Moji Blog

40 years, 100,000 applicants, 25,000 runners, 2 million spectators, and 26.2 miles of incredible city.  The New York City Marathon is boss.   In honor of the race this coming weekend here are the top 25 ways you know you train in NYC.

Photo courtesy of ajagendor25 on Flickr

You Know You’re a NYC Runner If…

1. You dodge tourists, hot dog carts, movie sets, and pigeons on every run
2. You calculate distance in terms of Central Park loops and city blocks
3. The number one reason you don’t like to run in the rain is that all the umbrella carts come out
4. You know that on any given run you might be hit by a cab driver, hipster messenger, or crazy restaurant delivery bike dude.
5. You’ve had your regular running route interrupted by The [Insert Affinity Group} Day Parade
6. You buy running shorts that have pockets big enough for your blackberry
7. You recognize more people on your running route than in your building
8.  Each week you run more miles than you drive in a year
9. You’ve been so tempted by the smell of honey-roasted nuts that it’s taken all your willpower to not stop
10. You’ve been so nauseated by the smell of honey-roasted nuts that you’ve almost hurled
11. You wince every time a Law and Order starts with an early morning jogger happening upon a body
12. You know that there is nothing better for recovery than a New York bagel with a shmear (of lowfat veggie cream cheese of course)
13. Repeats on Harlem Hill are both the key to your training and the bane of your existence
14. You know that 9+1 not only equals 10, but also equals automatic entry into next year’s marathon
15. You know better than to run clockwise around the Reservoir
16. You know that the Bronx is home to not only the House that Ruth Built, but also one of the top cross country courses in the country
17. You’ve planned a run to end at a Pinkberry or Tasti D-lite
18. You secretly think that with your current level of endurance, you could be a really good pedicab driver
19. When it comes to one particular breed of bird, you have both flipped and been flipped mid-run
20. You know that the best view of the Brooklyn Bridge is from the pedestrian walk
21. You know that the same New Yorker spirit that keeps you running through the toughest miles is the same spirit that kept the city going after the WTC fell.
22. You love the strange silence of a snowy morning run through Manhattan
23. It annoys you that lower Manhattan streets don’t follow the 20/10 street/avenue city blocks per mile rule.
24. You have a better bond with your doorman than most of your coworkers
25. You think that at least one thing on this list doesn’t apply to runners who are “real new yorkers”