiting ahead of us... There was nothing to do to occupy our minds, save watching the other runners mulling about. There were open tents that you could sit under, and frankly it looked a lot like a rather strange runners refugee camp.

We spent the next few hours trying not to be bored and keeping warm. We had cheap second hand fleece jacket we brought with us from Vancouver and also white tyvek jackets we bought at the expo to keep us warm. You wear these for the first mile or two of the race and then throw them away; the race organizers gather them and donate them to charity.

Chilly, chilly. More porta-potties than I've ever seen – hey at this point even watching people lining up was a form of amusement. We checked our bags into numbered UPS trucks with warm clothing for the end of the race. The US air-force did a flyover and a cannon boomed so finally... we're off to start running over the famous Verazano Narrows.

Dave is entranced by the view...	And we're off and racing!	What is the man on the back right doing?

Wow. This is finally it. Running over the Verazano Bridge was amazing, very scenic and exciting to finally be running. Then we started noticing men pausing to stand at the sides of the bridge. What were they doing? Wait a minute, couldn't they have used the portapotties? Ewww...

Welcome to Brooklyn!	The brownstones	The Jewish part of town

At the end of the bridge we were welcomed by cheering crowds shouting, "Welcome to Brooklyn." Little kids held out their hands to high five, people with signs shouted and cheered... how could you not be excited! The whole race, there were so many people cheering, shouting; the crowds were (as promised) truly amazing. We ran through Brooklyn seeing the shopping streets, the residential areas (the brownstones are really pretty - just like in the movies).

The only area where there wasn't cheering was the traditional Jewish area. There were the guys in the hats with the curly ringlets and little girls in matching winter coats just staring, wide eyed. It was very silent and you couldn't really tell if you were welcome or not, it felt like they were suspiciously curious of us.

The scenery is really fascinating, but the participants are just as interesting. Each runner and group of runners were different.

Cool curved metal legs	Save the rhino	Running backwards

There were runners with didn’t have legs and were running on cool looking curved metal legs instead (I want those if I ever lose my legs!). A guy ran in a full body rhino outfit with the URL, www.savetherhino.org on his back. Now that's commitment! Another guy ran the whole marathon backwards carrying a full sized Taiwan flag. Why? Not sure, didn't stop to ask.

We kept hearing, “Viva la France,” and realized there was a group of French runners behind us. Those who taped their names on their shirts got loud shouts of encouragement from the crowd – we should do this next time. “Go Janet, looking good!” people would cheer to a stranger. One gent had a sign on his back saying, “My wife has cancer and I’ve raised over $75,000 for the cancer fund. Don’t let me stop running!” There were two Achilles guys running, pushing a third disabled person in a wheelchair – the disabled person was valiantly touching the ground with his withered feet, tap, tap, tapping so he would “run” the whole marathon.

Another older guy had a sign saying, “My name is George and it’s my birthday today,” so we ran past and cheered, “Happy Birthday, George!” It is truly inspiration to see all the different people who are attracted to such an event and the bravery of some of them to enter and complete. You can’t help but be happy and excited and honestly, be privileged to be part of this. I had an Aussie flag on my running hat and Canadian flags on my socks, so got a few nationalistic encouragements from other runners.

Manhattan from a distance	Running back under the Queensboro Bridge

Onwards into Manhattan, back to the cheering crowds. Over the Queensboro bridge we started feeling it, both of us were getting sore knees. I had a short coughing fit, but on we ran. There was a banner that said something like, ‘Here’s to those who think only 10 more miles is “nearly there.” ’ Going north though Manhattan, the crowds kept us going with their signs and their cheering. Up to into the Bronx. There was a stage with a rapper chanting out greetings and cracking jokes, welcoming us. He said he’d never seen a rhino run the race before (we were still pacing with the rhino). A quick 1 mile and then back south into Manhattan again.

A band in Harlem	Distance shot of the Twin Towers of Central Park West	The sun filtering through the trees in Central Park

Through Harlem and heading towards Central Park, now we were really starting to feel it. I was so sick of the gels (like packets of icing sugar) that we were eating for energy, but forcing myself to eat. I was ready to get to the end. Into Central Park - getting really sore, but then you looked up and saw the golden sun filtering through the autumn leaves - how could you feel bad with such a beautiful vista? 3 miles to go, and it felt like twice that! I kept picturing at the end, lying down to curl up for a nap (remember, only about an hour or so of sleep the night before).

Running, running, crowds cheering (thank you, New Yorkers). So sore, so tired. Finally, we made it. Got our medals. Were wrapped in the silver space blankets.

We did it!	And then we celebrated...

We're done. All we need to do is pick up our checked bags. Ha. There were about 80 UPS trucks - and my bag was at a truck that seemed 2km away, Dave's even further. We kept walking (limping) and finally got our stuff. Tried to hail a cab to get back to the hotel and learnt that even that is a competitive sport in NYC (we weren't the only ones with that idea).

Got back, showered, drank celebratory champagne. Went for dinner wearing our medals and the waitress gave us a free round of drinks for completing the marathon. They say this is the one day of the year that all New Yorkers are nice.

Afterwards people I have told our story to asked us if we beat the rhino. So I went to the website and apparently 2 people ran in full costume, and yes, we beat the rhino. But they really won – I ran a marathon and then still remembered the website address afterwards!

It was the most amazing experience. The hardest part was the four hours of waiting in the cold at the start line. The second hardest part was the extra mile of walking afterwards to pick up our bags when we could barely hobble anymore. But it was worth it. The crowd support was awesome and the scenery - the tour of NYC was something to remember.

The day after we were a little sore, but still did a very long walk around Central Park - as now we were tourists visiting NYC! The holiday had just begun. Will we run another marathon? Of course!

Who wants to join us next year?