United Airlines NYC Half-Marathon

The New York City Half Marathon (branded as the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon) is an annual half marathon road running race. It passes through famous landmarks such as Central Park and Times Square. The New York Road Runners administers the race.

The annual United Airlines NYC Half will take runners from around the city and the globe on a 13.1-mile tour of NYC. Led by a talent-packed roster of American and international elites, runners will stop traffic in Manhattan, from Central Park through Times Square to South Street Seaport!

Since it’s the spring, the scenery is a lot less green and lush than it would be in the summer — the leaves aren’t yet on the trees, but that lets you see more of the buildings, museums and high rises along the route through the park. And it’s winding and hilly through the park, with some switchback-style turns near the north end of the park.

There’s several small bands out there playing, plus what must have been a race volunteer (or just an enthusiastic onlooker!) who was out at several points in the race cheering everyone on, telling the women runners “hey ladies, look — you’ve just stopped traffic!” He must have been speeding by bike from location to location, because we no doubt saw him at like 4 points along the route.

Numerous world class runners have participated in the race, including marathon record holders Haile Gebrselassie and Paula Radcliffe, Olympic marathon medalists Catherine Ndereba, Meb Keflezighi, and Deena Kastor, 2008 U.S. Olympic marathoner Dathan Ritzenhein, and American half marathon record holder Ryan Hall.