if you are gonna run 22 miles, you might as well do 4 more and get a medal.

Not really spontaneous, but it was not a long term plan.  I turned a long training run into a 26.2 marathon.  On May 6th I ran the New Jersey Marathon.

Logistically, this race was very interesting.  It was a point to point race, starting at Monmouth Race Track, in Oceanport NJ.  For the first 11 miles we ran through the very nice residential parts of Sands Point, Monmouth Beach and North Long Branch.  I was really nice to run through so many neighborhoods, past so many pretty houses. I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to avoid commercial boulevards.  The second half of the race was an out and back through the towns of Long Branch, Deal and Asbury Park.  It finished on the boardwalk in Long Branch.  Here is a link to the course.

As a race director I appreciate some of the cool things that make a race work.  In order to make a point to point race work, a good RD has to get everyone to the starting line.  Last year when I ran the Run for the Red, we all met at the finish line an hour before start time and a fleet of school buses took us to the start.  All the buses in the Tri-State area are borrowed to get 45,000 of us to Staten Island for the Start of the NYC Marathon.  The NJ Marathon people did something cooler.  The had their own train.  Yes, a brand new double decker (almost) express from Penn Station to Monmouth Race Track.  Slick and Free.


It was more than just a nice race.  It was a moment of redemption. Back in the '90 when I was trying to break 4 hours I had a few DNFs.  One of them was in the Jersey Shore Marathon.  I overheated and puked my brains out on some of the nicest lawns in Deal NJ.  It was nice to not throw up in Deal.

This time I even mentioned to the person running next to me that the houses where huge.  The gentelman pointed out that one of them looked like a baby grand piano from orbit.  Here it is.

Some where around mile 14 we ran around a bay.  There was a plaque on a stone. Feeling no need to rush I read the words.  It was a thank you to George Sheehan, The "Running Doc" who was a member of the Jersey Shore Running Club.  I did not have my camera so I have this link to the Google Street view. Yes, the only car parked on the road when the Google Camera drive by was blocking the plaque.
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But it was not the first time I was returning to this course.  Around mile 20 we ran through the Asbury Park Convention Hall.  Thanks Bridge and Tunnel Club for the photo.  30 years ago this month I saw The Clash there.  That was a very hot night in 1982.  It was nice and cool in 2012


My 6th should have been my last long training run for a marathon that I am running on May 20.  Let's see how this works out.  A good friend just told me that if you are gonna run 22 miles, you might as well do 4 more and get a medal.