#38--Marshall Marathon

Huntington, West Virginia

November 11, 2012

4:42:12

I signed up for this marathon late to serve as a substitute for the NYC Marathon.  For a 50 Stater, this was a great race and I would recommend it the West Virginia race for any 50 Stater.

Huntington was surprisingly easy to get to, with a flight into Huntington connecting from Charlotte, NC.  I rented a car (no accident this time) and drove to the packet pick up.  It was small and crowded, but went pretty smoothly.  There was a pre-race pasta dinner on site included in the registration fee.  For those who signed up early, they received a Brooks running jacket in addition to the race t-shirt.  For the $55 entry fee, this was the best value I have ever seen.  Most pasta dinners are $10 at a minimum.

The race started promptly at 7AM in front of the football stadium.  It was calm and cool, with temperatures in the 50s most of the race.  It was generally flat and consisted of two loops in and around town.  The highlights were the portions along the Ohio River and those through the city parks and university.  I was battling a GI bug and spent an inordinate amount of time in the porta-potties along the race.  Note to director--there could have been more!  Aid stations were plentiful, but never had any Gels or Gu's or anything.  Thanks to the kid at mile 21 handing out oreo's.  Almost right on cue, John Denver's tribute to West Virginia, "Country Roads" came on my iPod at mile 24 and took me home.  The finish was on the goal line inside the stadium.  You could carry a football the last 100 yards.  I didn't have enough left to do a dance in the end-zone, but I did spike the ball!  The University closed the rec center and allowed runners to use the shower facilities, which was a huge bonus for those of us checked out of hotels and looking to get out of town.

I was very pleased with the Marshall Marathon.  It is a great value, small regional marathon that should appeal to any 50 Stater.

#38 in the books

I traveled to Huntington, West Virginia this weekend and ran the 9th Annual Marshall Marathon.  This was a very nice, regional marathon in a small, university community.  I'll have more on the race as my time becomes official (~4:41 or so).

This town and university are probably best known for the tragic plane crash in 1970 that killed all 75 people aboard, including virtually the entire Marshall University football team, coaches, staff, boosters, and plane crew.

There are several moving memorials to the tragedy, including the fountain in front of the student union. Each year at the time and date of the crash, the fountain is turned off and mourners take a moment of silence to remember the victims.

Eight is Enough

With the cancellation of the NYC Marathon, I found myself in need of another fall marathon, on short notice, to round out the year.

I was lucky to find a marathon in Huntington, West Virginia with openings next weekend.  This will be my eighth and final marathon of the year.

Turkey Trot

My favorite race of the year, the YMCA Turkey Trot, is coming up soon.

Register here:
http://heartlandtiming.com/

NYC Marathon

Despite the cancellation of the New York City Marathon, thousands of runners descended upon Central Park Sunday morning and ran 26.2 miles anyway.  Most of the runners had raised money for charity, and felt like they could not let those down who donated to their cause.

The marathon course currently starts in Staten Island and winds through all five burroughs.  With the city still recovering from Sandy, this was simply not possible or advisable.  The original NYC Marathon consisted of 4 laps around Central Park.  A group quickly formed on Facebook and organized a small, self sufficient, NYC Marathon in Central Park and ran the old course.  "Organizers" made sure that this would in no way interfere with recovery efforts or require assistance from the city.  Still more runners found their way to Staten Island and assited in the recovery efforts there, running from house to house.

I took this picture in Central Park, during the official, unofficial 2012 NYC Marathon.

To donate or volunteer, visit http://www.nyrr.org/races-and-events/the-2012-ing-new-york-city-marathon/race-to-recover

NYC Marathon Fallout

Runners react to the last minute decision to cancel the race, and the director of the NYC Marathon faces criticism.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/sports/runners-react-to-the-cancellation-of-the-new-york-city-marathon.html?ref=sports&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/sports/marathon-starts-to-divide-not-unite-new-york-city.html?pagewanted=all

NYC Marathon Cancelled

As my wife and I were sitting at the Knicks game last night, her phone went wild with text messages and facebook posts asking about the cancellation of the New York City Marathon.  This was the first we had heard of it and were obviously surprised.  As it turns out, it is the only decision that could have been made.  For runners and their families, however, many of whom traveled thousands of miles to get here and spent thousands more dollars to do so, the decision from the NYC mayor's office came a little too late.

Traveling to NYC was really a breeze yesterday.  On time flights and a normal cab ride to mid town.  From the areas I've seen, there is little to remind of the death and destruction that occurred a few short days ago.  The tone at the packet pick up was very odd.  Thousands of runners and volunteers not quite sure what to do and not quite sure that they should be here in the first place.

As we talked to people from the city and surrounding areas, it became clear that although many areas seem to have recovered well, there are still many suffering.  Among those hardest hit are residents of Staten Island, where the race was slated to start.  The mayor promised early in the week that the race would go on and that recovery efforts would not be affected.  As the week progressed, it became obvious that the pace of recovery efforts was slower than expected, and that police, sanitation workers, first responders, etc. would, in fact, have more to do than they could possibly handle.  One gets the sense, too, that the millions of fans who line the streets and cheer for the marathon runners might resent and protest the event instead.  With mounting political pressure and the revelation that the race, instead of uniting and healing the city, had instead divided the city, the mayor's office abruptly cancelled the race.