At New York City Marathon, you may not touch the ground.

At least at the start of the race when the canon fires. That was Herndon injury lawyer Doug Landau’s experience when he ran the New York City Marathon. He and his brother both ran on other people’s sweat clothes, gloves, hats, mittens and other garments for what seemed like the first mile ! This surreal experience drove home the magnitude of the event and the logistical planning required by the New York Road Runners Club (“NYRRC”) to stage a world-class event in one of the busiest cities on the planet. At the start on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, there will be 1,694 portable toilets, 42,000 PowerBars, 90,000 bottles of water and 563 pounds of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee beans, enough to make 45,000 cups. About 500 volunteers will collect more than 10 tons of sweat suits, sleeping bags and Snuggies, much of which will be cleaned and given to charities. The bridge must be cleared within an hour of the last runner’s leaving. More than 70 United Parcel Service trucks will take the athletes’ belongings to the finish line.

According to the New York Times, among the more than 6,000 volunteers on race day are medical workers at the 38 aid stations. They will have on hand 11,410 pounds of ice, 13,475 bandages, 57,059 salt packages and 390 tubs of Vaseline. They will have 435 cots and 30 defibrillators that, hopefully, will not be needed.

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