Central Park, Oct 26–Nov 1: marathon weekend, and the forecast has given it 70° and sun

Friday’s email ran through the 30th — this one carries the weekend itself.

        Friday’s email ran through the 30th — this one carries the weekend itself.

Marathon week, start to finish. The blue line goes down Wednesday morning, the Opening Ceremony takes West Drive Friday evening, Dash day is Saturday — which is also Halloween — and the marathon runs Sunday. And the weather has decided to cooperate completely: seven days without rain, 75° on Friday, and 70° and sunny for Dash day.

Weather this week

Sunny every single day with 0% rain through Saturday: 69°, 60°, 61°, 69°, 75°, 70°, then 69° on marathon Sunday with a 17% shower chance. Friday is the warmest day since early October.

A word for anyone running Sunday: 69° is warm for a marathon. It is a beautiful day to watch and a hot one to race. Plan hydration accordingly.

Mon Oct 26 – Tue Oct 27 — the last empty days

Nothing public beyond the Arsenal exhibits. Monday is 69° and sunny with nothing booked anywhere — the last genuinely open day before the park turns over. Tuesday is 60° and equally clear.

If you want a long ride, run or walk with the park to yourself, it is Monday or nothing.

Wed Oct 28, 9–10 AM — the blue line gets painted

The TCS NYC Marathon Blue Line Painting Ceremony takes West Drive for one hour.

The blue stripe that runs down the middle of the road all year gets laid during that hour, and the ceremony is open to anyone standing there. It is one of the park’s genuinely small traditions and it exists in the permit record rather than any brochure.

Thu Oct 29 — 69° and quiet

A Meetup with Apple at The Pond, 8:30–10 AM. Otherwise clear.

Fri Oct 30 — 75°, the Ramble, and the Opening Ceremony

75° and sunny — the warmest day in three weeks. Two things worth planning around:

  Woodland Walk: The Ramble, 10 AM from Belvedere Castle. The last Ramble walk before the race takes the park, on the best weather day of the week.
  Marathon Opening Ceremony, 4–7 PM, West Drive. The west side is committed through the evening.

Iconic Views tour at 2 PM. Thirteen private ceremony bookings.

Sat Oct 31 — Dash day, and Halloween

Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K runs the Ted Corbitt Loop 8:45–11 AM, with the finish holding Grand Army Plaza from 8 AM. The loop is unusable all morning.

It is also Halloween, and — notably — there is not a single Halloween event on the park’s permit calendar. The city’s Village parade takes that crowd; the park gets a road race instead.

After the race clears, Saturday is excellent at 70° and sunny:

  Conservatory Garden Tour at 11 AM.
  Woodland Walk: The North Woods, 10 AM from Dana Discovery Center — well clear of the course.
  Seneca Village Tour at 2 PM.
  Model Yacht Racing at Kerbs 9 AM–3 PM; UnityMarketsNY at Farmers’ Gate 9–7.

East Meadow closed; 20 private bookings.

Sun Nov 1, 8 AM–5 PM — the TCS New York City Marathon

55,000 runners, finishing in Central Park. The biggest day of the park’s year.

The loop is gone, properly gone, from 8 AM to 5 PM. If you are not running or watching, go north — the Ravine, the Loch and the North Woods are genuinely peaceful on marathon Sunday, which almost nobody realises.

If you are watching: the finish area around Tavern on the Green is the place, and the last mile up East Drive and across to the finish is where the day is won and lost.

The International Folkdancers still hold King Jagiello Plaza 11 AM–3 PM — shortened from their usual six hours, which is itself a nice marker of how the park reorganises itself around the race. East Meadow closed.

Steady all week

  Bethesda Terrace and Fountain — closed all day, every day. The permits now run to November 25, a tenth extension.
  New Dendrology at the Arsenal Gallery, weekdays 9–5, free; Wreath Interpretations Open Call at the Arsenal all week.
  Bird Watching with Birding Bob rotating: Strawberry Fields Monday, Loeb Boathouse Thursday and both weekend days, Conservatory Garden Friday.
  No league play on the Great Lawn for a thirteenth week. North Meadow now carries 94% of November’s field calendar.

Quick recap

  Seven days without rain, 75° Friday, 70° and sunny for Dash day.
  Wednesday 9 AM: the blue line gets painted on West Drive.
  Friday 4–7 PM: Opening Ceremony. Also the warmest day and the last Ramble walk.
  Saturday: Dash to the Finish Line 5K, 8:45–11. Loop unusable all morning. Also Halloween, with no Halloween event in the park at all.
  Sunday: the marathon, 8 AM–5 PM. Loop gone. Go north if you want quiet.
  69° is warm for a marathon — worth knowing if you are running it.

Have a good marathon weekend,
Central Park Guide