The Longest Run

....but interesting nonetheless: Providing Toilets for 39,000 Runners

....for the 2009 NYC Marathon. With 9 races (including 5 half-marathons!) completed this year, all that was lacking was my volunteer duty. I worked the Long Training Run (a 20 mile run for people in training for this year's marathon) on Saturday; despite a crazy early start (I had to be in the park at 102nd Street on the east side at 6AM) it was actually a pretty enjoyable experience, aided by the fact that I saw three friends running while I was working the race. With the receipt of the note below, I'm officially in for 2009! Dear ANDREW On behalf of New York Road Runners, I want to thank you for volunteering at the Long Training Run # 2. NYRR and the 2342 finishers could not have put on the event without you. Be sure to save this email as a confirmation of your attendance. If you volunteered in order to earn entry into next year’s ING New York City Marathon (along with completing nine qualifying races and being an NYRR member as of January 31, 2008, and remaining in good stan...

Running Down A Dream calls out a pair of New York Times articles on half-marathons in Half Marathons are So Hot Right Now . You can find the NYT articles here and here . I'll be running in the NYC Half this weekend. Here's what I have to look forward to: Central Park At the Start, runners and spectators will hear the singing of the national anthem. NIKE Sponge Station - (Seventh Avenue btw 54th-55th Streets) Stay cool at the Nike sponge station. Times Square Sing-A-Long - (Eastside of Broadway and 44th Street) At 44th street and Broadway, spectators and runners alike will have the opportunity to sing along with Broadway performers as they belt out favorite classic songs. Don’t worry about forgetting the lyrics; they’ll be displayed on a giant video screen that will also feature a live runner cam. Who: Broadway performers Catherine Porter, Ben Roseberry, Susan Spencer and Matthew Stocke along with over 10,000 runners running through Times Square What: Sing-a-long to all-time f...

As you can imagine I love talking about my running journey with friends and colleagues. I have a colleague at work who is on her own running journey; she ran her first half-marathon earlier this year and is now training for the New York City Marathon. Check out this link to learn about her story.....

I love the web. I am a regular reader of Lifehacker and read with interest a recent post called: The Best Tech Tools and Fitness Plans to Get in Shape. That post led to Hack Attack: Motivate yourself and Hack Attack: How to hack a marathon - two post chock full of goodies about preparing for and running a marathon (the Chicago Marathon specifically!). Best of all - a link to a runner's story of his New York City Marathon experience at The New York City Marathon: Now It Can Be Told . If you only have time for one of the links, check out the last one. Kind of makes me wonder why people put themselves through this....even though I really know the answer why.