The NYC Marathon Guide · for the people on the sidewalk · Sunday, Nov 1, 2026

Your day.
Your corners.
Zero sprinting.

I have had people see me all over this course — Brooklyn, First Avenue, the last half mile — and the plans that worked had one thing in common: nobody ran for a train. Your runner is doing the running. So build the day yourself: say how many times you want to see them, pick any corner on any street they run down, and from there this page only ever offers you a next stop you can genuinely make. Set it up once, screenshot the sheet at the bottom, and spend race day cheering instead of navigating.

Running it yourself? The runner's guide is here.

Section 01 · Your Runner

Their plan is your timetable

The cannon fires on time, the chip starts at the mat, and from there a runner on a plan is more predictable than the subway. Every time on this page is the cannon plus their own splits — the same maths their plan uses — with a window for where they stood in the corral.

Your runner

Their day, on your clock

If they sent you this link, their numbers are already in. Every time below moves with them, so change nothing unless they tell you to — and if they said "I'll go out easy", believe the slider, not the runner.

4:00

Quick targets · 15-minute increments

Pacing model · how they said they'd run it

Wave · it's on their bib

Start color · also on their bib

It decides which side of Fourth Avenue your runner runs: Blue and Pink on the east roadway, Orange on the west.

Cannon

10:20 AM

Halfway

1:59:58

Goal

4:00:00

Changed something? The address bar is already the new link. Forward it.

Section 02 · Build Your Day

One stop at a time

Every street the runners are on is in here, corner by corner, with the minute your runner reaches it. Pick the first stop anywhere you like. After that the list narrows itself: the only corners offered are the ones the Sunday subway can get you to while your runner is still short of them, and every leg comes with the trains, the walks and an honest verdict on the margin.

  • your spots
  • subway
  • reunion

Step one

How many times do you want to see your runner?

Three is the most anyone manages without spending the day underground, and every extra stop is a train you have to catch. Pick a number and the rest of this section walks you through the stops.

Bergen Street, First Avenue in the low 70s, Central Park South — the three I send my own people to.

Stop 1mi 7.5 · Brooklyn
Street
Corner
Which side

on their right as they head north-east

4th Avenue at Bergen Street

The best stretch of Fourth Avenue: Park Slope and Boerum Hill turn out, and your runner is still fresh enough to be looking at the crowd rather than at the road.

Be in place by

11:14 AM

15 min before the earliest they could pass

your runner passes

11:29 AM

to 11:37 AM, front to back of the wave

Stand on the

East side

on their right as they head north-east

Nearest trains

  • Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr · 2 3 4 D N Q R · 4 min walk
  • Bergen St · 2 3 F G · 7 min walk
  • Lafayette Av · C · 10 min walk
ThenComfortable · 22m to spare
  1. 5 min walk to Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr
  2. Qfrom Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr to 72 St — 26 min
  3. 3 min walk to the corner

About 38m door to door, and you have 1h between the back of the wave leaving 4th Av & Bergen and needing to be in place at 1st Av & E 72nd.

Stop 2mi 16.6 · Manhattan · East Side
Street
Corner
Which side

on their left as they head north-east

1st Avenue at East 72nd Street

First Avenue in the 70s and low 80s. They have had the noise for a dozen blocks now and are looking for a face they know. The spot where a familiar voice actually lands.

Be in place by

12:37 PM

15 min before the earliest they could pass

your runner passes

12:52 PM

to 1:00 PM, front to back of the wave

Stand on the

West side

on their left as they head north-east

Nearest trains

  • 72 St · Q · 3 min walk
  • 68 St-Hunter College · 6 · 10 min walk
  • 77 St · 6 · 11 min walk
ThenComfortable · 43m to spare
  1. 3 min walk to 72 St
  2. Qfrom 72 St to 57 St-7 Av — 5 min
  3. 4 min walk to the corner

About 17m door to door, and you have 60m between the back of the wave leaving 1st Av & E 72nd and needing to be in place at Central Park South & 7th Avenue / West Dr.

Stop 3mi 25.6 · Manhattan · the park
Street
Corner
Which side

on their left as they head north-west

Central Park South at 7th Avenue / West Drive

Central Park South: the longest "almost there" in running. They have been told the finish is close since 59th Street and it isn't. A voice they know here is worth three anywhere else.

Be in place by

2:00 PM

15 min before the earliest they could pass

your runner passes

2:15 PM

to 2:23 PM, front to back of the wave

Stand on the

South side

on their left as they head north-west

Nearest trains

  • 57 St-7 Av · N Q R · 4 min walk
  • 57 St · F · 5 min walk
  • 7 Av · D E · 8 min walk
Then

Head for the NYRR Family Reunion area. About 19m from Central Park South & 7th Avenue / West Dr on foot. Your runner finishes around 2:28 PM and reaches Central Park West between 63rd and 66th, by last-name letter around 3:13 PM — the medal, the poncho and the walk out take a while.

The window, explained. "Passes" runs from the front of the wave to the back: a corral takes a few minutes to cross the start, and that gap follows your runner all day. Be in place by the earlier time. After mile 10, trust the live dot in the app over any number here.

Where you can't stand. All five bridges are closed to spectators — the Verrazzano, the Pulaski, the Queensboro, the Willis Avenue and the Madison Avenue — and so are the expressway ramps down into Bay Ridge, the secure start village, and the ticketed finish chute past Columbus Circle. Those stretches are missing from the list on purpose, not by accident, which is why the course goes quiet between miles 14.6 and 15.9.

Section 03 · Getting Around

Marathon Sunday underground

One line, if you can

Barclays to 72nd to 57th

The plan above will route you however the trains actually run, but the day is easiest on a single line. The Q stops two blocks from Fourth Avenue, one block from First Avenue and two from Central Park South: no transfers, no crossing the course, no cab. If your stops line up on it, take it.

  • Pick your side before you go underground. The avenue you are heading for has the whole field on it. Come up on the side you mean to stand on — the station exits and the cards above tell you which.
  • Never step onto the course. Not for a photo, not for a hug. As the miles mount, marathoners' lateral agility drops to zero.
  • Charge the phone, carry a card. The app, the map, the ticket and the coffee all live on it, and you will be out for six hours.

Marathon Sunday on the MTA

Busy, managed, and mostly fine

The subway runs a Sunday schedule with race-day crowd control: platform controllers at the stations near the finish and the big viewing spots, some stairways made entrance- or exit-only (72nd Street among them), and buses diverted off the course while the streets are closed. Platforms are packed for a minute after each train and empty the next — the wait is built into every leg above.

The streets themselves close early: Fourth Avenue from 92nd to Flatbush, First Avenue from 59th to the Willis Avenue Bridge, Fifth Avenue from 138th down to 90th, and Central Park South and the drives. You cross them where the police say you can, which is not always where you want to.

The MTA publishes its marathon advisory in late October — check it the week of the race.

Section 04 · Spotting Them

You get about twenty seconds

Before

The app, the corner, the side

  • Download the official TCS New York City Marathon app the day before and add your runner by bib number. It tracks up to ten runners with a live dot on the map, and after mile 10 that dot beats every time on this page.
  • Agree the exact corner and the side. "First Avenue" is two miles long and five lanes wide. "West side of First at 72nd, by the corner" is a plan. Your runner will hold that side for a block if they know you are on it.
  • Know what they are wearing. There are 50,000 people in running kit. You are looking for one hat.

On the corner

Be loud, be tall, be early

  • A sign with their name in big letters beats the funniest pun on the avenue. They are scanning for their name, not reading.
  • Watch the app, not the road, until the dot is a few blocks out. Then look up, find the hat, and shout the name. You have about twenty seconds from first sight to gone — have the phone up for the photo before they arrive, not after.
  • If they stop, keep it short. A hug, a gel, and go. The best thing you can do for a marathoner at mile 17 is not make them stand still.

Section 05 · After the Finish

The long walk out

The finish line is not where you meet. Runners cross at Tavern on the Green, collect a medal, a poncho and a recovery bag, and then walk — north up the West Drive and out onto Central Park West, or south to the bag pickup — before the NYRR Family Reunion area, Central Park West between 63rd and 66th, by last-name letter. Allow the best part of an hour from the line.

Your runner finishes

2:28 PM

give or take the back of the wave

At the reunion area

3:13 PM

about 45 min after the line

Your way there

19m

from your last stop

  • Find the letter. The reunion area is organised by the first letter of the runner's last name. Stand under it and stay put; a moving target in that crowd is never found.
  • Bring the things they could not carry. A warm layer even in the poncho, dry socks, something salty, something sweet, and the water they will insist they do not need.
  • Then a short walk, not a long one. Downtown trains at Columbus Circle are two blocks away and packed. A café on Columbus Avenue and a slow twenty minutes is the better first move.