A tale of two marathons

I'm getting at least 2 emails a day now about the NYC marathon, which is in 12 days. Barb and Ed and I email almost daily; there are so many plans to finalize! And either Fred's Team or the New York Road Runners emails me almost every day about details of the weekend. I am getting more excited by the hour!
But I will need another mountain to climb so I am already wondering what my next marathon will be. It is good that I pick it now, because in the hours and days following a marathon, I am not exactly thinking about running another marathon. Right after I finished the Disney Marathon in January, all I could think of was that I needed a new and different hobby, and stamp collecting (putting stamps in books while sitting on a soft couch) sounded like a very good idea at the time.
I checked Marathonguide.com to see which marathons this year had the highest percentage of Boston qualifiers. For the last few years, besides obviously Boston, the Bay State State Marathon and the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon have been second or third. This year MHR Marathon came in second and that's the one I want to do next year. It's mostly run on bike paths in the woods, with the trees at their peak period for leaf changing, with the river in the background. It reminds me of some of the beautiful bike paths Larry and I have bicycled on in the last year around the country. And it's a slow downhill race with only 700 runners, the second week in October, when the weather should be cool but not cold. Sounds ideal!
The MHR marathon is very different from NYC's race, which is the world's largest marathon with about 45,000 runners, an urban path, 2 million spectators, 130 bands... and 10 people, family and friends, who I will share the weekend with. I know no one in that part of upstate New York, and instead of noisy good times with 10 people in Italian restaurants each night, I'll be spending the weekend by myself. But, I'm sure I will have a great, albeit very different time, at the MHR Marathon, as I hope to in NYC in 12 days. 2 NY Races in 1 year, two very different experiences, both great times I hope...