The NYC Marathon is Sunday. For Italian restaurants, Saturday night is the Super Bowl

For many marathon runners, carboloading – the process of increasing carbohydrate intake three to six days before a race – is an important part of their strategy.

And with over 50,000 runners set to take part in the New York City Marathon this weekend, it can be difficult to find a table at a restaurant that serves complex carbohydrates like pasta.

Luckily, there are around 800 Italian restaurants in New York – not counting pizza joints – and some of them have spent the week preparing for the extra crowds.

Amy Mascena, the general manager of Bevacco in Brooklyn Heights, said she isn’t sure how many runners find her restaurant each year. It’s not even close to the start line, the finish line or the Javits Center Runner’s Expo where racers pick up their bibs and numbers. But they do, and she has learned to plan ahead.

“We are hiring additional staff. We need to make extra pasta,” Mascena said. “It’s a whole thing.”

Mascena speculated that her seasonal guests might come from the many downtown Brooklyn hotels a half-mile away. She realized she had a marathon audience years ago when she noticed guests ordering two plates of pasta and no wine.

“It’s not really a celebratory party event,” Mascena said. “They come in and out very early. We have nice wine too so it’s a shame.”

Other restaurants make it a point to turn it into a party. Victoria in downtown Harlem and Vineapple in Brooklyn are both selling spots for special pre-marathon pasta dinners. And at Azalea in Hell’s Kitchen, the New York Flyers running club brings guest speakers to its carb dinner. This year’s guest is 76-year-old Jeannie Rice, who has broken world running records in her age group.

Back in Brooklyn Heights, Andrea Mocci, owner of Sardinian restaurant River Deli, said he wasn’t hosting a special marathon party, but runners would come anyway.

Mocci and his wife opened the place 15 years ago and he said he had a lot of carbs before the marathon every year, except for 2012, when the race was canceled after Hurricane Sandy.

Compared to his neighbors in Bevacco at the other end of the district, Mocci is less surprised by the crowds. He said it might be because he is a runner himself.

“When you travel to marathons, the first thing you do – the same thing I do – is go to an Italian restaurant where you can eat pasta on the Friday and Saturday night before,” Mocci said.

He enjoys meeting and talking shop with the runners who crowd into his small restaurant before each marathon – although this year he’s also making it an early evening since he’ll be running on Sunday.

“I can cook (pasta) at home,” Mocci said with a laugh. “But traditionally I go in the day before so I also have the opportunity to talk to the runners.”