Monthly marathon race report: Rockaway Marathon

October's run was the Rockaway Marathon in Far Rockaway, NYC on October 7.

I ran my 2nd fastest ever. The run was on the boardwalk. The course was 4 loops of 6.55 miles.

There was also a half marathon race (2 loops). There were about 50 runners total.

It took me about 1.5 hours to take the subway from lower Manhattan to the start (at the end of the A line).

​Each loop began on the boardwalk at 102nd street, headed toward 57th street (where there was a water station, the other water station was at 102nd st), then down to 30th street, where we turns around and headed back up to 102nd street.

Overall the course was very fast and the course was easy to follow.

On my last loop, the water stations ran out of water, so I drank out the water fountains.

The beach scenery was really great. I sometimes forget how NYC has some amazing beaches out there.

There were also lots of surfers out.

I took the new super fast NYC ferry back to Manhattan (only 1 hr!) and and was back home in time for a big lunch.

Consider this marathon if you live close to NYC and you're looking for an easy, scenic beach marathon in October.​

Monthly marathon race report: Chasing the Unicorn marathon

On September 10th, I ran the Chasing the Unicorn marathon in Washington Crossing, PA.

I just the day before, I ran the Charles River marathon in Boston, MA. I wasn't planning to do 2 marathons in September (or 1 weekend!), but my October plans were up in the air, so I had to fit in another one in September just in case, to make sure I fulfill my goal of running 12 marathons this year.

​Chasing the Unicorn is a fast course. The race takes place in Washington Crossing Historic Park, and consists of two loops of a path along the Delaware River.

There were about 150 or so runners.

It was a nice day, mostly clear with some clouds, and about 65 degrees.

There were a good amount of aid stations with sports drinks and water.

On one side of the path there was the Delaware River.

On the other side, there was typically either farm fields or quiet neighborhoods.

The path conditions were perfect, I like running on firm dirt paths.

I liked these walking/bike path bridges that crossed the river.

Although I was taking it easy since I ran a marathon just the day before, my time was actually faster for the second marathon of the weekend. The finisher medals are bold, colorful and heavy.

Overall, I loved this course and I recommend it if you are in the Northeast and looking for a fast, scenic September race. See http://www.runbucks.com/runbucks-races for more information on the race. 

Monthly marathon race report: Charles River marathon

On Saturday, September 9, I ran the inaugural Charles River marathon in Boston, MA. What a great race with a partnership between RACE Cancer Foundation and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The race started at 7:00am and there were around 300 runners. 

The marathon course is a flat 2.62 mile loop on park paths around Boston's scenic Charles River, starting and finishing at the Herter Park in Boston, MA. 

The course was mostly on walking trails along the Charles river. 

Occasionally, there were portions of the course on bike paths. There weren’t a lot of bikes out, probably because it was pretty early. ​

There were plenty of volunteers manning the 2 aid stations on the course. One aid station was near the start/finish with had water, sport drink, and a variety of food (pretzels, swedish fish, bananas). The other aid station was around the 1.5 mile mark and had water and sport drink. 

The weather was great, just cool enough. I ran my second fastest marathon ever that day - until I ran my October marathon (Rockaway Marathon in NYC). 

The finisher medals were really nice. Overall, I enjoyed this run. I recommend it for next year if you’re in the Northeast and are looking for a September marathon that’s super flat, scenic in a great city. Check out the race site for more info:  https://racecancer.org/runfest