Ode to New York Marathoners

I watched the New York City Marathon last Sunday afternoon. The NYC marathon is considered to be the largest marathon in the world and with approximately 50,000 runners entered it seems well qualified for the title. I received a few comments from friends about how I could watch some people run down the streets when the Dallas Cowboy game was on.

I explained it is something only a marathon runner would understand. The part that fascinates me is the pace and strategies that take place during the run. The men are cruising along around a 5 minute mile average pace for 26.2 miles and on occasion drop the pace to 4:30 per mile.

The men’s race wasn’t in doubt as the lead runner was running by himself after 20 miles.

Tola from Ethiopia set a record time of 2:04:58 hours and second place was a good two minutes behind him.

The women were in a pack of 5 runners for much of the way. Then down to three until the last mile. Then down to two for the last 200 yards as the pace picked up and became faster.

What was amazing to me was after running 25 miles the pace dropped down below that five minute mile mark. Obiri from Kenya ran a 2:27:33 time and Gidey from Ethiopia finished only 6 seconds behind her.

Watching a sprint finish after running 26 miles was an exciting ending. Having run track and a onetime five minute mile to imagine running faster after putting in 25 miles of a fast average pace was almost hard to imagine.

It was worth missing the start of the Cowboy game to watch the NYC Marathon.

I ran an average pace of 7:03 for a marathon one time and could hardly touch my toes afterward to loosen up my shoes. The winners were not even breathing hard and walked around or jogged over to friends after crossing the finish line. Comparing my situation after running 26.2 miles and these elite athletes and the ease at which they recovered after running their marathon made me appreciate the level of running ability they had and was the reason I watched the marathon before switching to the Dallas Cowboy game.

An annual comment on the holiday season and the difficult problem of eating too many big meals over the next couple of months is warranted.

Skipping Halloween as a meal the next up is Thanksgiving and the traditional turkey or ham dinner. Then comes office parties for Christmas and New Year’s and football bowl games along with family gatherings with more big meals.

For a runner training for a marathon and the long runs required it can be considered a carbo-loading preparation meal.

And to make this big meal an easier preparation for the Thanksgiving Day the Bluebonnet Lions have their 20th Thankful Turkey 5K next Saturday.

On November 18th at the First Baptist Church on McCarty Lane runners will meet with a chance to win a meal for the big day. Day of race registration is at 8:00 a.m. until race time at 9:00 a.m.

Registration fee is $35 for the race. This race has a different age category from the usual age divisions. Age groups for the Thankful Turkey 5K is 1- 10; 11 – 17; 18 – 27: 28 – 37; 38 – 47; 48 – 57; 58 – 67; 68 – 77; 78 – 99. The senior age runners should be happy to see the upper age limits in this race. And with the different age categories some runners may find themselves with a better chance of taking home an award.

Instead of the usual ribbon or award for placing in an age group the Bluebonnet Lions have a turkey for a first place finish, a nice ham for second place, and an apple or pumpkin pie for a third place finish.

A person might think that the race will be composed of the faster runners and the average runner will have to settle for burning calories before that big meal on Thursday.

Having been a volunteer at this race for many years that is not always the case. Some age groups do not have a fast runner and the average pace runner goes home with a turkey or ham for their efforts.

Think of a young boy or girl at 10 years old being the bread winner for turkey dinner on Thanksgiving.

The same scene for a runner at age 75 taking home a meal – maybe that runner or walker over 80 years can be a winner.

There are some first place award winners that prefer the ham over the turkey and the second place runner gets the turkey.

The race is an out and back course that has some hills along the way and even if you do not become an award winner it is a good race to a part of for the beginning of the holiday season.