Why pacing matters on the New York City course
Pacing across New York City’s five boroughs is the focus of this week’s The Amazing Runner’s World Show. Runner-in-Chief Jeff Dengate and Aly Ellis discuss how to manage effort across all 26.2 miles of the New York City Marathon, which takes place in November. The subject is practical: a marathon asks runners to make decisions about effort long before fatigue makes those decisions harder. A pace that feels comfortable early can become costly if it leaves too little in reserve for the later miles.
New York’s five-borough route gives the episode a useful frame. The distance is fixed, but a runner’s experience of effort can change as the course unfolds. That makes pacing more than a question of choosing one target speed and holding it; it’s also about judging how the effort feels over time and resisting the urge to let an early stretch dictate the whole race. Here’s the thing: patience at the start can be a performance choice, not a sign of hesitation.
Pacing and the marathon wall
The conversation builds on the show’s previous episode, which covered avoiding the marathon wall. Taken together, the episodes address two linked challenges: pacing the course and sustaining that effort through the finish. The connection matters because how a runner distributes effort early can shape how much they’re able to give later. A plan has to account for the full distance, not just the miles when the legs still feel fresh.
That said, pacing advice can sound simpler than it is to apply in a race. Conditions, perceived effort, and the changing demands of a long run can all affect how a target pace feels. The episode’s focus on managing effort points toward a useful distinction: a pace is a guide, while effort is the experience a runner has to monitor. The two should inform each other across the course.
What runners can take from the discussion
For anyone preparing for the New York City Marathon, the value of a pacing conversation is in the questions it prompts: how should the race begin, what signs suggest the effort is rising too quickly, and how can a runner preserve energy for the later miles? The available description doesn’t provide a specific split plan or a detailed breakdown of the route, so runners shouldn’t read it as a turn-by-turn prescription. It’s a discussion of managing the larger task.
If you’re working toward a marathon, the pairing of these episodes offers a reminder to think about pacing and endurance together. A steady start can help protect the effort needed at the end, while a plan for avoiding the wall is incomplete if it ignores the choices made early on. This is more significant than it looks: the marathon’s challenge isn’t only covering 26.2 miles, but deciding how to spend your effort across them.
And yet. No pacing framework can make the distance feel easy; it can only help a runner approach the effort with more intention. The conversation between Dengate and Ellis puts that decision-making at the center of the episode (and this is the part most people overlook). The goal is not simply to move quickly at the outset, but to reach the later miles with enough left to keep running well.
The wider value of marathon pacing advice
Race coverage often gravitates toward training plans, gear, and finish times. Pacing deserves equal attention because it connects preparation to what happens on race day: the runner has to translate weeks of work into a sustainable effort over one long course. The numbers on a watch can help, but they don’t remove the need to pay attention to how the body responds.
The show’s two-episode sequence gives listeners a straightforward way to consider that problem from both ends: managing effort across the course and limiting the risk of fading before the finish. There’s no claim here that one strategy suits every runner. The useful takeaway is more modest, and more durable: treat the marathon as a continuous pacing decision. Mile after mile.
Jeff is Runner-in-Chief for Runner’s World and the director of product testing. He has tested and reviewed running shoes, GPS watches, headphones, apparel, and more for nearly two decades. He regularly tests more than 100 pairs of shoes each year, and once had a 257-day streak running in different models. Jeff can usually be found on the roads, racing anything from the mile to a marathon, but he also enjoys racing up mountains and on snowshoes. When he’s not running, you’ll probably find him hanging from a ladder making repairs and renovations to his house (he’s also director of product testing for Popular Mechanics).
Aly is the Director of Content Hype at Runner’s World. She started running over a decade ago and has run 8 marathons, plus hundreds of shorter distance races. When she isn't running, she loves watching reality competition shows, reading and curating the perfect Taylor Swift playlist.
