Monday, November 06, 2006
NYC Marathon
I had my first real race of the running season on Saturday, taking part in a corporate relay and doing a 14km leg.
Next weekend will be my first half marathon of the season - the Winelands Marathon(and half) in Stellenbosch.
Go Speed Racer! Go!
Yesterday was also New York City Marathon day.
Out of 90,000 applicants a record 38,368 runners started this year’s marathon on Staten Island, busted a gut through Brooklyn and Queens, slogged over the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan and beyond, ending in Central Park.
Central Park
(what no Carrie Bradshaw in the background?)
This year the race was won by Brazil's Marilson Gomes dos Santos, making his NYCM debut, becoming the first South American to do so.
Gomes dos Santos is actually better known as a 5,000/10,000 meter athlete but ran a killer race to finish in 2:09:58 (his personal best is 2:08:something).
South African marathon hero Hendrick Ramaala[1] finished 9th.
Marilson Gomes dos Santos
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong finished his first marathon[2] in 2:59:36.
Lance, Lance! Over here, for the camera, Lance!
Let's put some of this into perspective.
I'm quite a badass runner.
I have the fancy little shorts; I look at my watch when I run; and I'll even spit out the side of my mouth when I think it makes me look really cool.
I ran Saturday's 14km leg of the relay in 59:02 - that's about 4:13 per kilometer.
That puts me in a good position to be able to run a silver half marathon(1:30:00) this season.
I'm cool as fuck.
But these guys are insane.
Gomes dos Santos ran three times[3] as far as I did in just over twice as long as it took me to run my distance.
His average speed was around 3:05 per kilometer and he would surely have gone under 3 minutes per kilometer for long stretches.
Let's not even mention Ramaala's 2:06:55 or *urk* the world record of Paul Tergat - 2:04:55.
[1] who won the NYC Marathon in 2004 and has a personal best of 2:06:55.
[2] "That was, without a doubt, the hardest physical thing I've ever done," Armstrong said after the race.
[3] Actually, three times as far as I did and then another 0.2 kilometers - but hey, who's counting.
As a last aside, the CEO of our company, Johann Dreyer, held the South African marathon record for a while with a time or 2:11:42 run in Kuils River on 2 July 1983.
Next weekend will be my first half marathon of the season - the Winelands Marathon(and half) in Stellenbosch.
Go Speed Racer! Go!Yesterday was also New York City Marathon day.
Out of 90,000 applicants a record 38,368 runners started this year’s marathon on Staten Island, busted a gut through Brooklyn and Queens, slogged over the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan and beyond, ending in Central Park.
Central Park(what no Carrie Bradshaw in the background?)
This year the race was won by Brazil's Marilson Gomes dos Santos, making his NYCM debut, becoming the first South American to do so.
Gomes dos Santos is actually better known as a 5,000/10,000 meter athlete but ran a killer race to finish in 2:09:58 (his personal best is 2:08:something).
South African marathon hero Hendrick Ramaala[1] finished 9th.
Marilson Gomes dos SantosSeven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong finished his first marathon[2] in 2:59:36.
Lance, Lance! Over here, for the camera, Lance!Let's put some of this into perspective.
I'm quite a badass runner.
I have the fancy little shorts; I look at my watch when I run; and I'll even spit out the side of my mouth when I think it makes me look really cool.
I ran Saturday's 14km leg of the relay in 59:02 - that's about 4:13 per kilometer.
That puts me in a good position to be able to run a silver half marathon(1:30:00) this season.
I'm cool as fuck.
But these guys are insane.
Gomes dos Santos ran three times[3] as far as I did in just over twice as long as it took me to run my distance.
His average speed was around 3:05 per kilometer and he would surely have gone under 3 minutes per kilometer for long stretches.
Let's not even mention Ramaala's 2:06:55 or *urk* the world record of Paul Tergat - 2:04:55.
[1] who won the NYC Marathon in 2004 and has a personal best of 2:06:55.
[2] "That was, without a doubt, the hardest physical thing I've ever done," Armstrong said after the race.
[3] Actually, three times as far as I did and then another 0.2 kilometers - but hey, who's counting.
As a last aside, the CEO of our company, Johann Dreyer, held the South African marathon record for a while with a time or 2:11:42 run in Kuils River on 2 July 1983.
// posted by werner @ 6:29:00 pm 
