New York City Marathon

My brother-in-law, Andy, will be making his initial marathon effort at the November 7th ING New York City Marathon. Andy is in his early 40's, ani is a former college swimmer and rower. He's been putting in his obligatory 20-mile runs on the weekends, has set a very realistic goal, and I think he's going to do fine.

I've run New York twice in 1979 and 1991. I alawys tell people, if you run one marathon in your life, make it New York. The sights and sounds are awe-inspiring: the massive start on the Verrazanno, the "rush" you feel off the bridge; various ethnic neightborhoods of Brooklyn; the massive crowds along First Ave. in Manhattan; and the rolling, long-awaited finish in Central park. There are thousands of Europeans and people from all over the U.S. in the race, and there's a great sense of comraderie at the pre-race expo, and the entire weekend.

I was in college and ran a 2:52.11 in my first effort, a time I was somewhat disappointed with at the time, but increasingly proud of as the years past. The qualifying for Boston was a stringent

2:50 at that time, and it was agonizing to run that hard, for that long, and just miss. Thankfully, I attined my goal of qualifying the next year at Jersey Shore with my personal-best of 2:43.06.

During this era, I was running anywhere between 70-100 miles a week, of mostly distance.

Twelve years later, I was running much faster at every distance leading up to the marathon,

with a bersonal-best 1:18 half-marathon at Jersey Shore in October. However, i wasn't runnning nearly the mileage, with just one long run of 15 miles preceding the marathon.

My first-half was great that day, clocking a 1:22 as I approached the Queensborough Bridge.

On the incline up the bridge, my quads tightened up as never before, or since. Simply, it felt like I had a knife sticking out of each thigh. I jogged, walked, and shuffled through the final 13, with a finishing time of 3:06.

For a variety of reasons (kids and family, mostly), I haven't run one since. The 15-20 mile weekends runs don't take that long, in and of themselves. But I found myself not wanting to do anything else afterward, which interferes with training clients, kid's soccer games, family visits, and the other things that encompass my weekends at this stage in my life.

One half-marathon a year is is good for me right now, and I'll be happy rooting for Andy in his journey!