“There are nearly 2,000 PORTABLE toilets lined up at the START of the NEW YORK CITY Marathon.”

National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts, fact # 9 on toilets

How do marathon runners go to the bathroom while they are running the 28.2 mile marathon run in New York City?

To begin with there are about 1,700 toilets at the beginning of the race, which starts at the Verrazono-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island and finishes in Central Park. (nytimes.com, http://www.lemonde.fr) The race includes 50,000 runners that have different start times from anywhere from 8 a.m. to the final wave at 11:30.

The race goes on until about 9 o clock. The average global finishing time is about 4 hours and 21 minutes, with the elite a little bit over 2 hours.

A toilet is located every mile after the 3rd mile mark to the 25 mile mark, along with a medical and watering center. There are also lactating facilities available by the toilets where nursing pumps are provided.

Start times is as follows from http://www.nyrr.org;

• 8:00 a.m. Professional Wheelchair Division
• 8:22 Hand cycle Category and select athletes with disabilities
• 8:40 Professional Women’s Open Division
• 9:05 Professional Men’s Open Division
• 9:10 Wave 1
• 9:45 Wave 2
• 10:20 Wave 3
• 10:55 Wave 4
• 11:30 a.m. Wave 5

According to http://www.prnewswire.com, Dunkin Donuts brews 12,000 gallons of hot coffee for the marathon, starting at 1:00 a.m. and having refuel stations along the way.

It sounds like a good idea to have so many portable potties at the beginning and throughout the race.