kmaclam wrote:
Cool stuff wrote:Sounds good Merber, should be a solid race! Might stop by.
"Might stop by"??? You should change your moniker to Too Cool. What else do you got going that's going to be better than this?
Living 2.5 hours away, that's what I had going on.
I drove up from Phila for this event. It represented the essence of the sport: community participation, elite racing on a very high level, and energetic crowd.
The enthusiasm was palpable.Great job Kyle [quote]Cool stuff wrote:
Cool stuff wrote:
kmaclam wrote:"Might stop by"??? You should change your moniker to Too Cool. What else do you got going that's going to be better than this?
Living 2.5 hours away, that's what I had going on.
You live 2 1/2 hours away & you said you "might stop by" Funny stuff, cool stuff. Anyway, what did you think about the meet & web cast?
Thanks to everyone who came out and supported last night! I saw there was another thread that asked what I learned from this whole experience, so I thought I'd jot a few notes down to those who were interested.
-Hoka was behind me 100% on this from day one. Before we could even finish presenting our business plan, they said yes. They're incredible for the sport, and I am proud to represent them.
-A lot of local coaches were extremely helpful in creating this event and rallying the support and fans behind it. I was able to invite all the coaches of Suffolk and Nassau County to the event personally at the respective section meetings. Many obviously passed on word to their kids, hopefully even more do before next year. Huge thanks to St Anthony's for allowing us to use their incredible facility, and Brendan Barrett of Sayville Running Company for pairing up with me on this.
-People really enjoyed getting the chance to race in the community miles ahead of the elites. We were really worried about sign ups, as just a couple weeks ago we were at ~30, but we ended up at ~140 racing. I think it was a nice little touch, and added to the atmosphere.
-I had Riley, Ford and Garrett commit to this event a year ago, and once you get a few good athletes the rest start pouring in. The guys race was never in jeopardy of not being deep. But things change A LOT in September races. My tentative field was constantly changing with people saying yes then no, or no then yes, and so many maybes. I completely understand why this is the case, because it is so late in the year and some people's bodies are barley holding on. However, from a fan's perspective, the hype of the event exploded once we could actually release the names for certain. You know when your favorite baseball team is going to play, but it's hard to follow when your favorite track athlete is.
-The women's race was hurting for a while. I was VERY nervous that we were going to have 3 girls on the track with no rabbit, but luckily things changed and we put together an awesome field. I had to beg a few quite a bit to come do it, but I was persistent, and I am glad I was. One race in September may not be worth training an extra few weeks for, but I think a lot of people felt two was. I think we got enough coverage this year that potential elites will know this option exists.
-That last bullet leads me right into me thanking David Monti and the NYRR for their support. We have 13 athletes who are racing in the 5th Avenue Mile on Sunday, and our goal was to compliment their event and provide more of a incentive for athletes to train late into the season and come to NY. They were behind us from the beginning, and had no issues with their competitors doubling at a much smaller, less established meet.
-Fans LOVED being on the track! I mean absolutely LOVED it! When I ran at the Sir Walter Miler, they were on top of us, and it was amazing. The crowd was going absolutely nuts, and I think the pictures and videos show just that.
-RunnerSpace was incredible. It was really important for me to be able to broadcast this meet for free live. Not only because the entire goal of the meet was to promote the sport, and that would reach more spectators, but because Hoka trusted a lot of marketing dollars in me to help get their name out, and I wanted people to see it. I saw the replays, and it looks like the stream was incredible and the commentating was awesome (How funny is Mike Rutt?). They did a great job.
-Final thoughts would be that I am super glad that I did this. I think the local community really enjoyed it, and would come back in waves next year. Hope more meets like this continue to pop-up. I have some ideas moving forward for the next couple years, but will need to take some meetings/phone calls to see if they're possible. Also, I've never gone out in 56 before (my 1500 pr was off a 59), but would do it again because I think the fact that the races went 3:53 and 4:29 means we'll have a lot more people lining up to come run next year. 3rd was the perfect place to finish--Good enough that the home fans were satisfied, but not too suspicious!
Looking at your results I saw that Gary Murhke was in the mile. How many people there do you think knew he'd won the first ever New York Marathon? And Sean Wade ran. I haven't seen his name in a result in years. Did he fly in from Houston just for the race or was he in the area?
I really like what Hoka has done for the sport. I'd love to patronize them but I just cannot see myself running in a shoe with all that padding. If you're talking with them see if you can talk them into adding a minimalist shoe line. I know that's like asking sushi chef for well done.
HRE wrote:
Looking at your results I saw that Gary Murhke was in the mile. How many people there do you think knew he'd won the first ever New York Marathon? And Sean Wade ran. I haven't seen his name in a result in years. Did he fly in from Houston just for the race or was he in the area?
I really like what Hoka has done for the sport. I'd love to patronize them but I just cannot see myself running in a shoe with all that padding. If you're talking with them see if you can talk them into adding a minimalist shoe line. I know that's like asking sushi chef for well done.
They did announce somewhere during Gary's race that he was a 'marathon champion' and yes, Sean Wade did fly in just for this race (49 yrs. old, was looking to break 4:20!!). Flew back home to Houston & will be back in NY tomorrow to race in Sunday's 5th Ave. mile. And thanks for the debreifing Kyle.
Thank you, Kyle, your team, the athletes, the fans and HOKA for helping to bring back the Mile. Well done ALL!