This is a great time of the year, namely marathon season. Big marathons are going on virtually every weekend, and now with Twitter and Dailymile, I know of so many people running each of the races.
This past weekend was Marine Corp Marathon, where the runners had great conditions. It was fun to track everyone’s activities for the weekend and on race day. Congrats to everyone that got it done!
This weekend is the New York City Marathon, which also looks to have ideal conditions, although perhaps a tad bit on the cold side. I’ve run it 7 times, including each of the last 3 years. This year, I’m just hoping to have the time to spectate. In years past, I would spectate from several spots along the course. I think that strategy is more of a challenge now that they have wave starts. In fact, for the first time, the waves will be 30 minutes apart, which means the fast runners will start out an hour ahead of the slowest, creating a much larger gap than when there were no waves. This is definitely necessary due to overcrowding on the course, especially after the finish line, but just makes it harder to spectate multiple people at different paces from multiple spots on the course.
Then, last, but not least, we have the Philadelphia Marathon. They have the hardest job of all, waiting patiently through all the other fall marathons until they finally get their shot on Nov 21.
As for me, and my next marathon, this past weekend I got my first long run done for the First Light Marathon. Ran 15.8 miles in 2:47. Ran the same course I’ve done in the past as my first marathon long training run. While on the slower side compared to previous efforts, it was 4 minutes faster than the same effort in August!
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I must admit that I am slightly jealous that you are to able to run so many out of town marathons. My particular work/life/religious obligations do not allow for that. Honestly, I also can’t afford to travel to races as other people do. For now, I am sticking to races that are closer to home. Looking forward to following your training towards First Light.
I’m definitely lucky in that respect. We travel pretty frugally and some of my races have been combined with family vacations we wanted to take anyway. First Light is an exception because the race falls on my 40th birthday and worth an ‘extra’ trip. My intent is one driving trip and one flying trip per year for races.
You definitely require more logistics and planning for your big races, but at least there are plenty within a reasonable distance of NYC.