Modern times, ancient race

The New York City Marathon, which of course is modeled on the ancient Marathon of Greek times, is using modern technology to keep runners’ friends and families up on exactly where the runner is as s/he passes the Marathon kilometer markers.

So I can tell you how my brother Dave is doing, because I’ve gotten emails with his progress.

NYRR Alert Service brought to you by Road Runner High Speed Online
Event: ING New York City Marathon
Runner: David Yourish

Below are the latest runner’s results:
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Location: 5 Kilometers
Time: 00:41:51.30
Pace/mile: 00:13:27.49
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Location: 10 Kilometers
Time: 01:11:03.00
Pace/mile: 00:11:26.47
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Location: 15 Kilometers
Time: 01:41:53.35
Pace/mile: 00:10:55.93
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Location: Half-Marathon
Time: 02:26:26.35
Pace/mile: 00:11:10.71
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All times are unofficial. Times may vary in post race official results.

Please note: This e-mail was sent from the NYRR Automated E-mail Notification System. Please do not reply.
You receive this alert because your e-mail address was added to our notification list by a runner or yourself.

Not his best time, but not bad. And fascinating that I’m getting emails every five kilometers. Far more interesting than watching it on TV, too. I know some people do, but I’m not that masochistic.

It might have been better, though, if Dave had alerted me that he was putting me on the email list. I thought the five emails were junk and was marking them as such before my curiosity got the best of me.

Should be about time to hear how he’s doing again.

Update: Nice pace after the first five kilometers. I think he’ll finish at 11-12 minutes per mile.

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Location: 25 Kilometers
Time: 02:59:41.75
Pace/mile: 00:11:34.25
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Update 2: Uh-oh. Is he running out of steam?

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Location: 30 Kilometers
Time: 03:44:30.00
Pace/mile: 00:12:02.63
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Update 3: Ooh, this is so exciting. Dave’s maintaining his pace.

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Location: 35 Kilometers
Time: 04:22:53.70
Pace/mile: 00:12:05.22
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Update 3: Yes, I know he’s my brother and you may not care, but this is my weblog, my rules.

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Location: 40 Kilometers
Time: 05:00:07.90
Pace/mile: 00:12:04.66
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Update 4: FINISHED!

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Location: Finish
Time: 05:17:14.00
Pace/mile: 00:12:06.47
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And my brother has another marathon under his belt.

Hey, I ran a 5k race with him once. Or was it a 10k? I don’t remember. I walked most of the way. I’d only just quit smoking the month before.