Ball Drops, Race Begins

UPDATE: David Monti of Race Results Weekly has the results. The men's winner was Landon Peacock, who ran at the University of Wisconsin, and the women's champion was Stephanie Pezzullo, a former Penn State soccer player who walked on to the track team as a senior.

While the revelers are still reveling, thousands of runners will be running their way through a four-mile Central Park course at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run, staged by the folks at the New York Road Runners.

A tradition since 1978, Mary Wittenberg of NYRR calls it "a unique and active way to celebrate New Year's Eve in New York City."

Events really get underway at 10 pm with music and a dance party near the start and finish line on 72nd Street in the Park. The music will be followed, at 11 pm, with a costume parade and contest. Then at the stroke of midnight, runners will begin the four-mile loop while a fireworks show lights up the sky overhead.

Runners will have the chance, if they choose, to toast the New Year with a glass of non-alcoholic champagne at the two-mile mark. Those vying for the professional prize will likely avoid the toast as such runners as Canadian Olympian Carmen Douma-Hussar and NCAA champion Sarah Porter will compete for the women and Landon Peacock and Christian Hesch for the men.