NYRR CEO Michael Capiraso Runs PR at age 56 in his 27th NYC Marathon!!!!????

I'm confused. Does he actually run IN the race itself or is this something he does afterwards?

If it's during the actual race itself, is this a common thing for Race Director's to do? Run the race they are in charge of?

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

If it's during the actual race itself, is this a common thing for Race Director's to do? Run the race they are in charge of?

Dave McGillivray and Mary Kate Shea, the race director and elite athlete coordinator from Boston, run it every year.

Totally misread the post. I thought it was referring to the RD (since he was the hot ticket item on the boards recently) and not the actual CEO. Still kinda odd, but I guess when you are the CEO you make the rules.

It is unusual for a race director to run their own race. (Technically he's not the race director but the CEO of NYRR).

However, the Amby Bufoot article says, "It turns out the NYRR prohibits staff from entering the Marathon. It’s a day for all hands on deck, not for feet on the blue line. When he was hired six years ago, he was “grandfathered” out of the rule due to his already established 20-year running streak."

So not only is he bringing it at age 56, he's smart and got grandfathered in. The NYRR has a lot of staff. I'm sure if something happened they could pull him from the course and he could try and assist.

land of the swoosh wrote:

Dave McGillivray and Mary Kate Shea, the race director and elite athlete coordinator from Boston, run it every year.

McGillivray runs it AFTER the race is over, not during the event itself.

If you had watched the coverage, you would have learned from "Sports Science" he was on pace for a faster finish this year than last year because his average pace per mile was faster this year! Great insight!

I mean, PRing is a little bit less impressive if you haven’t ever bothered to run a fast time. I could probably PR in my 50s as well if I was careful to only ever run ~4 hour marathons up until then.

It’s not like this dude threw down a 2:30 in his 20s and then came back to best that result at 56.

a LRer wrote:

I mean, PRing is a little bit less impressive if you haven’t ever bothered to run a fast time. I could probably PR in my 50s as well if I was careful to only ever run ~4 hour marathons up until then.

It’s not like this dude threw down a 2:30 in his 20s and then came back to best that result at 56.

this. he could get under 3:30 if he lost that triple chin/turkey neck

wejo wrote:

It is unusual for a race director to run their own race. (Technically he's not the race director but the CEO of NYRR).

However, the Amby Bufoot article says, "It turns out the NYRR prohibits staff from entering the Marathon. It’s a day for all hands on deck, not for feet on the blue line. When he was hired six years ago, he was “grandfathered” out of the rule due to his already established 20-year running streak."

So not only is he bringing it at age 56, he's smart and got grandfathered in. The NYRR has a lot of staff. I'm sure if something happened they could pull him from the course and he could try and assist.

Makes lot of sense. Thanks wejo;)

Also, he always runs for the "Team for Kids" charity raising decent amount of money... And it isn't only NYC marathons. It's a lot of other NYRR races, 284 runs, and counting:

I'm sure he'll line up in 2 weeks at the NYRR road ultra: the NYRR 60K in Central Park!!! He did it last year, too... LOL

Btw, I'm pretty sure there are a few more NYRR employees allowed to run in NYC marathon. Michael Rodgers is another one. He is the Vice President for Youth & Community Runner Engagement. He also runs and raises money for the "Team for Kids" charity:

Setting PRs at his age?

I'll go ahead and say it...PEDs.

;)

If you think 2011 as the real "start" of his serious running, then setting a PR after seven years of training is not unusual, even at his age. My guess is that he either hired a coach, joined a new training group or changed his training in a significant way, sometime between 2010 and 2011 races. His training in his 30s was probably suboptimal, and he just didn't train most of his 40s.

My situation is a little different in that I haven't run that many races in my life since I started running in 1988 but I did PR in the first five marathons I ran until a fail in 2018.

New York 1988: 3:58:51 New York 1996: 3:53:26 New York 1997: 3:46:52 New York 1999: 3:45:58

Newport, OR 2017 (age 54): 3:43:35

My goal in everyone of these races was 3:30 - in 1988 I was reasonably well-trained and three minutes ahead of pace through 19 miles before I got a stitch in my side and walked at least three miles after that.

I was in better shape in 1989 but had to pull out before the race because of injury. Dealt with various injuries before I finally got back to the starting line in 1996 but always had to limit my training so was never optimally trained (maybe running four days and thirty-five miles per week).

Didn't run at all from 2003 to 2010.

2017 - Got the PR at Newport - almost the first time I ever did actual workouts (Hanson's with an online coach) and got through everything with only minor issues (running five to six days a week and averaged fifty miles per week for the last ten before the taper). But, my splits were 1:44:36/1:58:59 so really wasn't happy.

2018 - Went back to Newport - no Hanson's, was in better shape and hitting all of my workouts but had injury issues and I had to space my workouts every six or seven days (but, I ended up getting to the line healthy, even while averaging sixty-one miles per week for the last ten before the taper). Definitely lost some conditioning down the stretch so was very slightly conservative in my race plan - wanted to keep 3:29:45 (8 min pace) in play but didn't force it (2:01:02 at 15 miles, whereas 2:01:00 is 8:04 pace, my backup plan). Then proceeded to fade as all of my time goals went by the board: 3:33, 3:35, 3:37, 3:40 so that by mile 22 the only thing I had left to shoot for would be a PR by maybe 30 seconds or so and it didn't seem worth it. Had run miles 21 in 9:01 and 22 in 9:20. Made a snap decision to walk it in and then found that if I had run it in I would have gotten second (out of nineteen) in my age group so that left a sour taste in my mouth. 3:40:xx was the winning time, I feel like I could have run 3:39 had I not been trying to run 3:33 or so.

Current plan is Phoenix in January 2020 and PR there at age 57: my goal is to get a 70% rating versus the world record for that age, which would be 3:38:51.

Before that I want to get a 70% rating at 5K, 10K and Half. This is the first time I'm going to train specifically for these races. In 1988, I ran 20:35 and then 19:47 for 5K and a 1:36:48 for the Half - only time I've run those distances. I've never run a 10K.