The 2010 Stanchart Dubai marathon was beamed live on Satellite TV and I woke early morning to watch Haile Gebrselassie make another history by breaking his own marathon record.
It wasn’t to be
His highness Haile Gebrselassie came first at 2010 Stanchart Dubai Marathon. His winning time was 2hr 6min 9sec, just over two minutes outside his best. At 36 I think that is impressive time.
The Mystery of a Stiff Back!!
Believe it or not according to news coming from Dubai: Haile Gebrselassie woke up with a stiff back and had to be given intensive physiotherapy hours before the race. He fell asleep while watching television and woke up with a stiff back!!!!
The man was lucky he even managed to sleep on the night before the race, personally I never sleep before a marathon race.
Gebrselassie took the fatty $250,000 first prize (missing the $i Million bonus for breaking the record) ahead of Kenya’s Chala Dechase Beyene, and his Ethiopian compatriot Eshetu Wendimu Tisge finished third.
Mamitu Daska Molisa made it an Ethiopian cleansweep of titles as she won the women’s race in 2hr 24min 18sec, eight seconds ahead of Aberu Kebede Shewaye.
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: Chala, Cleansweep, Compatriot, Dubai, Eight Seconds, Haile Gebrselassie, Highness, Impressive Time, Kebede, Marathon Race, Marathon Record, Marathon Results, Molisa, Mystery, Satellite Tv, sleep, Stanchart, Stiff Back, Two Minutes, Watching Television, Winning Time
The marathon is becoming more popular, according to latest statistics over 420,000 American runners finished the distance in 2007.
If your goal is to run and finish a marathon, let me remind you, finishing the 26 miles is a big challenge. Training for the full marathon, usually the programs are anywhere between 4 and 5 months long.
How to run
Learning how to run for a marathon is more than running around the block, You have to learn how to run, you have to learn how to and when to conserve your energy, when to give it that last blast. You can only learn this by getting out and running.
Learning about a runners nutrition
Another important area is nutrition. You need to eat right while you train for the marathon. A nutritional balance of carbohydrates, proteins and essential minerals is important. This will help in replacing lost energy and repair of tissues.
Learning about Injuries
Running injuries are part of running, you cant escape them. As you train you will suffer injuries, dont let them discourage you. When injuries happen, take a complete break from running and seek treatment. The first step of treatment is ice the injured area and maybe take a pain killer. If that doesn’t work seek medical help.
Remember to take rest days. This will allow your muscles to recover from fatigue.
Staying hydrated is also important. Make sure you are drinking enough water during training and also after your runs. Proper hydration is important for proper functioning of the body and it helps to prevent running injuries.
Talk to running experts
It wouldn’t hurt to set up a meeting with a personal trainer if you’re really committed to doing one of those 26.2 mile runs. If you dont know where to find a personal trainer, talk to fellow runners. Most runners are friendly people and are willing to give a hand.
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: 5 Months, Break, Essential Minerals, fatigue, Fellow Runners, Last Blast, Marathon, Medical Help, muscles, Nutrition, Nutritional Balance, Pain Killer, Personal Trainer, Proper Hydration, Proteins, Rest Days, Running Injuries, Statistics, Tissues, Train
The following groups are eligible for guaranteed entry to the ING New York City Marathon.
- Members of New York Road Runners, who completed at least nine NYRR-scored, qualifying races, and who have volunteered for one event, during the calendar year.
- Entrants in the ING New York City Marathon the previous year who canceled prior to the race.
- Those who have completed 15 or more New York City Marathons.
- Those who have applied but been denied entry for the last three years in a row
- Runners who meet the following NYC marathon qualifying time standards.
- Charity runners : Runners who commit to raise money for charities listed by organisers.
- Guaranteed entry for overseas runners, (For those who live outside the United States) Guaranteed entry along with the purchase of a marathon package may be available through an Official International Travel Partner [ITP] in your country or territory.
Source ; ING New York Marathon Official Site
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: Calendar Year, Charities, Ing New York City Marathon, Ing New York Marathon, International Travel, Itp, marathon runners, New York City Marathon, New York City Marathons, New york marathon, New York Road Runners, Nyc Marathon, Nyrr, Overseas Runners, Previous Year, Qualifying Races, Time Standards, Travel Partner, York City Marathon, York Road Runners
If you’ve never run a marathon or you’re trying to run your fastest time ever, you may consider registering and running in one of these flat marathon courses around USA. Most of this marathon allow you to qualify for Boston marathon.
Chicago Marathon.
Chicago is a flat and fast marathon. Many of over 30,000 runners run it for its speed. The only downside is that the weather can be unpredictable some years, too hot of too cold defeating the flat course advantage.
Philadelphia Marathon
This Pennsylvania marathon has a flat course, the fact that the marathon is ran in late November when the weather is cool gives it an ideal marathon environment for a fast race.
Carlifornia International Marathon
Held in Sacramento California, the marathon is touted as “The Fastest Course in the West.”
Cleveland Marathon
Held in cleveland Ohio in Mid May.
Flat marathons around New York
Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon
This Albany New York marathon, Running Times magazine calls it one of the fastest marathon routes in the country.
Wineglass Marathon
The marathon is held in Corning New York. The Wineglass Marathon yields one of the highest percentages of runners qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: Albany New York, Boston Marathon, chicago marathon, Cleveland Marathon, Corning New York, Fastest Time, Hudson River, International Marathon, Late November, Marathon Chicago, Marathon Running, Marathons, Mohawk Hudson, New york marathon, Philadelphia Marathon, Qualifying For The Boston Marathon, Running Times Magazine, Sacramento California, West Cleveland, Wineglass Marathon
Paula Radcliffe trains on an eight-day cycle, working for seven days and then enjoying one of complete rest.
Paula Radcliffe Daily Runs : Weekly Miles
She runs some 22 miles a day (12-15 in the morning and another seven in the early evening) with Lough (her husband and coach) at her side, on his bicycle;
Paula Radcliffe Gym Training
In between, she does an hour-long session of core strength exercises.
To Run faster and stronger – Rest, Rest & Rest
When she is not training, she sleeps – a lot. ‘I’m usually in bed by ten and I don’t get up until around nine,’ she says. ‘Then I have another two hours sleep in the afternoon. You really need that sleep when you train as hard as I do.
Sorry, instead of rest I should have said, Sleep, sleep and sleep.
Source : Paula Radcliffe Interview Courtesy of Guardian Newspaper UK.
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: Amp, Bicycle Training, Coach, Core Strength, Early Evening, Guardian Newspaper Uk, Gym Training, Long Session, Marathon Training, Paula Radcliffe, Paula Radcliffe Marathon, Seven Days, sleep, Trains
It was an interesting 2009 Chicago marathon. Our good Spectators were their to record the memeory with this awesome photos from 2009 Chicago marathon. The photos were submited to chicago tribune website. All rights are to respective owners and courtesy of Chicago tribune.
 The Champ on the way, At the end he nearly waved the $100,000 good bye!
 Pain is temporary, pride is forever!
 If the above quote was not inspiring, then being chased by this devil look alike was enough to make runners run for their lives!
 On this special day even Elvis made an appearence from his grave!
 What Courage? He could have chosen to use a Wheel chair but he chose his legs
For more exciting photos like these visit chicago tribune photo gallery.
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: Appearence, Champ, chicago marathon, Chicago Photos, Chicago Tribune, Courage, Devil, Elvis, Good Bye, Legs, Marathon Photos, marathon runners, Memeory, Photo Gallery, Pride, Spectators, Tribune Photo, Wheel, Wheel Chair
To predict your marathon time, race shorter races about a month or less than the marathon.
Marathon Time Calculator
For a 10K race, multiple your time by 4.67 to predict your marathon time. For a half-marathon, multiple your time by 2.1. For example, a 10K time of 45:30 would predict a marathon time of about 3:32:30; a half-marathon time of 1:35 would predict a marathon time of about 3:19:30.
Good Luck
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: 10k Race, 10k Time, Good Luck, half marathon, Marathon 2, Marathon Races, Marathon Time, Time Calculator, Time Race
Marathon races on the Weekend of September 12
- Patriots Run Marathon, Olathe City
- Big Bear Marathon, Big bear lake city
- Lake city marathon Winona lake
- Little Grand Canyon Marathon, Price city
- Montreal Marathon, Montreal city
- Rochester Marathon, Rochester city
Marathon races on the weekend of September 19
- Air force marathon, Daytona city
- Arkansas Marathon, Arkansas city
- Robin Hood marathon, Nottingham UK
- Sydney Marathon, Sydney
Marathon races on the weekend of September 26
- Road Runner Akron Marathon, Akron city
- Hamptons marathon, east Hampton city
- Omaha Marathon, Omaha city
- Flagstaff Marathon, flagstaff city
- Scotia bank Toronto waterfront marathon, Toronto city
- Accra International Marathon, Accra Ghana
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: Accra Ghana, Air Force Marathon, Akron Marathon, Bank Toronto, Big Bear Lake, City Marathon, Daytona City, Hampton City, International Marathon, Marathon Races, Montreal City, Nottingham Uk, Omaha City, Robin Hood Marathon, Rochester City, Scotia Bank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Sydney Marathon, Toronto City, Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Winona Lake
Marathon business is a competitive business. In the USA alone over 400 marathons are organised each year targeting something like 400,000 runners.
The big marathons such as New York Marathon, Boston marathon and the Chicago marathon have no problem attracting runners, they dont even need to spend alot on marketing because it is the runners that come to them. But for many marathon races how to attract runners is a big headache.
Any race director who is organising a marathon and is wondering how he can attract more runners needs to read the following case studies. I read them from raonoke dot com.
Case Studies of formers struggling marathons and how they solved the problem
The Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee
The race started 10 years ago with hilly course, and participation fell off from 7,500 the first year to 6,300 the second year, said Adam Zocks, the race’s general manager. Organizers flattened the course and added a half-marathon. Last year, the races had a combined 31,000 participants.
The Mount Rushmore Marathon.
The mount Rushmore marathon in the black hills of South dakota which had a mountainous course has seen steady growth in recent years, says Steve Kurtenbach, president of All Sports Central, which organizes the race. He attributed part of that to adding a second, easier marathon course that now draws more runners than the original.
From this two case studies is clear that if the marathon course is hilly and tough a marathon race will find it difficult attracting willing runners, if a race directors manages to convince some novice local runners to participate, they will have a hard time such that they will not participate again.
But what about a race that with an easy flat course but struggles to attract runners.
Few marathon race can survive on local participation. The race director and the organisers must target runners from out of town. To get out of town runners to come the organisers must give them a good reason, rather than the marathon alone, as to why they should visit the town.
Like the organisers of country music marathon added “part of the Country Music Marathon’s success was people realizing that Nashville was a great destination apart from the race.”
Another well market marathon is the Suntrust Richmond marathon, the marathon targets first time marathon runners with the tagline “America’s most friendliest marathon”
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: Black Hills, Black Hills Of South Dakota, Boston Marathon, chicago marathon, Country Music Marathon, half marathon, Hilly Course, Marathon Boston, Marathon Course, Marathon Race, Marathon Races, marathon runners, Marathons, Mount Rushmore, Nashville Tennessee, New york marathon, Race Director, Race Directors, Sports Central, Zocks
Haile Gebreselassie Vs Samuel Wanjiru. I had hoped this two will race together this year so that we can know who is the king of the full marathon.
Samuel Wanjiru had hoped to take on Haile at 2009 Berlin Marathon but he failed to get invitation to the Berlin Marathon from the organisers. I feel the organisers bowed to the demands of Haile who has previously been quoted saying he prefers to race against the clock rather than go head to head and worry about the athlete behind his neck.
After failing to challenge Haile in Berlin, Wanjiru has entered 2009 Chicago marathon. What is interesting is that Chicago is a flat course just like Berlin. If the weather cooperates, expect Wanjiru to attack Haile record time. Berlin Marathon is on September 20th While Chicago marathon will be on October 11th. After the Berlin marathon Wanjiru will have ample time to reflect and prepare to better Haile’s effort.
A local paper here in Kenya caught up with Samuel Wanjiru on a 35K run along Nyahururu – Gilgil road last monday and the 22 year old athlete played down the Berlin politics and insisted he is 100% focused on 2009 Chicago Marathon.
written by Constantine Njeru
\\ tags: Ample Time, Athlete, berlin marathon, chicago marathon, Clock, Haile Gebreselassie, Haile Gebrselassie, Invitation, Last Monday, Organisers, Record Time, Samuel Wanjiru, Weather
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