The NYC Running Blog

The NYRR Dash 10K (nee NYRR Park to Park & NYRR Dash & Splash) had over 4,500 finishers under overcast skies in Central Park. Below is race coverage from around the web:

• NYRR Results
• Never Quit Never Stop race report
• Mozzer Confessionals race report
• Run for Fun race report with photos, translated from Japanese
• My Road to the 2009 NYC Marathon race report
• Lisa’s Marathon Training! race report
• mostly about running race report
• tribeca1’s race report with photos, translated from Japanese
• examiner.com coverage with photos

New York Times has launched Run Well, an online tool meant to help runners choose a training plan for an upcoming race and track progress toward their goal. Fourteen different training plans are available and are based on ability: beginner, intermediate or advanced. New York Times plans to continue to enhance and develop the tool with additional features. Their Gadgetwise blog has more information about this new online training tool.

This year’s New York City Marathon Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge will feature working mothers from each of the five boroughs of New York City:

One representative will be chosen from each New York City borough to form a team of five runners for the Challenge. The team must run the first 13-miles of the Marathon together, and then they can break away for the remainder of the race.
The Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge team will be treated as VIPs during the pre and post race festivities, and will be featured on the WNBC-TV live television broadcast of the ING NYC Marathon on November 1.

Click here for more details about applying for the Five Borough Challenge.

NYC Running Blog video from this morning’s NYRR Mini 10K:

Saturday:

• Major Eugene McCarthy 5K Run in Marine Park in Brooklyn
• YAI Central Park Challenge 5K Run in Central Park, benefiting National Institute for People with Disabilities

Sunday:

• The Riverdale Ramble 10K in The Bronx, organized by the Van Cortlandt Park Track Club.
• NYRR New York Mini 10K in Central Park, a women-only NYRR race.  Registration is still open.
• Kenneth Dolan Memorial 5K Run in Prospect Park, Brooklyn

See all upcoming races…

Because Lasker Pool does not open until July 1st, there will be no pool party at the NYRR Dash & Splash (formally the Park to Park 10K). The 10K is now being called the NYRR Dash. This race is having a serious identity crisis.

The AP reports that the 2009 New York City Marathon will have the largest field ever, with more than 40,000 runners expected to participate. Additionally, for the second straight year, over 100,000 people applied for the race:

Race director Mary Wittenberg, president and CEO of New York Road Runners, says “breaking the 100,000-applicant mark again, in the midst of a recession, speaks volumes” to the importance of running in people’s lives.

Runners can now log in to see if they’ve been selected to run in the 40th NYC Marathon. The NYRR website states that a confirmation e-mail will be sent out on Friday, June 5th.

At noon on Thursday, NYC Marathon lottery applicants will be able to log in to see if they’ve been accepted to participate in the 40th running of the New York City Marathon. Some Runner’s World discussion board members are saying that they have pending charges on their accounts from New York Road Runners and are taking it as a good sign that they’ve been accepted.

The New York Times takes a look at the people who start but do not finish the New York City Marathon, about 2% of the field. Remarkably, the fastest runners take up a disproportionate amount of DNFs, with a possible explanation:

For elites who run just half a race, they not only reduce the chance of injury, but could be in top shape to compete again within weeks. Some elite runners are paid appearance fees, and receive a paycheck even if they do not finish. Recreational runners have no such consolation.

The analysis was also extended to international runners:

Among runners who may feel extra pressure to finish, Wittenberg said, are those who traveled from overseas, investing more time and money to get to the starting line. Runners from other countries compose about 60 percent of the field, but they made up only 50 percent of those who did not finish.

Seven runners needed twice as long to run the second half of the marathon as they did the first half, a measure that goes beyond “hitting the wall.” All were from Europe.

The article also takes a look at another demographic, age:

Another group that concerns Wittenberg is men in their 20s with some athletic success, because they may be more likely to undertrain.

Marathon split times from last year’s race show that among United States men, those in their 20s were more likely than older men to post a second-half time that was far worse than their first half. About 2.4 percent of the younger men posted second-half times that were at least 50 percent longer than their first-half times. For the older United States men, the proportion fell to 1.6 percent.

Wednesday, June 3rd is National Running Day, which was created to “nationally and locally promote running as a healthy, easy, and accessible form of exercise.”  Check out the NYC event listing, or see NYRR’s list of events for the day.