An interesting dynamic occurred to me while researching marathon races yesterday. The Marine Corp Marathon begins with 30,000 runners and 100,000 spectators within Washington D.C.. In comparison, the Steamtown Marathon, run in Scranton, only fields ~ 1600 runners.
Do I want to run in a mass of over 1000 runners per mile or a much smaller runner density ? I have concerns regarding being spit upon several times as well as stepped on, runners and/or spectators obstructing my path, during the race. While the appeal of the grand festivities, Washington D.C. location and the large number of spectators with their encouragement is substantial, I am concerned the actual race experience will be marred by the sheer volume of humanity trying to run at the same time & path.
I found a smaller marathon race, the Erie Marathon at Presque Isle on Sunday September 13th @ 7:00 am. There were only 400 finishers for this race in 2008. It's a two loop course run at the Presque Isle State Park. It's billed as one of the flattest marathons in the country. Their website states all runners must maintain a 14 minute mile pace. 14*26.2 miles = 366.8 minutes or about 6 hours and then they close down the course.
Another benefit of a smaller race is my family would find it much easier to find a place to watch me run and/or take pictures of daddy.
Other notes:
I am training with running shoes from Saucony, called the Progrid Stabil CS. They were purchased online from Zappos.com
Will be running a baseline two mile time trial Friday March 6th.
Presque Isle State Park
301 Peninsula Drive, Suite 1
Erie, PA 16505
(814) 833-7424
http://www.marathonguide.com
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