On Sunday, Nov. 1, more than 500,000 runners laced up to hit the pavement of the concrete jungle. Running 26.2 miles across the five boroughs, the 45th running of the NYC Marathon started in Staten Island and finished in Central Park. The event featured elite runners, celebrities and, of course, those who simply love to run.
Kenya's Stanley Biwott and Mary Keitany finished first for men and women, respectively, Biwott crossing the finish line at 2:10:34, Keitany at 2:24:25.
If you watched the broadcast of the race, you might have noticed runners like Meb Keflezighi (the 2009 winner who placed 7th this year at 2:13:32) looking down at his watch a few times to check his time and pace. In fact, there are many runners who make sure that their wearables are charged up and ready to track their every stride on race day.
Here's a look at runner's results with data provided by popular wearables for the 2015 TCS NYC marathon.
According to this Fitbit Flex user, he took 61,999 steps and burned over 6,000 calories during the race.
Fitbit numbers of yesterday, running #TCSNYCMarathon: 61,000 steps, 34 miles, and 6,300 calories burned. pic.twitter.com/zDmRy4Yqnw
— Nelson Correa (@nelscorrea) November 3, 2014
Of course, some stats like pace and calories burned varies between runners based on their fitness level, age, weight, and gender. Then there's the issue that different apps track different stats and have various settings. For example, this Fitbit user addressed the issue that his device assumed he was walking, which resulted in different data.
In case anyone's wondering what a marathon looks like on FitBit (mileage is low b/c it assumes walking) #nycmarathon pic.twitter.com/MTDb2PZH38 — John Grimes (@JohnGrimesMN) November 3, 2014
Some runners start their watches a bit early before taking off so make sure it starts tracking, while others don't stop counting when being overwhelmed with emotions after crossing the finish line. That means some wearable users have more steps taken than others with more miles added. Still, it seems like Garmin's data stayed close to the 26.2 mile mark. For example, Garmin Forerunner 610 user DannyGilliam1964 ran at an average pace of 13:02 min/mi, finishing at 5:43:36, with over 3,000 calories burned.
This Garmin user also stopped her fitness tracker once crossing the finish line. What's interesting is even though her average pace was faster, she burned almost the same amount of calories as the previous runner.
My first marathon @tcsnycmarathon#tcsnycmarathon#firstmarathon A photo posted by Marina Ya (@marinnka) on Nov 2, 2015 at 7:24am PST
The data reveals that some runners went beyond the distance. Instagram user irun4wine posted her stats, which included 445 active minutes, burring 5,583 calories, which allowed her to indulge in all the post-race wine her heart desires.
I wish I would've checked this last night. Almost to 70,000 steps! @fitbit #fitbit #tcsnycmarathon.
A photo posted by Megan (@irun4wine) on Nov 3, 2014 at 5:12am PST
It's also interesting to see the different ways the apps present their data results. While Fitbit shows the stats in a chart form, Garmin provides a map from start to finish, detailed charts for elevation and pace, and of course a breakdown of the numbers. The Nike + running app features a chart that allows the user to scroll over a specific point of distance to provide the runner's pace at that time.
Here is an example of Nike + app user Fraser Munro's data:
Runners can now use this data to help push themselves when training for their next race, as well as look back on their progress compared with when they started day one of scheduled runs in preparation for the NYC Marathon.
No matter how fast or slow their legs carried them thoughout New York, they are all incredible athletes in my book for having the strength to place one foot then the other across that finish line. Congratulations to all the finishers!
Photo: Steven Pisano | Flickr
