"Awesome race! Well organized. Thanks to all the volunteers and staff alike."
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
KeyBank Vermont City Marathon is a Spectator-Friendly Spring Marathon
KeyBank Vermont City Marathon is a Spectator-Friendly Spring Marathon
By Blaine Moore via EzineArticles
Course selection is one of the first things that I recommend to my athletes before they start a marathon training program. Knowing what race you are going to run can be a powerful motivator to make sure you get your training in, and can also help direct that training if a course has any special characteristics that you'll want to train for.
One consideration when choosing a marathon is whether you are going alone or if you are bringing some family or friends to watch you run. If you are heading to a race alone or if you don't care about being inconsiderate to anybody you bring to the race then you can choose a race on factors such as hills or the size of the race. If you are bringing spectators, though, then nothing is worse for your friends and family than having to wait for a few hours to see you out in the middle of nowhere.
When you are going to bring people with you to a Spring race, then there's one course that I highly recommend, the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington Vermont at the end of May each year.
The Vermont City Marathon has one of the most spectator friendly courses that I have ever run. My wife was easily able to see me run by her 6 times, even though the course is also a "bored runner" friendly course. By that I mean that there are no multi-lap segments. You do cross over the same general area more than once, but only once are you going in the same direction at any specific point and that is for less than a quarter mile total. There are 5 places where you actually double back on a road you went in the other direction on, one of which is a few miles long but that is relatively early in the race.
The course is not flat by any means, but there are only two large hills. The biggest uphill stretch is going by Battery Park around mile 15, and the biggest downhill stretch is around mile 21 1/2. The rest of the course is a series of rolling uphills and downhills where your split time will reflect the hill, but your body doesn't necessarily notice the grade.
If you are searching for a good Spring marathon where you can bring some friends or family to cheer you on as you run, then you can't go wrong with the Vermont City Marathon.
Blaine Moore is a running coach in Southern Maine with 20 years of training and racing experience, which he shares on his blog at http://news.RunToWin.com - If you would like to watch one of Blaine's coaching session DVDs online for free, head over to: http://www.RunToWin.com/freesessions/
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