Run the Tangents! Rod Dixon Outsmarts Geoff Smith at New York

Great marathon advice from Rod Dixon, one of the most versitle runners of all time, who also won bronze in the 800 meters in Munich.

Can Skechers Help You Run Faster?

Meb indicates that running in Skechers has altered his foot strike, and that the shoes have allowed him to ditch his orthotics for the first time in many years.

Simon Bairu-..Not Enough Carbs=DNF!

He had trained for two years to arrive at this moment, stacking 120-mile week atop 120-mile week. And yet Bairu’s race was ending in a crushing disappointment, he would conclude later, because he hadn’t gulped down enough carbohydrate-laden sports gel. While he observed some of his competitors eating a packet of energy-laden gel every two miles, he said he took one packet all day. Still, Mile 21 passed, and then Mile 22, and he convinced himself that if he pushed on to the next water station, where he could swallow some more carbs, he’d be fine. -thestar.com

Bairu, in case you never heard of him, is a very good runner. As a Wisconsin Badger, Simon won 2 NCAA cross country national titles- no easy task, so we know he has ability. But for him, it's back to the marathon drawing board.

Are you kidding? How can a world class runner BE SO DUMB! Marthoning 101 calls for carbohydrate intake during the race. This is either a major coaching blunder or just plain ignorance.

To give their muscles a decent boost during the final, carbo-depleted miles of the race, marathoners need to take in more than 30 grams of carbs per hour DURING the race - peak performance online

I don't know if Simon was taking in a carbohydrate drink, but there are no excuses. This kind of crash should not happen to a runner with world class ability.

My rule? 200 calories per hour- 2 gels or one every 30 minutes.

Even Lance Armstrong knows better.
Nutrition, of course, is important. Armstrong says friends found it amusing that he gobbled something like 13 gels during his first marathon. It’s a lot, true, but I don’t scoff at anyone who turns in a sub-3-hour marathon. Now he says he’s backed off to eating roughly a gel every half hour during a marathon.-austin360.com

Edison Pena- 5 hr 40:51!

Definitely the feel good story of the year!

Edison Pena crossed the Central Park finish line at 3:24 p.m., with a time of 5 hours, 40 minutes, 51 seconds. He was draped in a Chilean flag as Elvis music played over the speakers. -Chilean Miner Completes N.Y.C. Marathon

Are Runners Athletes?

Out of the 37,000 duffers that will pollute the streets of our fair city this Sunday - November 7th - maybe 500 are athletes. The elite runners are something to watch. They are so lean they look almost alien. Them I admire. They are in an actual race. It is the 36,500 other fools that annoy me every year. -C.J. Sullivan quoted in a Huffington Post article by Dave Hollendar Are New York Marathoners Athletes?

Turns out Sullivan was just getting warmed up. He goes on to say this: "Marathons are the last refuge for those that couldn't cut it in other sports. Any knucklehead in decent shape can train and then run 26 miles in under 4 or 5 hours. It means you are in shape. It does not make you an athlete."

" And then you hear that if you finish - no matter what - you are a winner. Well that is just plain wrong. You lost by hours, sluggard. No one cares that you finished two hours behind the lead pack. You are not a winner. Just a real slow runner."

For the record, in 2009 at New York Joshua Hunsberger took 500th place in 2:53:05. The rest, according to Sullivan's definition, are not athletes.

Ritz Sounds Ready for New York

“Before I was a 13:16, 27:35, and 1:01:26 guy,” Ritzenhein said. “And I felt like I was a 12:56, 60-minute guy, but until I did them I really wasn’t. Saying it is easy, doing it is another story. My times before probably meant that I should be a 2:09 guy if I could figure it out. But now my times tell me that if I can get it right I can run 2:05. The numbers don’t lie. It is easy to say you can do it, but until I do I am still a 2:10 guy. I hope to change that soon.” - running.competitor.com
MY COMMENT: I love his attitude! He's not going to run a 2:05 at NY, but he's up for the challenge of running against the best and sounds ready for another PR (personal record).

Subway's Jared Running New York Marathon

In June he ran a half marathon in Minneapolis. He’s been running 20 miles in a single day. He’s training very, very hard. -promomagazine.com

The guy has lost 245 pounds eating subs. I think he'll make it.

Al Roker Running New York Marathon!

"I don't enjoy running. Somebody told me that running is 20 percent physically and 80 percent mental. I feel that if I'm running six miles, that sixth mile is the hardest," -nydailynews.com

MY COMMENT: Hope he makes it- the guy had stomach surgery and dropped 115 pounds! I'll be watching!

Joan Samuelson Runs 2:49 Marathon at Age 52!

-Joan Samuelson running 5:02(about a 5:20 mile) or in an exhibition 1500 meter race last summer.

Joan Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic marathon champion, now 52, finshed the New York Marathon last weekend in 2 hr 49:09- an amazing time considering her age plus the fact that New York is not known as a fast course. She also ran 2 hr 49:08 at the 2008 Olympic Trials.

Looking at the age graded calculator, Samuelson's time projects to 2:19:34, faster than her 2:21:21 set on a fast Chicago course in 1985. She also ran 2:22:43 at the 1983 Boston Marathon and won the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Marathon under hot, humid conditions, in 2:24:52, 17 days after arthroscopic knee surgery (wikipedia)

Amazing high level of consistency over so many years!

New York Marathon This Weekend!

It's Sunday, Nov 1. Wave start: The first wave starts at 9:40 am, followed by another at 10 am and a third at 10:20 am. Approx. 14,000 in each wave.

broadcast schedule- coverage begins at 9 am, but when does the elite race actually start? That's not on the website anywhere I could find!

men top contenders

women top contenders

prize money breakdown (more than $800,000!)

course description

merchandise - they have some great deals on running gear and products from previous years!

weather forecast calls for partly cloudy with a high of 57 and winds from the west at 10 mph.