quote:<HR>Originally posted by jpattee:
I ran Steamtown in 2004. At about 20 miles I was on pace for a 3:40 and my legs went...ended up 4:10. The majority drop in elevation all happens in the first 6 or 7 miles. All that early downhill running really hammers the quads. So, don't make the mistake I made and expect a gradual decline that is spread out over 26 miles. Train correctly for it (uphill and downhill runs), run the first stretch using your watch so you don't go out to fast and you could put down a pretty good time. Plenty of runners from my area love Steamtown. I plan on going back properly trained next year to see what I can do.<HR>

is it at altitude also? something else that you have to consider with some of these "downhill" races is that alot of them start higher than many of us are use to. I'm dealing with "sucking wind" right now vacationing.

I ran my PR at Steamtown in 2004 (3:24:24). The expo speakers warn you not to go out too fast for the first 7 miles. As was mentioned, most, if not all the drop in elevation occurs in the 1st 7-8 miles I think. The rest is reasonably flat, but there is 1 or 2 of the toughest hills on the course at around mile 23 through 25. The final 3/4 mile is perfect decline and makes you pick up speed toward the end.

Train on downhills and don't go out too fast, and you'll do real well.

I ran Chicago in 2004 (2:51) and Steamtown (2:46) in 2005. Neither of these was a PR and I was coming back fro an injury at Chicago. As I recall much of Steamtown's descent is in initial miles and I did go out pretty fast and slowed considerably by the end. It's a fast course, but I don't think the downhill gains you too much time unless you are really good at running down hills... As a point of reference I ran Virgina Beach which is pretty flat this Spring at 2:47 (with headwind) - so I don't believe Scranton's downhill helped me much... That said, one of my running buddies had a huge PR in the 3:10s at Steamtown and many people use it as a BQ. Myself, I think I would prefer a course that is flat or rolling hills or only slightly downhill for a PR.

Ray

Hi There,
My name is Jim, Im also running Steam Town this year and a few from our club are comming as well,

We all were asking the same question how fast is steam town, After contacting the race director, He turned my question over to Jon Sinclair, One of the coaches for Steam Town, in his email he basically told me to expect 0 to 7 minutes from the course, It was also mentioned to start very slow like already told above,

I appreciated his email but that was not the answer I was looking for, I was hoping to get more from the course beacuse it was all down hill, Trying for Boston myself.

Still I took it a step futher and compared the times from other finishers from last years times, and compared the same people from other marathons around the country, yep he's right on the average its about 7 minutes...

Hope that answers a few questions Jim
Good Luck, I'll come in around 3:30 myself,

Just Look for a small group of people freezing to death with sun tans, that will be us ( From Florida ) Burned up now though