This Sunday, runners in the New York Marathon will start from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which links Staten Island to Brooklyn and, since 1976, marks the beginning of a race that crosses the city's five boroughs. The location provides spectacular aerial views.

But apart from the striking effect of seeing 50,000 participants on a suspension bridge, it's understandable that the camera would want to stay high up at marathon starts: The ground is often disgusting. The runners who start last have to watch their feet to avoid tripping over all the things thrown away by the earlier starters: Sweatshirts, garbage bags, energy gel wrappers and even bottles filled with urine rolling around on the pavement. Yes, you read that right.

In New York, the problems posed by poor planning of pre-race fluid consumption are more acute than in other major marathons: the outlying starting point means you need to be taken there several hours in advance, either by ferry or by one of the three hundred buses operating for the occasion. Right from this first challenge of the day, it is not uncommon to hear participants begging for access to a toilet as quickly as possible.

With the starting groups distributed over the two levels of the suspension bridge, for a long time, rumor had it that those starting from the lower deck were liable to be splashed by runners relieving themselves from the upper deck. Be it to silence the urban legend or to justify a $300 entry fee, the New York Marathon has steadily increased the number of porta-potties set up at the start (over 1,500 this year), while event partner Dunkin' Donuts is responsible for distributing 50,000 coffees and 6,000 teas at the start to runners whose bladders are already running on empty.

There will always be participants who refuse to use the porta-potties to avoid losing strategic places in the starting group. Some have previously been seen donning a garbage bag with holes for the arms as a raincoat, and squatting to relieve themselves at the start, surrounded by runners whose feet they have just urinated on. The organizers have had to write a rule clarifying that "anyone who is seen urinating or defecating in a corral may be disqualified."

As the marathon takes place in November, participants often pack extra clothes to keep warm until the start of the race, which they discard – at best when setting out, at worst within the first few kilometers. Like most major marathons which are criticized for the pollution they cause, the New York marathon has stated for years that discarded items are donated to charity.

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