BIG Marathons (Read 632 times)

Living in NJ, the most densely populated state, I fight crowds every day. I hate crowds. Other than Boston, I can't ever see myself running one of those big city races.

Pointing out that New York had more finishers than any other marathon last year, she added, “We want to be the biggest marathon, but never at the cost of being the best.” Lieber, the deputy mayor, said he would not mind if the race was both. He scoffed at those who said the race was too crowded. “That’s baloney,” he said. “It’s all about how you set it up. I'll be running NY this weekend and it will be my first experience running with a crowd that big but my first reaction to reading the above quote from Mr. Lieber is if you want to screw up a good thing let some political ahole get involved. I'd be curious to see if he as ever even run a 5k, let alone a marathon.

“I think they should make the standards a little harder because people are getting in better and better shape,” Pardi said. “But, no matter how hard it is to qualify, I think there will always be 20,000 people running it. Everyone wants to run in Boston because it means you are the best of the best.”

I agree with this, as long as they wait to raise the standard until after I qualify.

Run to Win ... Interesting I ran Boston a few minutes slower than her last year. I believe that you and I met at Pizzeria Uno, I was the big guy who was 7 weeks back from a 6 month injury layoff. I did notice that I could not run any of the right tangents with the congestion, but I never had to run up on a lawn. After mile 6, I thought it opened up and I would run my pace uninpeded, just not the line. After Boston 08, I do not think I want to run anything that large again, unless I am in sub 2:45 shape. The closer you get to the front the less it matters. I ran Houston in 2006 and once the 1/2 marathon turned around it was lonely. I really like Green Bay, Milwaukee and would like to try Grand Rapids. Grandmas and Twin Cities @ 8,000 runners are really nice if you run @ 3:00 or under and start where you belong.

Both of mine have been medium-small marathons and plan on keeping that way until I run Boston. In addition to the congestion and the impact that has on the race, small to medium tend ot be tons cheaper, as is the lodging and the logistics of parking and so forth are much easier. I've never parked more than a few hundred yards from the starting line. My friend and running mentor said the only reason he would ever run a big city marathon would be so he could say he finished faster than 7,000 other people.

Nashville has the half and full mixed in the corrals. In 2007 I was in corral 10 and it was so congested in the first seven miles it wasn't even funny. After mile 11, when the courses split it got lonely. This year though, I was in corral 5 and never had a problem, in fact it was so widespread and open I never had to weave and was able to go from one side of the road to the other in order to make the turns without ever getting congested.

I will still run Boston if I can qualify in the front corral as the race experience is awesome -- even though being in the third row behind the elites the first 1.5 miles is crazy crowded. I will still run Chicago when I feel I am in shape to PR as that course and the competition there are condusive to a fast race. From the front, the crowd opens up VERY quickly due to the width of the opening miles of the course. Other than those two exceptions, I will not run these huge marathons anymore. The cattle herd mentality adds nothing to the race for me. The stress over logistics, transportation, etc at these large races is ridiculous unneeded stress. In 2002 when I first broke 2:30 I was 30sec late to the start and had to run the full race on a full bladder because I could not get into a porta john despite an hour wait in line (Chicago). This after getting up at 4am to make my way downtown because I could not get a hotel. Contrast to Louisville...well-run race, pretty course. I still got up at 4:30am but only because I had to drive 2 hours to get there. I parked at 7:10am withing .25 miles of the start, got my packet, and TWICE got into a real restroom between then and 7:50am. Jogged to the start and was off at 8:05am less than an hour after arriving. Got out of town afterward with no traffic jam caused by the race. NICE.