Nov 15, 2000

My Runner's World column for November laments the lack of races in the great gap between half-marathon and marathon. Inevitably the mail told of exceptions.

Floyd Devereaux wanted me to know about the November 18th DeBruyn 30-K in Daytona Beach, Florida. This race honors oldtime star Paul DeBruyn.

David Hayes wrote from Washington state about Tacoma's Resolution Runs. "This series of four races starts on January 1st and continues on the last Saturday of January, February and March. Runners can choose whether they want to run the kilometer series or the mile series -- five, 10, 15 or 20 kilometers or miles."

Racing by miles, said Hayes, provides "perfect timing and progression for a spring marathon buildup."

My favorite letter came from a race director who was moved by the RW column to start a new event. Peter Ellinwood reported from Concord, New Hampshire, "I'm creating a no-frills 'gap' race next spring with Boston-bound marathoners as my target audience. It will be a 'metric marathon' of 26.2 kilometers [about 16.2 miles, or 10 shy of a marathon].

It will be run four weeks before Boston. Ellinwood added, "Do you think this is too late?"

Not at all. In fact, the timing is near-perfect. By all the standard formulas for recovery -- one easy day per mile of the race or a day per kilometer -- this is plenty of time.

I thanked him for taking on this task. I wish more event directors would do it.

Don't be discouraged if entry numbers aren't large on the first try, I would tell them. These distances should catch on if advertised as marathon stepping stones.

###