Saturday, May 08, 1999
First-timers take Flying leap
62 percent of Pig runners are marathon rookies
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Of the 20,000 runners San Diego attracted to its inaugural Rock 'N Roll marathon last year, 30 percent were marathon first-timers. The “first-timers” number for the Flying Pig Marathon on Sunday is twice the rate of San Diego's.
“Is that what it is? Sixty-two percent? Wonderful!” said Amby Burfoot, editor of Runner's World and winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon. “It says the Flying Pig has stimulated interest among the people who nine months ago didn't know they wanted to be marathoners.
“And that is part of a national trend — there are more and more first-timers. But 62 percent? Wow!”
AT A GLANCE
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• When: Sunday.
• Start times: Wheelchair athletes start at 6:50 a.m. and 6:55 a.m.; others at 7:05 a.m.
• Distance: 26 miles, 385 yards.
• Course: Begins at Fountain Square, loops around downtown, into Northern Kentucky, through Cincinnati's east side. Finishes at Cincinnati Museum Center.
• Awards presentation: Noon, Museum Center.
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Six of every 10 runners who will line up on Fountain Square for the 7:05 a.m. start have never run a marathon.
So, if you have completed even so much as one marathon in your life, look at the person to your right ... then look at the person to your left.
Most likely, you are a gang of one.
You alone have the confidence of the road already trav eled.
That can ease the nerves, but not necessarily the finish.
“The first marathon I ran in, I slowed down and took it easy, and then came on at the end like gangbusters,” said Bob Roncker, who completed five marathons and now operates an especially popular place this week — The Running Spot store in O'Bryonville.
“The second marathon, I wasn't adequately prepared,” he said. “I had some problems.”
It is a familiar story.
Many veteran marathoners will tell you their second marathon was more of a struggle than their first. There's a tendency to cut corners on train ing; there's a bit of an air of cockiness.
In the unknown, however, there is exhilaration — and caution.
Revel in it, say the veteran marathoners.
It's new, it's fresh. You go by the book. You make it.
And know this: Whether you've run one or 100 marathons, you never forget your first. Burfoot has run in so many marathons he has lost track of the number. He estimates he has done about 75.
Does he remember his first one?
“Everybody remembers their first one,” Burfoot said. “These 62 percent in Cincin nati, they'll remember (the inaugural Flying Pig) the rest of their lives. I guarantee it.”
Burfoot's first marathon was Boston, 1964, as a college freshman.
John Sence, Cincinnati's most accomplished active marathoner, has run in four marathons and well-remembers his first: Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minn.
He'll be covering Sunday's race for Channel 9; someday he hopes to run in the Flying Pig. Meanwhile, hats off to all the marathoners, especially the first-timers, he says.
His non-technical advice to the first-timers?
“Enjoy it to the best of your ability,” he said. “Sure, you want to be conservative in the first part (of the race) because of the hills. But don't pay so much attention (to your watch) that you don't take in the sights and the sounds. Listen to the bands they're going to have along the way. This may be your first and last marathon. Take it all in.”
And take pride in what you're accomplishing, he said.
“People should be proud to say they actually finished this thing,” Sence said. “It's a challenging course, but also the road to get there (i.e. the training) has been challenging, too.
“If you can finish this course, it (probably) means you trained through the Cincinnati winter. You've trained in the dark and cold and less than ideal conditions. You've achieved a lot more than most people who run in (the marathons) New York or Chicago (later in the year).”
Sence knows.
He saw “you” on his Sunday morning training runs through Hyde Park. In years past, he might see two or three runners. This past year, he would see 50-100. He'll be watching you Sunday.
T.J. Lentz, who has run in 24 marathons, has begun to sink his roots deeply into Cincinnati. He's lived here 61/2 years. He, too, is a fan. He'll be running in the race, but only as the second-leg of a four-leg family relay.
Lentz's non-technical advice for first-timers?
“Look around; enjoy the sights,” he said. “Get into the crowd. They're part of the experience. Slap a palm, give a high five. That makes (the spectators) feel they're a part of it, too.”
Lentz “knows” you first-timers, too. After he runs his part of the relay, he'll root you on at a water station at milepost 18.
Karen Cosgrove, who has run 51 marathons, will run in her 52nd Sunday. She'll be right there with her trainees — the Team in Training, which raises money for the Leukemia Society of America, for whom she is a head coach and national training adviser.
She'll never forget her first marathon: Terre Haute, Ind., in the late 1970s. She can still remember the smell of boiling asphalt at a tar plant the last three or four miles that made runners nauseous on a June day on which the thermometer hit 90 degrees.
First-time marathoners can relate. In a classic case of mind over matter, Cosgrove finished. (Now, don't read the next sentence.) She broke the four-hour mark (3:56), even though the most she had ever run going into that marathon was six miles. Why did she even attempt it? Her future husband was running in it; she decided it'd be more exciting to run than to watch.
Her advice to first-time marathoners?
Finish.
It will change your life.
“It will change your total thinking about life,” she said. “You'll have a more positive attitude. You'll find yourself attacking things you were less likely to attack in the past.”
Is 62 percent a high percentage of first-timers?
“Fifty percent would be a high percentage,” Flying Pig race director Rich Williams said. “There'll be a lot of "one and done' runners (in this race). But I'd bet more than 70 percent of them will finish — even if they have to walk (some).”
How many of the first-timers will ever again attempt to run a marathon?
“Probably less than 50 percent,” Williams said.
But two first-timers The Enquirer reached Friday said they will run again: Paula Grubb, a research psychologist, intends to run a marathon at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in September; Brad Ellis, program director at MIX, 94.1-FM, is already making plans for Chicago. Grubb is self-trained, Ellis a member of Team in Training.
“I'm scared to death,” Ellis said. “We did the 20-mile run three weeks ago. Everything was all-systems-go until I got in the 17-mile range. Your legs feel like lead. Your mind starts playing tricks on you. You feel like you aren't moving.”
Grubb basically backed herself into a corner until she had no choice but to show up Sunday.
“I filled out the form last January and attached the $50 entry fee,” she said. “Then I bought a (Flying Pig Marathon) T-shirt and started wearing it to work on Fridays. The more people asked me about it, the more it became, "Well, I have to run it now.' I'll be there. A guy from work is going to run with me the first 10 miles. That's going to help. Then, I'll just try to hook up with somebody else who I think I can keep up with. I just want to finish.”
I just want to finish.
She and more than 3,000 others like her.
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