Runners in the city headed to Staten Island Sunday morning for the borough’s annual half marathon. The 13.1-mile race kicked off in St. George, and is the last New York Road Runners event before the New York City Marathon in three weeks.

“Very excited. I couldn’t get any sleep last night. I went to bed early, and I only got three hours of sleep,” runner Carlos Feliz, from the Bronx, said.

Other runners dealt with their nerves at the starting line.

“I say I won’t get nervous, but every time I line up, I get a little nervous,” Katherine Harrison said.

With the New York City Marathon on Nov. 3, some runners, like Dominic Palermo, used Sunday’s race as a training exercise. Palermo, 22, didn’t take first place, but he’s the fastest man from Staten Island to complete the race.

“I didn’t know what to expect. This is my first real half marathon. I’m running the NYC [Marathon] in three weeks, and I just wanted to come out on the local course. I grew up on Staten Island, so it was definitely fun,” Palermo, who graduated from Wagner College in May, said.

Around 10,000 people laced up for Sunday’s race, which was more than expected, according to the New York Road Runners. For some, this event gets them one step closer to qualifying for the New York City Marathon next year.

“This is actually gonna be my eighth [race], so I need just one more to be able to do the marathon next year,” Paulo Stephen Infante, a runner originally from the Philippines, said. Many other racers also said they now need just one more race to qualify for the 2025 New York City Marathon.

“This is my first half I’ve like, properly raced. Very fun, very windy, not a lot of girls out there, but everyone cheers for you as you’re going by,” said 27-year-old Harrison, from Brooklyn, who was among the first wave of females to finish.

The starting line for the New York City Marathon begins on Staten Island. Runners will be able to take in the Manhattan views along the path.

“New York City is, if you’re working, you just hustle, running is an outlet for me and it makes me very happy, it’s my way of de-stressing,” Infante said.

Palermo says he’s ready to finally cross the marathon off his bucket list.

“When you pass the crowd and people are cheering, it’s a lot of fun, so we’re out there for everyone,” he said.

After crossing the finish line, some runners said they go into recovery mode and dine on carb-rich foods. Infante and his friend said they’re going for Filipino cuisine, mainly rice, and another runner said she wanted a big stack of pancakes.