Marathon You Can Do It

It was a great weekend of marathon running, I found pictures from some of marathon races that happened over the weekend.

2010 Hyannis Marathon Race photos & Pictures

The local paper had a great photo taken at the start of the race : a picture of Dad with his wheel chair bound son just ahead of the leading pack. See photo at cod times site

2010 Gasparilla Half & Full Marathon photos & Pictures

The notable thing about thsi race was the 41 year old winner, Terri Rejimbai won the womens half in a time of 1 hr 22 mins. See pictures at st petersburg website

2010 Cowtown marathon photos & pictures

The largest running field over the weekend, 21000 runners turned up. I wondered why the winner had a slow finish time in the low 2:30s. This picture tells it all

See more pictures at flickr

2010 Standard Chartered Hong Kong marathon photos & pictures

See photo of the winner at peoples website

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Amp, Cod Times, Cowtown Marathon, Dad, Finish Time, Flickr, half marathon, Hong Kong Marathon, Hyannis Marathon, Marathon Photos, Marathon Pictures, Marathon Race, Marathon Races, Marathon Running, Race Photos, Runners, St Petersburg, Standard Chartered Hong Kong, Wheel, Wheel Chair

Marathon races have rules and regulation. The rules for elite runners are more stringent than for the casual runners.

The rules for elite runners became more clear after the debacle at 2009 Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee. In that race three different ladies were declared winners.

The first winner was Cassie Pellar who was disqualified shortly after the race for accepting aid – a water bottle – from a friend outside of the official water stations. The second place finisher, Jennifer Goebel, then took the first place. After a few days, supporters of Cassie posted a photo of Jennifer, the race photos showed Goebel with an iPod tucked into the waistband of her shorts. Since running with an ipod is against the rules she was stripped off her first place.

The third place finisher Canitz, a green 42 year old runner was elevated to first place.I wonder what dirt they will now dig out about her??? she better have her taxes in order.

The Elite Marathon Rules

• Don’t take water or food from spectators
• Don’t listen to music during the race.
• And this last one is so obvious, Don’t use dope

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Debacle, Dirt, Dope, Elite Runners, Few Days, Goebel, Ipod, Lakefront Marathon, Marathon Races, marathon runners, Milwaukee, Pellar, Photo, Place Finisher, Race Photos, Rules And Regulation, Spectators, Waistband, Water Bottle, Water Stations

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

1. Patriots Run Marathon, Olathe City
2. Big Bear Marathon, Big bear lake city
3. Lake city marathon Winona lake
4. Little Grand Canyon Marathon, Price city
5. Montreal Marathon, Montreal city
6. Rochester Marathon, Rochester city

Marathon races on the weekend of September 19

1. Air force marathon, Daytona city
2. Arkansas Marathon, Arkansas city
3. Robin Hood marathon, Nottingham UK
4. Sydney Marathon, Sydney

Marathon races on the weekend of September 26

1. Road Runner Akron Marathon, Akron city
2. Hamptons marathon, east Hampton city
3. Omaha Marathon, Omaha city
4. Flagstaff Marathon, flagstaff city
5. Scotia bank Toronto waterfront marathon, Toronto city
6. 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

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