I'm just planning to respect the race and enjoy the NYC experience but for some reason I seem to be even more nervous than usual. My wave start time isn't until 10.55am but they like to get everyone to the starting area ages in advance. I am up very early in order to get to the midtown ferry terminal for the 7am boat to Staten Island. On the island we swap to buses to take us to the Verrazano Bridge. The race begins on the Staten Island side of the bridge, it has two tiers and as I am in the Green start I will be running across on the lower level. The organisation at the huge fenced off area is meticulous and impressive in scale. We are checked through by the military with bag searches and body scanners and then I get to sit around for three hours listening to the earlier wave starts going off, watching the NYPD helicopters going overhead and getting absorbed into the the race atmosphere. Despite the long wait my nerves disappear and the adrenaline slowly builds. I do my warm up routine and short shuttle runs as my time approaches and then we are called to our starting corral. Our numbers are checked again and we are finally on the roadway leading up to the beginning of the bridge. The announcer is a real professional and he builds the atmosphere with practised ease. Frank Sinatra sings New York New York and there is an excellent live rendition of The Stars and Stripes. We are told the singer is also a regular marathon runner. The huge boom of the starting cannon fires and we are off. The Verazzano Bridge is nearly two miles long so we start with an incline to the crown of the bridge followed by a descent. There are no spectators on the bridge so just the rhythmic patter of thousands of feet until we hit Brooklyn on the far side. The NYC party has begun. I always race wihout headphones and this is the last place I would want them. The atmosphere is infectious and everythingI have heard about. I have listened to the excellent Ali On The Run pre race podcast which was full of useful information and she talks about the Brooklyn atmosphere. I have had it in my head that if I can run the first two miles I can run the next twenty four plus and I am past this point now. I'm keeping the pace very conservative as planned and I'm feeling good. You should feel good in the early miles of course or it is going to be a very long day. Moira has said she will be at about mile nine. Brooklyn continues to party, I concentrate on trying to get in a groove and crunch the miles. Running is always a big piece of hard work.

At about mile five I am surprised to hear a man call out 'Go Jon Trotter'. I turn to see him on the far side of the road and acknowledge with a wave. Either I have heard wrong or it is someone who knows me. I wonder if it could be Moira's vet friend Moira Gunn's son who lives in New York as it's the only person I can think of, but I've never met him and he would have no reason to track me. I run on without seeing Moira and the Brooklyn vibe continues with some great bands and MCs. In front of one of the churches there is a large crowd all rocking to soul the beat and singing like a gospel choir. Then I get the first big twinge from my gluteus medius tendinopathy, or is it a hamstring tendinopathy? Anyway it persists periodically and is enough to make me have to switch to a run walk approach. I keep the walk breaks really short but they are enough to keep it under control. Shortly before halfway we cross the next bridge which takes us from Brooklyn into Queen's. The race route passes through all five of the city boroughs and we cross a bridge between each. The halfway mark comes in about 2 hours 17 minutes and a mile further on we turn onto the notorious Queensboro Bridge. Again we are on a lower level underneath the train tracks, it is eerily quiet but I like it. Up one side and down the other and we are into Manhattan and the noise of First Avenue. It is a straight run of four miles and with all the undulations you can see thousands of runners stretching out ahead. The constant small inclines and descents are probably leg sapping but I don't mind them. The record heat and humidity is more of a concern it doesn't worry me. I am getting very tired though and slowing down, it is a controlled fade from a very modest starting point. We reach the end of First Avenue and cross the Willis Avenue Bridge.

A police officer calls out 'Keep running, it's too dangerous to slow down in the Bronx'.

He must have repeated it many times but it's a good joke. I'm not sure I'm able to heed his advice but I keep the grind going. We are only in The Bronx for a short time as we loop aroud to another Bridge, back into Manhattan and Fifth Avenue. We are going parallel to First Avenue in the opposite direction. This is Harlem and Moira has said she will be at Marcus Garvey Park. The route deviates around three sides if the square and there she is. It is so great to see her. We have a big hug and I run on. As usual it is brutally hard work and although I don't have a time goal, one always pops up and it looks like I might be able to duck under five hours if I can maintain the pace. I vacillate between slight confidence and no chance. I am fed up with just missing out on goals. The final mile of Fifth Avenue is a big uphill but we turn into Central Park and reach mile 24. There is a short section without spectators and here I am hit by a big hamstring cramp in my other leg. I stretch it out against a lampost not knowing if I can run on it again but works and it stays away There's a couple of steep drops and a testing hill, then it is the final half a mile up to the finish. I have avoided looking at the watch much and suddenly the finish line gantry is up ahead sooner than I expected. I take a glance now and I know I am safely under my newly discovered target. I cross the line to record my slowest official marathon finish by a mile but it feels like a small victory and I am quite elated. As usual I have to stop briefly and put my hands on my knees. One of the marshalls tells me it is best for my heart(!) if I keep walking. I don't mind the walk which is just as well as it is a long way out of the park, first we get to the medals, then the lined ponchos, even though it is hot it is windy and these turn out to be a great investment. I wrap myself up and put the hood up. We reach the goody bags and there are a couple of race photographers to taske my picture with a smile instead of a grimace. For the first time in a race I have worn a simple running belt so that I could carry my phone as well as the Ucan and Maurten gels. There was no drop bag at the start and I know it could be difficult to find Moira without being able to communicate. We do have a back up plan of meeting at the family zone letter Z, there are going to be a lot of surnames beginning with T's but not many Z's. We leave the park and turn back on another long road still in the runner only zone. Via Whatsapp I meet up with Moira at one of the exits back to the public streets and I get a few congratulatory messages. I am reminded that no one cares what time you do, they are just happy for you. We get on a very busy metro train full of runners and make it back to the hotel. I have dreamed of this moment when I can have a shower, go out for a meal and stop running for a while in favour of being a tourist for a few days. I am completely knackered as you should be and we just go to the hotel restaurant. I attempt and fail to drink a beer with the meal. Then we fall into bed with a cup of tea. Moira seems to have walked a good portion of a marathon following around the course. It turns out Moira was at mile five and the man was a pleasant stranger who joined in on her cheer squad. She says she was shouting at the top of her lungs! I never heard her, amid all the crowd noise he must have had a loud clear voice. It's fun looking at my splits on the race tracking app and analysing the grim statistics.

For the next three days we have a fantastic time in New York doing all the touristy things. We walk an awful lot which is good recovery for my legs, running the race slowly means I am much less beat up than usual. There is the usual bit of DOMS or Tuesday Legs as Marathon Talk used to call them. We go on a boat trip to The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, visit the Museum of Modern Art, hear some very good jazz outdoors in Central Park. Climate change is hugely worrying but it does mean we are walking around in hot sunshine and cloudless skies in November. We go up the new Vanderbilt Summit One with its technologically impressive art installations and great views of New York from 1100 feet. Grand Central Station is iconic and beautiful. We eat pizza at Lazzara's, great food at the vegan Organic Grill and Purple Thai, have what they claim to be the best NYC cheesecake at Mah-Ze-Dahr, and it probably is, and get a bagel experience at Leo's off Wall Street. This is so New York it hurts, the bagels are huge and the choice of fillings overwhelming, it is also street smart and they don't take prisoners. Moira loses the plot and ends up with Salmon and Cream Cheese, a classic but she doesn't really like cream cheese. Nonetheless we find the hidden away Elevated Acre to eat them in, looking out over the water at the far south end of Manhattan Island.