A Seven Continent Journey

This is an article published in New York Times today
By Liz Robbins
Choosing a fall marathon often comes down to a question of identity. Do you want to be a rock star or a folk singer?
The mega-marathon parade experience of popular urban races like New York, Chicago, Washington and to a lesser degree Philadelphia offer quite a different culture than suburban or country races with medium to intimate fields, like in Scranton, Pa., or Rehoboth Beach, Del.
The choice is highly personal, if not perplexing, and involves other variables, too, like proximity, price and prestige. Then there are incentives like swag and speed — as in, what course will best enable that elusive Boston qualifying time?
I’ve written that New York City’s marathon is “A Race Like No Other,” with its field of nearly 38,000 runners, two million spectators, soaring scenic views, distinct neighborhoods and characters and a challenging five-borough course. But New York is not for everyone.
For starters, most can’t get into the New York marathon. Only 18 percent of American and international applicants, or 10,300 runners, were accepted via the lottery this year. Others gained entry by running for a charity qualifying through races.
For those who did not get in, or did not even apply, other marathons in the fall and beyond beckon for a variety of reasons. Last year there were a total of 361 marathons in the United States, according to MaratonGuide.com, offers readers’ comments on virtually every race.
Craig Beden, a financial planner in Fairfax, Va., choose to run the Oct.10 Baltimore marathon, and it was for the money. Or make that small change. The marathon is offering first-time marathoners who run under a certain time — 3:25 for men and 3:55 for women — a combined pot of $2,000 for each gender, regardless of age.
“I’ll probably end up with $2,” Mr. Beden said with a laugh. The 47-year-old competitive triathlete is a bit wary of the hilly Baltimore course and had considered the much flatter, and larger, Marine Corps Marathon in nearby Washington but was swayed by his entry gift — a shirt from UnderArmour, the title sponsor — and the potential prize winnings, even if he does have to split it with his training partner.
Lara Kail, 32, of Manhattan, has run two New York City marathons but narrowed her choices down to the three remaining Big Four marathons this fall — the Marine Corps, Philadelphia and Chicago — because she is chasing her “B.Q.”: she needs to shave just three minutes and 15 seconds off her time to qualify for the highly competitive Boston marathon next spring. “Since I am still relatively new to marathoning, I thrive on crowd support,” she wrote in an e-mail message.
Although Chicago is popular for its flat course, easily accessible start and big-city fervor, Ms. Kail eliminated it because it was too expensive and “too much of a wild card with the weather.” (Temperatures soared dangerously into the 80s the last two years, causing one death and early suspension of the race in 2007.) And she thought Philadelphia, the weekend of Thanksgiving, was too late in the season. “During the taper I usually have a ‘I don’t want to run anymore, let it be race day already’ feeling,” she wrote.
That left the Marine Corps. It’s timing was perfect: it will allow her to cheer for her friends who are running a week later in New York.
Jessica Zeldin, 39, from Philadelphia, qualified for Boston last year in a most unusual way. After missing out on qualifying in the Berlin marathon by just 54 seconds (she was able to “tack the race on” to her honeymoon last September) and finding out the Philadelphia race was closed, she chose the inaugural Rehoboth Beach Running Co. Seashore Marathon in Delaware in November. She was not prepared to be running along the Atlantic Ocean as it snowed, nor in the woods with duck hunters. “I was thinking, ‘Ooh, I should have worn my orange vest,’” she said.
But even when the route narrowed to no more than five feet across, Ms. Zeldin enjoyed the small field — 334 finishers, many of whom were trying to qualify for Boston, compared to the 35,746 in Berlin. “It was just so collegial — everyone was so excited about everyone else,” she said. She qualified for Boston with two minutes to spare, savored the post-race pancake breakfast on the boardwalk and the technical shirt she won — sized especially for women — is now the only race shirt she ever wears.
This fall’s marathon season is all about incentives for Ed Altman, 51, a longtime member of the New York Flyers, a charity-oriented running club. He chose to run the Oct. 10 Hartford marathon to notch his 20th state in his 50-state quest. Three weeks later he will return to New York to run for fun, he says, as well as another prestigious incentive — it will be his 15th New York City marathon, which guarantees him lifetime entry to the race.

Nike+

I continue to struggle to find time to train. It’s getting to a point that I’m nervous if I’ll be able to pull off the Sydney Marathon. Pace of work has been very hectic in my professional life, and that is taking a toll on my training schedule. This week I was only able to run about 5 miles, which is disheartening. Hopefully this coming week will be better. Overnight we traveled from Green Bay to a small island of Saint Kitts in the Caribbean where my in-laws live. I think I should be able to find time to get in a few good runs. The terrain is mountainous, although there are some small hills to run on.

I do not have a good excuse but to say that procrastination has been my enemy. I have to apologize for not making any entry to the blog for so many months. It has been a combination of events partly a very hectic schedule at work coupled with an illness that I came down with while visiting New Jersey in late March. I lost my rhythm of regular exercise in fact have still not got back into the routine. Fortunately I have kept up with my running clocking 20 to 25 miles per week. Sydney Marathon is less than four months away,I plan to gradually get back into shape and hopefully try to finish in less than 4 1/2 hours. Had a good run in the morning today, was able to complete 9 miles at at around 9.15 minute per mile pace. I think I could've gone longer however felt a small blister developing on on my left foot. I will not be running the Bellin Run this year as I am traveling out of town.

Ran a 7 mile course today as part of Prevea training runs. I had initally planned to run 12 miles with the group training for full Cellcom Marathon, but the bitter cold (7 degrees F) changed my mind. I have to admit once the run started I felt quite good. Of course you have to deal with some skidding on ice and eyelashes sticking to each other due to ice. The training runs are very well supported by water, Gatorade during the course and Coffee with bagels at the finish. Achieved a landmark today click here.

I have been struggling with a delimma, which now is resolved. For a few days I contemplated running The North Pole Marathon, yes on the North Pole, 90 degrees North, the only marathon run entirely on water. The temptation was to be part of multinational representation in the centenial year of first ever exploration to North Pole. Better sense has pervailed, I am not running the treacherous path, this adventure is for some other year and for now I plan to stick to my initial goal of running a marathon in each continent. The next Marathon would be in Sydney, Australia, on 20th September. This would be followed by Chicago Marathon, on 14th October. And then if I still have it my legs will attempt the Ice Marathon, Antarctica, on 14th December. This leaves me with spring and summer to train, "get better". Much of the training will be working on speed, and learning to run efficent runs. I will do some races including the Cellcom Half marathon, in Green Bay and the Bellin Run (10 K). I think this schedule should keep me motivated for the year.

Finish time 4:46 hrs

I have finally come around to give my first hand experience running the Marrakech Marathon. Contrary to the last marathon, I ran in Rio De Janerio, arriving at the start lineup was relatively easy, a short yellow cab ride from my hotel brought me to Mohammed Hasan road, located behind the grand Sofitel Hotel. It was slightly cold, although for me going from Green Bay, this was a perfect weather to run. The sky was overcast, rain was predicted for later in day. Yes rain, unusual in Marrakech, apparently it has been a wet winter. The backdrop to the run were the snow capped Atlas mountains. Planning for the run I had not envisioned such a beautiful sight. I had not recovered from the cold, and every now and then coughed, hoping that it would not be an issue during the run. The start was on time at 8.00 am, few thousand runners, common start for Full and Half Marthoners, it seemed almost every second runner was French. The first few miles were a gentle downslope, a run towards the International airport and then a swing towards the Atlas mountains, the initial jitters seemed to be gone and I settled into the run. I have to admit that I did'nt feel as strong in the first half , as I would have liked too, probably the effect of the cold, I was recovering from. The long sleeve Sport Hill top was perfect. I wore gloves, at least I had opted for the right gear. Getting through the half mark I knew that second half was going to be tough. The course is well planned, we ran through some very varied neighbourhoods. There was some feel of running in Africa, camels and a small patch were I got a feel of running in a desert. Crowd support was good, traffic crossings were very well manned by the local police. Water stations were well stocked. The last miles were hard, made only tough by a gentle incline towards finish, there was a gentle drizzle and a winds to tackle, I have to say I was glad to cross the finish line........ 3 down, ....4 more to go.