Some people just love to run, and a little rain, snow or sleet isn’t going to stop them. A field of about 1,500 runners will race around Central Park five times this Sunday starting at 8 a.m. to complete a marathon, in a race put on by the company NYC Runs. It’s expected to rain and snow at various times over the weekend, and the wind will be nasty. While they’re running, sane people will be wrapped in sweaters, eating buttered toast and eggs-over-easy with a large cup of coffee a few blocks away.

The race will be run on the park’s main loop road but will cut across the park at 102nd Street instead of going all the way to the northernmost part of the loop. It ends around Tavern on the Green, just like the traditional New York marathon (see map below).

This isn’t the first marathon ever that’s been run solely in the park. The New York Marathon originally was run only in Central Park, before expanding to all five boroughs. The big race was cancelled this year because of Hurricane Sandy, and lots of the runners who came in ran in the park that weekend.

NYCR CentralPark Marathon Map FN by

Photo by Smith cl9.