Dan Moriarity wrote:
Benji;
You and many runners in the 70s and early 80s ran marathons several marathons a year whereas today the top runners do one or two a year at most. If you were competing at the top level today would you run fewer marathons or do things the same way? Do you think it's a mistake to run too many or does it help to race the marathon more frequently?
Thanks for sharing your experience.
For me, frequent racing from 10K up was an important part of the program. I don't think I could have run as fast as I did without running frequent marathons per year. Below are all the marathons I've started as races. There were a few more that I started as runs with friends etc which I don't count. If I had it to do over, I would have skipped the ones I didn't finish (they weren't of much help except for lessons learned). Otherwise I would run them all again. I don't think frequent marathoning is a bad thing despite what the current wisdom suggests. Of course I was very sturdy and had very few injuries. Some runners like Greg Meyer came at the marathon form a different direction and have a different view point (there is another thread on his feelings on the subject). As I said in that thread, we are both right for some runners and wrong for some runners. The hard part is determining which is which. Runners that don't race often usually are able to simulate in training what I needed to get in races. I could never make myself run as hard in training as I could when the gun went off. One final note. The marathon requires a bit of luck to get good performances. Assuming your body gets stronger from racing marathons, running them frequently increases the chances of hitting one with the right conditions.
74/12 nt dnf Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA
75/12 2:36:19 19th Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA
76/03 2:37:30 7th Florida Relays Gainseville, FL
76/10 2:20:23 2nd National AAU Championships Crowley, LA
76/12 nt dnf Peach Bowl Atlanta, GA
77/02 2:19:04 1st Carolina Columbia, SC
77/04 2:24:39 27th Boston Boston, MA
77/07/17 2:22:47 1st Arvert Arvert, France
77/09 nt dnf Nike-OTC Eugene, OR
77/12 2:25:59 6th Charlotte Charlotte, NC
78/04 2:15:04 11th Boston Boston, MA
78/09 2:18:40 13th Nike-OTC Eugene, OR
78/10 2:18:16 1st Pittsburg Pittsburg, PA
78/12 2:18:04 2nd Honolulu Honolulu, HI
79/05/19 2:17:10 2nd Amsterdam Amsterdam, Holland
79/09 2:13:47 6th Nike-OTC Eugene, OR
79/10 2:13:49 5th New York City New York, NY
79/12 nt dnf Honolulu Honolulu, HI
80/04/21 2:17:46 6th Boston Boston, MA
80/05/24 2:10:41 2nd Olympic Trials Buffalo, NY
80/09/07 nt dnf Nike-OTC Eugene, OR
80/12/07 2:13:25 12th Fukuoka Fukuoka, Japan
81/01/17 2:12:34 1st Orange Bowl Miami, FL
81/02 2:13:07 4th Tokyo Tokyo, Japan
81/05 2:32:45 9th Amsterdam International Amsterdam, Holland
81/08 2:18:27 3rd Sports Festival Syracuse, NY
81/09/13 2:12:12 1st Nike-OTC Eugene, OR
82/01 2:11:11 1st Houston Houston, TX
82/05/30 2:13:22 1st Montreal Montreal, Canada
82/09/12 2:12:52 3rd Nike-OTC Eugene, OR
82/10/24 2:16:09 18th New York City New York, NY
83/01/16 2:12:20 2nd Houston Houston, TX
83/04/18 2:09:58 3rd Boston Boston, MA
83/08/14 2:20:38 39th World Championships Helsinki, Finland
83/10/02 2:15:16 1st Toronto Toronto, Canada
84/01/15 nt dnf Houston Houston, TX
84/05/26 nt dnf Olympic Trials Buffalo, NY
84/10/14 2:19:46 13th Beijing Beijing, China
85/07/21 nt dnf San Fransisco San Fransisco, CA
85/10/14 2:34:26 55th Beijing Beijing, China
85/12/08 2:19:51 17th California International Sacramento, CA
86/01/19 2:18:21 20th Houston Houston, TX
86/07/06 nt dnf Goodwill Games Moscow, USSR
86/10/12 2:22:04 27th Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
87/01/18 nt dnf Houston Houston, TX
87/04/05 2:27:14 8th Stamford Classic Stamford, CT
87/12/06 nt dnf California International Sacramento, CA
87/12/13 2:31:01 8th Honolulu Honolulu, HI
88/01/17 nt dnf Houston Houston, TX
88/04/24 2:45:17 75th Olympic Trials Jersey City, NJ
89/01/15 2:29:04 28th Houston Houston, TX
89/10/08 2:28:11 36th Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
91/01/20 nt dnf Houston Houston, TX
91/11/28 2:28:53 1st Atlanta Atlanta, GA
91/12/14 2:32:48 17th O/1st M Rocket City Huntsville, AL
95/11/23 nt dnf Atlanta Atlanta, GA