1987 Seaside Half Marathon

By Ernest Joseph – October 1987

As part of my preparation for ’87 NYC Marathon, which was my second; the Seaside Half Marathon on Sunday October 18th was on my schedule, two weeks prior to the marathon which was on Nov. 1st.

In its 10th year of running, organized by Ocean Running Club of South New Jersey; it is a fast, flat road race with beach and oceanfront views along the Jersey boardwalk and into Island Beach State Park.

Not to be confused with the event by the same name in Seaside, Florida, this race is run by many participants with an eye on gearing up for fall marathons in the New York and New Jersey areas.
The first running of this race was in 1976, organized by ORC. The Half Marathon is flat & fast. The newer course now takes you from beach to bay! Starting at the famous Beachcomber Bar & Grill, runners run south into Seaside Park with a few turns through the beautiful residential neighborhood before running alongside the bay. Runners will then go north through the neighborhood, loop back to the boardwalk and run to the north end of Seaside Heights until back at the Beachcomber. The runners then repeat the same loop twice.

My running background:
In March of 1986, I had finally committed to not only start running to keep fit, but train for my first ever Marathon in fall of ’86! Looking back, to start running at any distance in March leading up to running 26.2-mile race in first week of November, eight months later sounds crazy now, right? But I thought it was doable and created my own training plan.

Between March and April, I started running on Wayne Valley high school track, slowly increasing my distance up to 5 miles, running on the streets. My first race was New Jersey Waterfront 5 miler in Jersey City NJ on May 4th. I finished in 00:40:04 @ 8:01 min. pace.

Between May and August, I ran seven more races ranging between 5 milers and 10Ks: averaging pace between 9:18 min. to 7:08 min. pace.

Then on Sept 21st, I ran my first half marathon (Fitness Day half in Wayne, NJ) in 1:48:13 @ 8:16 min. pace, followed by 18-mile race in Long Beach Island, NJ on Oct. 12th in 2:23:11 @ 7:57 min. pace.

Finally on Nov. 2nd, 1986, I ran my first ever Marathon in NYC in 4:10:01 @ 9:33 min. pace.

Race:
I arrived at 8 am for the 9 am start. The weather was perfect: low 50s (F), slight ocean breeze, moderate cloud coverage.

Based on my training, I felt I should shoot for 1:45:00 half marathon @ 8:00 min. pace on this flat and fast course.

The race began along a long stretch of boards, headed south. I went out fairly quickly @ 7:30ish pace for the first 2 miles, but I felt like I was keeping pace well. The southward stretch along the boards ended with a loop through the streets and continued back north along that same boardwalk. At this point, I settled into my planned pace of 7:45 min. pace.

I finished first loop of the course and headed down the boards once again for the second half of the race. At this halfway point, 7:45 min. pace felt comfortable. With last 3 miles remaining and feeling very comfortable, I decided to push the pace to the finish line.
I finished in 1:41:00 @ 7:43 min. pace.

Post-Race:
Although my goal was to finish in 1:45:00, I was able to finish 4 minutes faster, thanks to perfect weather condition. I felt I was ready to run NYC marathon, breaking 4:00:00 hour barrier for the first time.

Two weeks later on Nov. 1st, I finished NYC marathon in 3:59:09 @ 9:08 min. pace. Mission accomplished!