Marathon You Can Do It

I was going through my google reader when I noticed the following news item in the Guardian UK newspaper The story made my day!!

FROM CHINESE MARATHON : Almost a third of the runners who finished in the top 100 have since been disqualified for cheating in the race in the southern port city of Xiamen.

The reason given for cheating has something to do with the University entrance examination. In China those who finish in the marathon in under two hours and 34 minutes can add extra points to their score in the University entrance exam.

Methods used for cheating

Some of the methods the cheaters used were the good old method of taking short cuts, the now familiar one of hiring an impostor to race with your race number and the old classic of hiking a lift on a vehicle part way through the route. Taking a lift enroute was made famous by Rosie Ruiz when the unknown madam came in first at the finish of 1980 Boston marathon. It emerged that she had ridden the subway almost all the way, joining the route barely a mile before the finish line.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Boston Marathon, Cheaters, Cheating, China, Extra Points, Finish Line, Google, Guardian Uk, Impostor, Madam, News Item, Rosie Ruiz, Runners, Score, Short Cuts, Subway, University Entrance Exam, University Entrance Examination

Staying thin is harder than trying to get thin.

The curse of dieting is that 90% of people who lose weight by dieting end up getting their old weight back. Tv star, Valerie Bertinelli managed to lose 40 pounds and she is determined to beat the curse. She is lacing up her running shoes and training to run at this year’s Boston Marathon.

The Boston Marathon is on 19 April for days shy of her 50th birthday. If she finishes the marathon that will be a perfect birthday gift to give herself.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 19 April, 50th Birthday, Birthday Gift, Boston Marathon, Curse, Running shoes, Tv Star, Valerie Bertinelli

Just before 2009 NYC Marathon, American marathon runner, Ryan Hall was interviewed by a Chicago paper. Ryan was asked the following question;

What’s your go-to, night-before-the-race meal?

Ryan Hall : Pasta, olive oil and Cytomax Muscle Milk Protein Shake.

Another interesting question from the interview was his answer on his strategy for Boston Marathon

What’s your strategy for those Boston hills–and downhills?

Ryan Hall : My strategy for the hills in Boston are to run the same effort level whether I am going up, down or flat, which means I will obviously slow down going up the hills and fly down the back of them. I think that energy management is one of the keys to running a good marathon. The better I can keep it locked in at the right effort level, despite the terrain, the better I will run.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Boston Hills, Boston Marathon, diet, Effort Level, Energy Management, Fly, Marathon Runner, Muscle Milk Protein, Nyc Marathon, Olive Oil, Pasta, Right Effort, Ryan Hall

If you are age 50+ and you think you should start running as a new hobby, this story of 80 year old runner Bob Dolphin should inspire you.

Bob has finished 456 marathon, a total that includes 44 ultramarathons ranging from 31 to 101 miles.

Bob ran his first marathon in 1981 at a prime age of 51. An age when most naysayers would consider too old to think of running a marathon.

In an article in Seattle times Bob sums his love for the 26 miles, “I like the difficulty, the competition in my age class, the sociality among runners, the satisfaction I feel when I complete a race. That’s when I feel most of my runner’s high — when I can sit down and rest and don’t have to count down the miles anymore.”

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Bob Dolphin, Boston Marathon, Columbia Mo, Dolphin, First Marathon, June 14, Location Time, Milestone, Milestones, Mo 3, Naysayers, Oct 11, Ore 3, Running A Marathon, Running Marathon, Seattle Marathon, Seattle Times, Sociality, Ultramarathons, West Seattle

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

In a New York Times article it was reported that in 2008 NYC marathon 46 runners were disqualified for having taking a short cut to the finish line and an untold number of runners escape detection, marathon officials said.

Mary Wittenberg, the race director, called the number of cheats shocking.

Shortcuts methods at NYC marathon

According to the organisers the two most common form of cheating are

1. Stepping off the course and rejoining it closer to the finish, often sneaking into Central Park once they enter Manhattan near Mile 16.
2. Participants running with someone else bib. According to 2008 records, a 19-year-old in the field gave his bib to someone five years older, and that person posted the best time in the 18-19 division.

The biggest reason or motivation of taking a short cut is to secure a coveted qualification time for the Boston Marathon

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Best Time, Bib, Boston Marathon, Central Park, Finish Line, Manhattan, marathon runners, Motivation, New York City, New York City Marathon, New York Times, Nyc Marathon, Organisers, Participants, Qualification Time, Race Director, Shortcuts, Wittenberg, York City Marathon, York Times Article

When most people undergo surgery of knee, ankle, hip or any other part of the leg they wonder whether it is possible to get back running. The answer is Yes.

Inspiration for recovering surgery from Joan Samuelson

Joan Samuelson was the first woman Olympic marathon champion. Looking at her career you will see she had a record of surgeries but she was able to return to road running and win races at the top level.

Joan Story story of overcoming surgeries

Born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Benoit took to long-distance running to help recover from a broken leg suffered while slaloming. At Bowdoin College she excelled in athletics and then entered the 1979 Boston Marathon as a relative unknown. She won the race, while wearing a Red Sox cap,[1] in 2:35:15, knocking eight minutes off the competition record. She repeated that success with a victory again in 1983 that took more than two minutes off the world’s best time, set by Grete Waitz in the London Marathon just the day before, despite having had surgery on her Achilles tendons two years earlier.

At the 1984 Summer Olympics she won the first Olympic women’s marathon in a time of 2:24.52 in hot and smoggy conditions, more than a minute ahead of her rivals; again despite surgery, this time arthroscopic surgery on her knee 17 days before the trials earlier that year.

From Joan story, you can see it is possible to recover from surgery and get back to running. To get back to running you have to allow a full recovery. Make sure your Doctor is informed with your intention so that he can monitor your recovery because he alone has the authority to give you a green light to start running again.

Once your doctor gives you a go ahead start running on soft surfaces  first such as treadmills, oval track and grass before hitting the tarmac.

Happy healing

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 1984 Summer Olympics, Achilles Tendons, Boston Marathon, Bowdoin College, Broken Leg, Cape Elizabeth Maine, Competition Record, First Woman, Joan Samuelson, Knee Ankle, london marathon, Marathon Champion, olympic marathon, Olympic Women, Oval Track, Runnign, Slaloming, Soft Surfaces, summer olympics, Treadmills, Waitz

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

With hundreds of marathons held around major cities in the US not all marathons are the same. Some marathons are harder than others and some are easy to run.A good example is Boston marathon, even without its requirement for proof of running a previous marathon, the hilly boston route would be handful for a marathon newbie.

Most beginners choose to run nearer home but if you are an adventure seek you can choose a marathon from a different city. In choosing a marathon to run a beginner should ask is the course flat or hilly.

If your goal is an easy marathon, I think you may benefit from US Airways article that listed some easy marathon across US.

Writer Larry Olmsted had a few simple criteria for choosing his first marathon: good weather, a flat course, a fun atmosphere and a high volume of registrants to lower his chances of coming in last!!!!!!

Easy beginners marathon

These were some of the marathon listed.

1. Honolulu Marathon – It was the writers no one pick because of a flat course

2. Chicago Marathon -Flat course but beware, the marathon has a history of horrible weather on Dday.

3. Marine Corps Marathon

4. Twin Cities marathon – Down side of this marathon is Leave your iphone home, ear phones are banned from twin cities.

5. Las Vegas marathon – It is the only marathon in the world where you can run and get married. For those married they can renew their wedding vows.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Beginner Runner, Boston Marathon, chicago marathon, Dday, Different City, Ear Phones, First Marathon, First Timer, Good Weather, Honolulu Marathon, Horrible Weather, Iphone, Larry Olmsted, Las Vegas Marathon, Marathon Races, Marathons, Marine Corps Marathon, Running Marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, Us Airways

The historic 26 mile boston marathon course starts in the town of hopkinton and ends in boston city

9 Towns along the boston marathon course.

1. Hopkinton

2. Ashland

3. Framingham

4. Natick

5. Wellesley

6. Newton

7. Brighton

8. Brookline

9. Boston

Snap short of boston marathon route – course map

Boston from start to finish

To get a detailed boston marathon route map you may down load it from the official boston marathon website : download the boston marathon map here

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Boston Marathon, Marathon Running, Marathon Training