The Rest of the Pack

Below, listed alphabetically, are the other marathons profiled in Marathon & Beyond, the volume and issue number in which each race’s profile appeared, and the overall score each race received.

Calgary Marathon (vol. 3, issue 2): 876 points Edmonton Marathon (vol. 2, issue 2): 814 points Fox Cities Marathon (vol. 3, issue 4): 865 points Governor’s Cup Ghost Town Marathon (vol. 2, issue 1): 795 points Grandma’s Marathon (vol. 3, issue 1): 968 points Honolulu Marathon (vol. 2, issue 4): 906 points Humboldt Redwoods Marathon (vol. 2, issue 3): 809 points Las Vegas International Marathon (vol. 1, issue 5): 789 points Philadelphia Marathon (vol. 1, issue 4): 838 points Pittsburgh Marathon (vol. 1, issue 6): 904 points Portland Marathon (vol. 3, issue 3): 943 points San Francisco Marathon (vol. 1, issue 2): 804 points Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon (vol. 2, issue 6): 866 points Steamtown Marathon (vol. 3, issue 5): 892 points Sutter Home Napa Valley Marathon (vol. 2, issue 5): 913 points Vancouver International Marathon (vol. 1, issue 1): 823 points Wineglass Marathon (vol. 1, issue 3): 839 points

128 MM MARATHON & BEYOND November/December 1999

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Letters

WESTERN STATES REVISITED

As both a “marathon and beyond” runner, I enjoyed reading last year’s May/June issue on Western States. WS 1999 was my first 100-miler, albeit as a crew person. I have just finished rereading the issue, now from a completely different perspective and with a greater appreciation for the totality of the event, from the viewpoint of both the runner and the organizers. Reading the comprehensive coverage in M&B served as a good foundation for the event. If given the opportunity, the first-hand experience to be a part of Western States is a ““oncein-a-lifetime” not to be missed. Congratulations to my runner, Larry Ridgeway, for a successful first WS, and thanks for never being a “cranky runner.” Also, thanks to his wife Heidi Schutt, who kept our vigil from becoming “endless waiting.” Cathy Troisi Seneca Falls, N.Y.

ONE TOUGH MAGAZINE

Enclosed is the famous copy of M&B that survived arecent altercation with a semitruck on a highway in Wisconsin. This is one tough magazine! As you can see, despite the tire tracks on its back, the cover is still intact, along with the rest of the magazine. Com

130 HM MARATHON & BEYOND

bine its sturdiness with great practi

cal advice and informational articles,

and I would have to say that Mara

thon & Beyond is the best “run-in” magazine out there.

Bret Younger

Fox Cities Marathon

Race Director

Editors’ note: We’ ll let Bret tell you himself how his copy of M&B got from his van onto the highway.

MARATHON ENCYCLOPEDIA

I found Rich Benyo’s “The Essential Encyclopedia of Marathoning” (July/ August) very interesting, but at least two important entries are missing. Certainly the Comrades Marathon, an annual 90K race in South Africa run by more than 10,000 people, should be included. This race has beena South African tradition for over 70 years, and for many years now it has attracted the créme de la créme of the ultrarunning community. It’s said that many professional ultrarunners bypass other events just to compete for goldin the Comrades. Alberto Salazar won the race a few years back. The second missing entry is Professor Tim Noakes. Ever read Lore of Running? Noakes has contributed enormously to the running world through research and medicine. Check his scientific

publications and you’ll see what I mean.

Jonathan Dugas

Cape Town, South Africa

HOLD ON A MINUTE…

This is in reply to your “On the Road” article in the July/August 1999 issue. Ibelieve that Scott Douglas’s categorical statement that charity organizations ill serve their participants is unfortunate and misleading. While this may unfortunately be the case in some instances, I believe it’s not the case for participants who come into a marathon event through the Leukemia Society of America Team in Training (TnT) program. My exposure to marathons started when I joined the Georgia Chapter to train to walk the 1997 Honolulu Marathon. I had no prior marathon exposure. There was no doubt left in the informational meeting I attended as to what the distance of a marathon is. Even so, it is possible that someone could attend and not get tuned in to what thatreally means.

Ido not believe that your suggestion that charity program marathon participants be directed to a local running club has necessity for Team in Training unless the individual participant is so motivated.

I was exposed to extremely good coaching for the event. The Georgia Chapter is favored with having Tommy Owens, national coaching coordinator for TnT, as its head running coach. We also benefit from an

experienced marathon-walking coach, Karen Powell. Also, I was assigned an experienced marathon walker, Ted Smith, as amentor. I doubt that I would have received the level of support from a local running club as I did through our TnT chapter, although I’m aware that my local running club is quite active. Adhering to the recommended training program, I was able to walk and jog to a personally satisfying completion of my first marathon.

Since completing my first event, I have stayed with the TnT program, first as amentor and recently as a walk coaching assistant. I have participated in seven marathons so far, with many more to go, I hope.

Our coaches are certified through attendance at coaching seminars periodically held in conjunction with selected events. These seminars include class lectures by Jack Daniels forrunning and Tom Dooley for walking. Our program provides monthly training schedules geared to successful training and tapering for the selected event. We also provide seminars On injury prevention and nutrition, as well as fund-raising.

We hold organized group-training sessions every other week and provide more casual gathering opportunities for our participants on the nongroup-training weekends. TnT strives for uniformity throughout its national program. It’s unfortunate that some participants live remote from their chapter area, or that other obligations prevent them from participating in the chapter’s organized training activities.

LETTERS @ 131

Local running club participation could

be helpful in this instance, if the con

flict preventing chapter activity par

ticipation did not also exist for club participation.

Bruce Zavodny

Peachtree City, Ga.

Based on limited exposure to a few participants, Scott seems to purport to know what motivates all individuals to join charity programs. He assumes that the programs’ coaches are not worthy of “expert” status and are, in fact, deceitful toward potential runners. And, because these programs do not track past participants’ running status indefinitely, Scott assumes that running ends for all participants at the end of the program. When an officemate of his momentarily forgot how long the marathon was (could he have missed some sarcasm in her voice?), he categorizes charity participants “nonrunners,” unworthy of a bib number.

I have volunteered for alocal chapter of the Leukemia Society’s Team in Training program for nearly three years now, and my experience has been very, very different from the picture that Scott paints.

First, our chapter operates on a shoestring budget and does an absolutely amazing amount for the community on excruciatingly limited resources. Why with such limited resources would an organization want to track past participants’ running progress? Based on my own experience, though, I can say with confidence that many more of our partici

pants continue running long after their involvement with TnT than those who do not. In fact, we strongly encourage our participants to continue running for life, emphasizing the importance of a balanced life. I cannot go to a local running event without seeing many familiar faces from previous TnT seasons. One group of our runners even formed their own running club and continues to train together regularly.

Atno point do we ever say that the marathon is the paramount running experience; in fact, we say the opposite. We hold that the marathon is simply a confirmation of the journey— the transforming journey of committing to and training for such an event. We say, and I quote, “It’s just another day.” A very special day, indeed, but just another day!

As to Scott’s statement about coaches’ credentials, I cannot attest to other programs’ coaches, but I can say without hesitation that ours would meet anyone’s standard of “expert.” We do in fact have minimum fitness standards for participants and have on several occasions referred those not making the cut to the walking program or another season altogether. For the “back of the packers” who remain in our program, the coaches do an excellent job of helping to them to set the right level of expectations for their performance.

Many times, it is our slower runners who stand to gain the most from the supportive atmosphere of our “pace is not aconcern” program. And it is these runners who, season after

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