Mashable has a list of 10+ Ways to Track Your Marathon with some pretty slick sites for tracking your favorite routes and discovering new routes.
Google Maps Mania lists options specific to the NYC Marathon.
I’m going to go run this route now:
To build toward this one:
In preparation for the Phoenix Marathon (if all goes well).
Looks a lot more advanced than when I used to measure my routes using my car’s odometer.
Good luck to you.
I’m also a big fan of Gmaps Pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com) for mapping my runs. Good luck with training!
It went pretty well. I screwed up and accidentally ran around Lake Calhoun as well. Bonus miles, I guess.
Back in the day when I used to lay out and certify race courses, the big new technology was “The Wheel,” a modified bike wheel with a handle and digital counter made by a local runner. It was finely balanced so you could guide it with a finger while running, and the bike wheel made it more adaptable than the smaller surveyor’s wheels they used for short distances.
That didn’t stop paranoid bystanders from thinking I was a highways guy, since I ran with a can of paint to mark the pavement.
These mapping tools are cool, but nothing beats making a training route yours like wheeling it by hand.