Advice for Running the 2017 NYC Marathon

I have run the NYC Marathon 3 times, and three more marathons elsewhere. I’ve dealt with adversity: under-training, under-tapering, near-fainting, horrific cramps, and hunger so bad I nearly chewed my fingers. My last effort was nearly perfect, because I  finally learned how to prepare properly in the last few days before the race. Here's how you can do the same.

THE TAPER

Yes, it’s maddening. But no, you’re not ruining all your training by taking it easy these last few days. Relax, continue to recover, the race will come soon enough, and your legs will be ready. As one runner Tweeted, "undercooked is better than overcooked." Tapering too much is WAY better than tapering too little. Take it easy!

If you're in the NYC area and struggling with an injury and worried about it impacting your race. contact Jill Cherland via email at Cherland10@Gmail.com. She's skilled at acupuncture, muscle activation and other techniques for healing you and getting you to the starting line. She has fixed me up several times in the weeks before a race.

NUTRITION

The most important thing you can do in the last weeks before the race is to eat smartly, right through race day. I took this for granted and thus screwed it up badly in my fifth marathon, and had my most disappointing effort. I got it precisely right in my last, and ran my fastest final 10K ever, even though I hadn't trained very much. 

For the 7 days leading up to the race, food is fuel that will drive your engine on Sunday. Hydrate adequately (but don't overdo it!!), and eat LOTS of fruit, veggies, the right kind of carbs, and protein.

For more on this, read What To Eat in the Week Before the NYC Marathon.

WEATHER

The weather can change drastically right up to race time, so be prepared for anything! Regardless of the forecast, there are two things you need to know: first, the early morning wait before the start will be very cold; even if you are checking a bag, you have to turn it in about an hour before the start, so plan to have a throwaway blanket and lots of throwaway clothes. Second, the weather may warm up by mid-race, causing you to toss your hat, gloves and extra shirt – and then temps may drop again in the later miles, leaving you freezing. Thus, if there is any chance the weather will turn cold, carry with you an extra hat and gloves. For more on this, read What To Wear in the NYC Marathon.

THE START AREA

This area is crowded and uncomfortable, and you spend most of it waiting on a bathroom line and talking to other runners. If you are checking a bag, don’t wait too long to bring your baggage to the truck, it can be a chaotic process that leaves you sprinting to the starting line!

DO NOT WEAR HEADPHONES

I watched last year's marathon as a spectator and was utterly sickened to see that almost half the runners were wearing headphones. You are running in the greatest city in the world - with 2 million spectators of every nationality cheering you on, shouting your name, imploring you to keep going - and you're listening to Lady GaGa? Leave your iPod at home and embrace the experience.

THE RACE

There will be times in the first ten miles when you are very crowded; at times it will open up nicely, then get crowded again as waves come together. Don’t sweat it, and don’t waste a lot of energy zig-zagging. Go with the flow and know that it will clear out by about Mile 10, letting you run the final, most important 16 miles unimpeded.

There are three separate groups crossing the Verrazano - one on the upper left, upper right, and then lower - and they eventually join back up, one at a time. While you are assigned to a certain wave, it is likely you'll be able to decide, BEFORE THE START, whether you want to run on the left or right hand side of the bridge.  If the weather looks warm and sunny, try to start on the right side of the upper level of the bridge - this means you run several miles in the shade on 4th Avenue, while the left side people run in unprotected sun  - this makes a BIG difference. Conversely, if it is cold, you may prefer the sun, so run on the left side of the upper level.

HOWEVER, ONCE YOU CROSS THE STARTING LINE, YOU CANNOT CROSS FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER - YOU WILL END UP RUNNING EITHER 25.7 OR 26.7 MILES, SINCE EACH SIDE TAKES TURNS VEERING OFF FOURTH AVENUE FOR A HALF MILE.

Running across the Verrazano is an unbelievable experience - the views are stunning – NYC Skyline, Statue of Liberty, fireboats in the harbor spraying water. The first mile is straight uphill, but you don't feel it much since you're fresh and pumped; the second mile is a nice, rolling downhill, to the end of the bridge.

DO NOT WORRY that you will freak out on the bridge. I thought I might the first time, and I know others who felt the same way, but I've never seen anyone actually do it. When you are up there, it is not intimidating - but be forewarned of a phenomenon called "simultaneous lateral excitation" - thousands of pairs of feet hitting the bridge in the exact same direction at once cause it to shake, and it feels like the ground is shifting underneath you, like you're running in Jello. It takes about 3 seconds of nervous laughter till everyone gets used to it.

Coming off the bridge, you run straight up 4th Avenue for about 4 miles, then weave 4 miles through ethnic neighborhoods in Brooklyn. These crowds are the best you'll see - spirited, proud of their heritage and eager to share it with the runners. ENJOY THEM - they are what makes New York City, and the NewYork City Marathon, great!

The halfway point is on the Pulaski Bridge, going into Queens. It is fairly steep, but not very long.

You then run around Long Island City and onto the 59th St Bridge, the hardest part of the race. It is a long climb, somewhat similar to the Verrazano, though not quite as steep or long; it rises 110 feet over a 3/4 mile stretch to the top. There is no crowd support, and you're on the lower level, so it's dark and dank, the mood of all the runners drops, and you run seemingly forever before you even get over the water. I found it very hard the first two times, as I was not in top shape, but a bit easier the 3rd time.

EMBRACE the solitude and gear up for the last ten miles.

Beware of the down hill of the 59th St Bridge - it is a short, steep, spiraling drop, and the 3rd time I wrenched my back a bit by taking it too fast - nothing too bad, but any little thing at 16 miles is a big thing.

Running up First Avenue is fun - a rock star experience - the crowds are gigantic and boisterous and loud - but they are mostly obnoxious drunk young people, not nearly as interesting as the crowds in Brooklyn. Make sure not to get carried away by the crowds; many runners have ruined their race by going too fast down First Avenue. 

When you get near the top of First Avenue, past 100th St or so, the spectator crowds thin for the only time of the race; you cross a bridge at 138th St., then run a mile in the Bronx, then came across another bridge back into Manhattan.

You then enter Spanish Harlem and Harlem, which are interesting places to look around, and then end up on Fifth Avenue for a long run down to the entrance to the Park. The crowds on Fifth are fantastic because they are right on top of you; but they also shout "you're almost finished" when to you, three miles away is NOT almost finished.

You enter the Park around 5th and 89th, and 8 blocks into the park, you get a fantastic, long, sloping downhill, that is rudely followed by a short, steep uphill - be ready for it so you don't come to a dead stop. You then run down to 59th and out onto Central Park South, then go back into the park on the West Drive, to the finish.

A runner video.

A virtual tour of the course created by a 2010 runner using data from his GPS system.

An ING "Runner Cam" that appears to by someone who drove the course.

A view from a dashboard camera from someone who drove the course (you won't see any cars!)

SEEING FRIENDS AND FAMILY 

Read our post, 8 Ways to Support Your Loved One in the NYC Marathon, for info on how to make sure your friends and family see you during the race.

CELEBRATING AFTER THE RACE

After you recuperate for an hour or two and re-hydrate and begin to feel human, you will not want to sleep - you will want to celebrate and talk about your achievement. Find a great place to have a terrific evening, and WEAR YOUR MEDAL proudly. I highly recommend these places, who promise to roll out the welcome mat for marathon runners:

The Distillery is at 52^nd and Ninth – about a kilometer from the finish line.  It has great food, terrific cocktails and craft beers, and a great ambience. They had a blowout bash last year, full of runners and their families all day and night.

Closer to Penn Station (take the 1 train downtown to 28th St) is Mustang Harry's, a large facility that will be showing all your favorite sports teams, has an excellent line-up of drinks and a solid menu of comfort food. Call them at (212) 268-8930 or reserve on Open Table.

Have a great run!

What to Wear While Running the 2017 NYC Marathon

This is not fashion advice. But if you want to be comfortable and not have clothing be a hindrance to your best effort, I have a few words of advice to impart.

For more general advice about the NYC Marathon, read this.

Once you've finished this article and decided what to wear, pack into one giant bag every single thing you need on race morning - right now - this includes your gels, your watch - every single thing - and then you add the bib and chip when you get it. You think you're anxious now? You'll be out of your mind at 4:30 am on race day, and in no position to hunt for any must-have items buried in your closet.

[[Have you thought as much about your diet as you have about your clothing? Read What To Eat in the Week Before the NYC Marathon.]]

The most important thing is what you wear closest to your skin; the weather should not impact this choice. Avoiding chafing is the top priority. You should wear on your body whatever you wore during your successful long runs. Not merely the same type of outfit, the VERY SAME OUTFIT. The only way you can be sure the t-shirt/shorts/socks/jock/underwear/bra is suitable for you to run 26 miles in is if you have worn the exact pieces on an 18+ mile run before. (As I note below, I often change the shirt closest to my skin during the race, so you may need several trusty t-shirts).

With your primary outfit chosen, now you need to figure out the outer layers, to deal with the weather.

Regardless of the forecast, the tearly morning wait on Staten Island and on the Verrazano Bridge before the start will be very cold - windy, you not moving much for several hours, on the waterfront - did I say very cold?

Even after reading this, you'll say on Monday, "I didn't think it would be THAT cold."

When you arrive at the waiting area near the start on Staten Island, you will have (i) the outfit you plan to run most of the race in, (ii) additional layers that will accompany you for parts of the journey,  (ii) throwaway clothes and blankets.

Think of yourself as the Space Shuttle, fully laden at launch and jettisoning superfluous parts as you go.


BOTTOMS

Generally for this race, I don't wear anything on my legs other than a pair of shorts. If your legs tend to get cold, you may decide to add a pair of tight sweats/capris for your whole journey. My personal choice, when I add anything beside shorts, is an Under Armour thigh-hugging bottom you wear under your shorts that extends half way down your thigh; you'll be taking a chance on wearing something new close to your skin, but I can't imagine them causing you a problem, especially if you wash and dry them once first.

If you're going shorts only, you should consider having a pair of throwaway sweats/long underwear / pajama pants (my personal choice) / Tylek pants (on sale at the Expo) to wear up on to the Bridge, and even for the first 2-3 miles, till you warm up - at the apex of the Verrazano Bridge, you will be 230 feet in the air, with harbor winds blowing, and you'll not be warmed up at all. COLD!!

TOPS

For the upper body, I always wear a large singlet with my race number and nickname written on it as my outer layer.

For most races, I start wearing two t-shirts and the singlet, and, just for the run on the Verrazano, a large shirt over all of it. Of course, if it's very cold, you may need more, like a light sweatshirt.

Once I got over the bridge, I lose the outer t-shirt.

If things heat up, at some point around 6-13, I take off everything, toss the first (sweatiest) layer, put back on the middle t-shirt, and then the singlet.

At the halfway point, I meet my family, and perhaps put on another fresh t-shirt closest to my skin, then the singlet. I can't tell you how good it feels to take off a soaked shirt and replace it with a dry one when you have two hours yet to go. Sure, this is easier for guys to do, but most gal runners I know are quite comfortable stripping down to a sports bra.

Write your name on your outer shirt! Better yet, write a nickname that you are fond of. If your name is Kelly, you'll hear thousands of shouts for Kelly, will never know if they're for you, and they won't be very enthusiastic. On the other hand, if your nickname is Twinkle Toes, then you'll know the shouts are for you, and they'll be enthusiastic. Or just write something funny or inspiring on your shirt -  the crowd will engage you.

HEAD/FINGERS

It probably won't be so cold that you need a ski-cap, but a head band covering your ears will likely be useful. I don't wear gloves - I wear white sweat socks on my hand, so my fingers can touch each other.

BE PREPARED FOR DRASTIC CHANGES

Now comes the most critical part of my advice.

The weather may warm up by mid-race, causing you to toss your hat, gloves and extra shirt – and then clouds or wind may very well cause temps to plunge in the later miles, leaving you unbearably freezing. Consider keeping a shirt wrapped around your waist, and at the very least an extra pair of gloves and a head warmer in your pocket, or have a spectator available to meet you with them in the later miles. A friend gave me this advice based on his run in NYC, when he thought he might drop out because he tossed his gloves and his hands nearly froze. A month later, I ran Philly, and it was 26 at the start, warmed up nicely, and I tossed everything, only to find myself running along the river with fingers that were painfully cold, threatening my ability to continue - then I realized I had heeded his advice and had a spare pair of socks in my back pocket, saving the day.

In a worst case scenario, ask someone in the crowd to give you gloves or a hat – believe it or not, someone will.

POST RACE CELEBRATION

After the race, you will not go back to your room and sleep. You will be buzzing with adrenaline, and will want to celebrate and talk about your great achievement. These two places roll out the welcome mat for marathon runners:

The Distillery is at 52^nd and Ninth – about a kilometer from the finish line.  It has great food, terrific cocktails and craft beers, and a great ambience. They had a blowout bash last year, full of runners and their families all day and night.

Closer to Penn Station (take the 1 train downtown to 28th St) is Mustang Harry's, a large facility that will be showing all your favorite sports teams, has an excellent line-up of drinks and a solid menu of comfort food. Call them at (212) 268-8930 or reserve on Open Table.

Advice for running the NYC Marathon; where to meet after the NYC Marathon

It is Daylight Saving Time in NYC this weekend - you get an extra hour of sleep. But be forewarned that iPhones should not be trusted as alarm clocks this weekend. Don't ask, just don't trust them. 


Because there is no official family reunion area this year, I am getting a lot of traffic to this blog from runners looking for a post-race NYC Marathon meeting spot. 

Thus I have re-ordered the paragraphs to address that issue first; then I discuss info about pre-race nutrition, the start area, the course, where spectators should watch, etc.

After Race– keep walking after the finish! You have little choice, since it’s a walk to exit the park, but you cannot lay down; you need to keep blood flowing. Drink lots of water, and eat the food they offer you, even if it’s the last thing on your mind. Have an indoor meet-up place to meet, because it will be very cold and it will take your family longer than they imagine to reach you.


Runners will likely exit the park at 72nd and Central Park West. Meet-up possibilities include:

New York Sports Clubs (NYSC.com) at 73rd, half block west of Central Park West, or 62^nd St. half block west of Broadway; you could pay $10 and use the shower while waiting, and meet them in the lobby.

Trattoria Sambuca on 72nd St, on the south side, a half block west of Central Park West

Cosi Sandwich Shop, 2186 Broadway (77th St.)


Starbucks, a block west on Columbus Avenue, at 67th, 73rd, 76th, or 81st.

Celebration- After you recuperate for an hour and re-hydrate and begin to feel human, you will not want to sleep - you will want to celebrate and talk about your achievement. I highly recommend these three places, all clients who promise to roll out the welcome mat for marathon runners:

The Brickyard Gastropub is at 52^nd and Ninth – about a kilometer from the finish line.  It has great food, terrific craft beers, and a great ambience – and NO STAIRS; I know the owners, and they say several runners have reserved tables, so it should be festive. Call them at 212-767-0077 to reserve, or email them at Info@BrickyardNYC.com.

Mustang Harry's is at 29th and 7th; take the 1 train from the Upper West side to the 28th St station. It is a large place with room for everyone, including about 200 on the first floor alone. Call 212-268-8930 to make a reservation.

I have run the NYC Marathon 3 times, the last in 2007. I’ve since run Boston, and Philadelphia twice. The 3 in NY I ran in 5 hours; the next two close to four hours; and the last was my best effort of all, as I ran 4:28 on little training after getting over pneumonia. I’ve dealt with adversity: under-training, under-tapering, near-fainting, horrific cramps, and hunger so bad I nearly chewed my fingers. Andyet I can't wait to run it again this year!

I’m so eager to run another marathon because, as my last race showed, I’ve learned how to prepare properly in the last few days before the race. Here's how you can do the same.

The Taper – Yes, it’s maddening. But no, you’re not ruining all your training by taking it easy these last few days. I tapered too much the 1^st time and not enough the 2^nd; not enough was far worse. Even as I got ready for my 5th marathon, I was frantic that the inactivity would haunt me in the race. Part of the anxiety comes because heavy training puts you in a steady zen state, and as you cut back, you come down off a high. And you want to start the race NOW, prove to yourself you’re still fit enough, and get back that high. Relax, continue to recover, the race will come soon enough, and your legs will be ready.

The Nutrition – the most important thing you can do right now is eat smartly the rest of the week. I screwed this up in Boston, and had my most disappointing effort; I could have solidly broken 4:00, but ran 4:04. I got this precisely right in Philly last year, and ran my fastest final 10K ever, even though the lack of training had me believing I’d walk from Mile 15 on. For the next 5 days, food is fuel that will drive your engine on Sunday. Avoid alcohol, hydrate adequately, and eat lots of fruit, veggies, carbs and protein. On Friday and Saturday, overload on the fruit and veggies, particularly ones high in potassium, including bananas and sweet potatoes with the skin on.  Eat small snacks until late on Saturday night and even on Sunday morning, whatever you think you can tolerate. Bring small snacks to munch on during the race. You should know by now what you can eat and still run.  You cannot eat a last meal at 6 pm Sat night, a small breakfast at 6 am on Sunday, and then expect to run a strong 26 miles ending around 2-3 pm on Sunday. That was my method in Boston, and that's where I nearly chewed my fingers at Mile 20. You should also consume a gel every 4-6 miles. If you have never tried gels, I confidently recommend Hammer Gels, from Hammer Nutrition; you can buy them at JackRabbit sports on 14^th St. I’ve turned half a dozen people on to them on race day and everyone has loved them.

The Weather – right now, it looks very good – cloudy and a high of 50 degrees F.  This can change drastically right up to race time; the first two times I ran, on the morning of the race they projected partly cloudy and a high of 60; each time, it was sunny and in the low 70s by noon.  Using current forecasts, there are two things you need to know: first, the early morning wait before the start will be very cold; you have to turn in your post-race bag about an hour before the start, so plan to have a throwaway blanket and lots of throwaway clothes. Second, the weather may warm up by mid-race, causing you to toss your hat, gloves and extra shirt – and then temps may drop again in the later miles, leaving you freezing. Keep at least an extra pair of gloves and a head warmer in your pocket, or have a spectator available to meet you with them in the later miles. In a worst case scenario, ask someone in the crowd to give you gloves or a hat – believe it or not, someone will.

The Start Area - it is crowded and uncomfortable, and you spend most of it waiting on a bathroom line and talking to other runners. Don’t wait too long to bring your baggage to the truck; in 2007, this was a chaotic process, but I’m sure they’ve improved it.

The Race – If you have an ambitious time goal, do your best to be near the start of your wave. I've  started further back and no one was monitoring bib numbers; while it may be different closer to the front,  you should be able to move up past your assigned number. Unless you start near the beginning of a wave, there will be times in the first ten miles when you are very crowded; at times it will open up nicely, then get crowded again as waves come together. Don’t sweat it, and don’t waste a lot of energy zig-zagging. Go with the flow and know that it will clear out by about Mile 10, letting you run the final, most important 16 miles unimpeded.

There are three separate groups crossing the Verrazano - one on the upper left, upper right, and then lower - and they eventually join back up, one at a time.

If the weather looks warm and sunny, try to start on the right side of the upper level of the bridge (green?) - this means you run several miles in the shade on 4th Avenue, while the left side people run in unprotected sun  - this makes a BIG difference. Conversely, if it is cold, you may prefer the sun, so run on the left side of the upper (orange?).

Running across the Verrazano is an unbelievable experience - the views are stunning – NYC Skyline, Statue of Liberty, fireboats in the harbor spraying water. The first mile is straight uphill, but you don't feel it much since you're fresh and pumped; the second mile is equally downhill, to the end of the bridge. Then you run straight up 4th Avenue for about 4 miles, then weave 4 miles through ethnic neighborhoods in Brooklyn. These crowds are the best you'll see - spirited, proud of their heritage and eager to share it with the runners. ENJOY THEM!

The halfway point is on the Pulaski Bridge, going into Queens. It is fairly hard, but not that long.

You then run around Long Island City and onto the 59th St Bridge, the hardest part of the race. It is a long climb, somewhat similar to the Verrazano, though not quite as steep or long; it may be 3/4 mile to the top. There is no crowd support, and you're on the lower level, so it's dark and dank, the mood of all the runners drops, and you run seemingly forever before you even get over the water. I found it very hard the first two times, as I was not in top shape, but a bit easier the 3rd time.

Beware of the down hill of the 59th St Bridge - it is a short, steep, spiraling drop, and the 3rd time I wrenched my back a bit by taking it too fast - nothing too bad, but any little thing at 16 miles is a big thing.

If you ever find you need a bathroom stop, the Manhattan side of the 59th St Bridge always has a long line of porta-potties for which the wait is usually not bad.

Running up First Avenue is great - a rock star experience - the crowds are gigantic and boisterous and loud - though mostly drunk young people, not as interesting as the crowds in Brooklyn. First Avenue has a slight incline the whole way. Make sure not to get carried away by the crowds; one elite runner famously ran a 4:34 mile on First Avenue because of the excitement, and did quite poorly the rest of the way.

When you get near the top of First Avenue, past 100th St or so, the crowds thin for the only time of the race; you then run a mile in the Bronx, then came across another bridge back into Manhattan. I've worn headphones for this 4 mile stretch only in some races.

You then enter Spanish Harlem and Harlem, which are interesting places, and then end up on Fifth Avenue for a long run down to the entrance to the Park. The crowds on Fifth are fantastic because they are right on top of you; but they also shout "you're almost finished" when to you, 3 miles away is not almost finished. You enter the Park around 5th and 89th, and 8 blocks into the park, you get a fantastic, long, sloping downhill, followed by a short, steep uphill. You run down to 59th and out onto Central Park South, then go back into the park on the West Drive, to the finish.

Friends / Family -  The runner has to find the spectators - if they simply stand at some random spot and look for you, odds are overwhelming that they will miss you, since many runners look the same and in your running get-up you don't look much like you do when they usually see you. So I always knew where they would be and ran right up to them; it gave me something to think about! They also got a distinctive mylar balloon so I could spot them a few blocks away.

My support group was ambitious and knows the city well, so they met me in 3 places, at Miles 14, 18 and 23. I always met my group at:

Long Island City (approx 13.5 miles) on Vernon Blvd. Between 47th and 48th (on the right hand side of the runners), right outside the Vernon/Jackson stop on the 7 train.

Then, they took the 7 towards Times Square and switched at Grand Central to the Lexington Line UPTOWN 6 local to 103rd St and walked back to 101st St, and met me on the northwest corner (runner’s left side) of 101st  and First Avenue (Mile 18). 

Then they walked across 101^st St and met me on the northeast corner (runner’s left side) of 101st and Fifth Avenue (Mile 23).

The good part of this arrangement is (1) Long Island City is less crowded and easy to get to - the meeting spot is right outside the subway station, and (2) It allows for three spots; you REALLY appreciate seeing them at Mile 23, and it's a great place to view the race.

The bad part is (1) they have to move quickly to get from stop 1 to 2; if you run a 9 minute pace, it's only about 38 minutes, and they have to take the 7, switch to the 6, then walk 3 avenues east; but it is doable, my family has done it 3x, with kids in tow, and never missed me; the reason they go to 101st is that First Avenue is very, very crowded, particularly at the streets of the subway stops; and (2) it is a LONG walk - about 2.5 miles - from 101 and Fifth across the park to CPW and down to the meeting area around 72nd St. It will take them about 50 minutes, while you'll finish about 27 minutes later at a 9 minute pace.

A less ambitious plan would be for them to see you in LI City and then take the 7 to the R train in Times Square; then take the R uptown to 59th and Lexington, walk up to 6th Avenue and watch you in Mile 25 along Central Park South; then it will only be about a one mile walk to where you exit the park.

Have a great run!

Search is Dead, Long Live Gourmet Content

Three years ago I founded Dulcinea Media, a human-powered search alternative, on the premise that most Internet users cannot find the information they need online, and that search engines will never match the ability of a human curator to find the best content. At the time, this was a contrarian view. A  report by Pew Internet in January 2005 had shown that 75% of Internet users were satisfied with search engine results, and most pundits believed Google and Wikipedia would dominate the online information landscape forever.

In the past three years, the market has warmed to my view that uncurated, general search engines are a less-than-perfect tool for finding information online. More recent studies from the USC's Center for the Digital Future showed that user satisfaction with search results declined to 62% in 2006, and again to 51% in 2008. A survey commissioned by Yahoo! curiously issued a damning indictment of search engine results: 85% of initial search queries fail to return the information users were seeking, causing the users to try and try again, resulting in "search engine fatigue." A study from the UK exposed as a myth the notion of a “Google Generation” of young people with native ability to find information online.

Next, Nicholas Carr, who famously asked “Is Google Making Us Stupid?", and a number of other columnists bemoaned the reality that most users today read an Internet that is a mile-wide and an inch-deep. The center of their media world is a technology driven algorithm and “the wisdom of crowds” that simply uncover the same recycled headlines and updates from a slew of news sources. Google dipped a toe in the “human-powered” waters to tweak some of its search rankings, although it still accords technology most of the weight in the equation. Roger Schank, an artificial intelligence expert from Yale University, reversed his 30-year-old prediction that we would create machines as smart as humans in his lifetime. Schank came to recognize that "[h]umans are constantly learning. ... [e]very new experience changes what we know and how we see the world." Schank attributed this to "an unconscious indexing method that all people learn to do without quite realizing they are learning it."

Now a growing chorus of observers is acknowledging that search engines often fail the user. The impetus is the rise of “content farms,” which assure that search engines are only going to get worse at delivering quality results on the first search results page. Demand Media, Associated Content, Mahalo, Bukisa, eHow, HubPages and a voracious pack of others are paying freelance writers a modest per-article fee to create tens of thousands of articles each day. These companies excel at getting their content to rank high in search engines, regardless of quality.

The biggest challenge with these sites, paradoxically, is that some of the content is actually good, and most of it reads well. But, as Richard MacManus of ReadWriteWeb wrote after analyzing Demand Media’s content, it “lacks passion and often also lacks knowledge of the topic at hand.” Worse, the quality varies greatly from article to article – these brands stand for nothing other than “we create lots of content cheaply, SEO it superbly, and monetize it well.” Since no flashing neon lights warn “keyword-ridden trash” for weak submissions, the average Internet user does not know that the article was written in 20 minutes by someone with no expertise on the topic.

Many pundits agree that this spells trouble for search engines, but differ on further implications. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch sees the “end of hand crafted content.” In his view, the “fast food content” created by content farms has produced a “race to the bottom situation, where anyone who spends time and effort on their content is pushed out of business.” Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures is more hopeful. He sees search engines being displaced by social media tools, where, “with the help of machines, our friends and trusted sources” will tell users what content matters.

What I see is that this avalanche of fast food content will lead to the “clarion call” that I predicted, in a July 2008 article  would cause a “flight to safety.” Internet users will turn to the "new portal" - trusted sources that consistently deliver “gourmet content” - important, relevant, reliable and comprehensive information, from a wide variety of resources across the Internet. The only sites that will succeed at this are those that rely on a human touch. For all the dismissive talk about Yahoo, its audience is massive - because it gathers content from around the Web, albeit of inconsistent quality across the verticals.  Companies that aggregate and organize content in an elegant way, and combine that with their own proprietary, high-quality content, will inherit the position at the top of the Web food chain that search engines abdicate.

So where is Dulcinea Media in all this ? Naturally, planning to be one of those trusted sources, or perhaps an engine that powers the new portals to which users flock. We are still executing  on the business plan we created three years ago. findingDulcinea now offers Web Guides to the best information alone about more than 700 broad topics, and we’ve created thousands of Beyond the Headlines and Features articles that provide a full context view of news stories. A Spanish-language sister site, encontrandoDulcinea, replicates much of this content in Spanish.

To make all this content easier to access, we’ve introduced SweetSearch, a custom search engine that harnesses Google’s technology and the 100,000+ hours of Web site evaluation that is the bedrock of findingDulcinea. SweetSearch returns results only from a “whitelist” of 35,000 sites that we’ve evaluated and approved. And we are tweaking SweetSearch to ensure that it remains the best search engine for students, and indeed, the only one they can use effectively. We've also introduced SweetSearch4Me, which is the only search engine that displays prominently high quality sites created for younger learners.

As our audience continues to grow steadily, we’ve also found that our “best customers” – those who visit our site the longest and consume the most pageviews, and thus are most likely to return – are college, high school and middle school students. And thus we focus our content on subjects that would be of interest to teachers, librarians, and students.  We presented at two national conferences in the fall - the AASL conference for school librarians, and the NCSS conference for social studies teachers - and we received an overwhelmingly positive response to our products.  We learned there is a critical need in the marketplace for free products that promotes effective, efficient, safe and responsible use of the Internet, and that ours fit the bill magnificently. And we've also had some very encouraging discussions with forward-thinking media companies about partnering with us to help make them trusted sources for content from around the Web.

We remain steadfast in our principles that (i) we will not use technology to aggregate links for Web Guides or articles; everything will pass through the prism of human judgment; and (ii) we will never compromise on the quality of our product, which will all continue to be created by our full-time editorial staff or subject-matter expert freelancers, and edited by a full-time editor.

To address scaling issues while holding form to these principles, we plan to introduce a program early next year in which we invite librarians and educators to submit content. Practitioners of these professions are trained to find, evaluate and recommend outstanding information resources, and library Web sites have always been the closest comparable to our Web Guides. We envision findingDulcinea and SweetSearch becoming a repository of the knowledge and insight of tens of thousands of librarians and teachers.

And we’ll stick with that vision, for as long as it takes to make it a reality.

From low expectations, great satisfaction

As I've written before, Marathon Fever is highly contagious. In 2004, two colleagues dragged me to the start of the NYC Marathon. Since then, I've run 5 more marathons, and have recruited a dozen first-timers. Days after my Boston Marathon last April, my very good friend Liz Perlman opened the door: "hey Mark - I've been thinking alot about your marathon shove. Your love of it is really contagious..." Soon I had persuaded her to register for the Philadelphia Marathon, by promising to run it with her. I had decided that I wanted to run only one more serious marathon for time, and then run several each year in a casual mode, with first-timers or people just having fun. So I started to look for an early marathon for my final serious run, to be followed by a casual stroll with Liz in Philly. While I ran 4 half marathons over the summer, my training was not very consistent. In September, a spate of minor injuries that I was too busy to properly address were followed by a nasty virus. In early October, 7 weeks before the race, I ran 5 miles of a half marathon with Liz before telling her to go ahead. I struggled mightily to breathe, and ran finished in 2:34, 46 minutes off my best. The next day, I was in a doctor's office contemplating a diagnosis of pneumonia and a chest x-ray pocked like a shooting range target. My "serious race" was out the window, and even a casual run Philly seemed highly unlikely. Fortunately, I was able to use an elliptical and stationery bike despite my condition, and soon both the pneumonia and x-ray cleared up. But things at findingDulcinea are more exciting than ever; we attended several national educator conferences down south and are pursuing some enormous opportunities, and I struggled to find time for the training I desperately needed, and didn't do a single run over 12 miles, and only about 5 runs of 6-12 miles. The few runs I did get in were ugly, since I didn't find time to stretch adequately beforehand. But two episodes told me I might be able to compete; one was the night before I went to the doctor for a definitive reading of the x-ray; I was so anxious to convince myself I was OK that I put myself through a vicious routine of calisthenics and fast miles, and held up very well. A week later, I ran 7.5 hard miles nearly as fast as I could a year ago, when I set a PR in Philly. Not wanting to leave my new convert in the lurch, I decided I may accompany her for 15 miles and then walk the rest of the way. I set an internal goal of 4:38, the average of my best & worst times so far, but would have been thrilled to break 5:00. A friend told me that when you are undertrained, hydration & nutrition become ever more important. Because I had fallen down on that front in Boston, I spent the past two days eating and drinking lots of good stuff and lining up the perfect breakfast for today. The race weather was utterly perfect. It was very crowded early on, and we ran the first three miles in 10:45, 10:30 and 10:15. I felt great, but worried that this would be as fast as we run. The next 5k was done in close to the same time. Then we picked up steam, running a 9:20 mile. Recalling that running miles 6-9 too fast in Boston came back to haunt me, I reined us in, and we soon were back to steady 10:00s. When we hit 10 miles, I realized I was in less distress than I had ever been at that point in the race, but the 3rd lesson I learned in Boston was not to celebrate too early, since there I very quickly went from thinking I'd break my 4-hour goal by 10 minutes to thinking I wouldn't finish. But our steady pace and stress-free feeling continued till Mile 19, when I was far beyond the distance of any training run and began to worry about running in a quality way for another 70 minutes. I focused only on the next half mile, and took that approach all the way in, never looking ahead more than 800 meters. Around 22 miles, I realized Liz was gaining strength, so I became determined not to hold her back any more than necessary. I realized that at our current pace, we'd just miss 4:30, and focused on that target, a half mile at a time. We finished in 4:28:48, and were utterly thrilled. I realized that the last 10k, which I thought I would largely walk, I had run faster than I ever had before, and our splits of 2:12 / 2:16 were the closest I had come to running even halfs. The realization that I can run decent marathons without adequate training was a big surprise. But fortunately I am focused on the realization that breaking 4:00, which I nearly did in Boston but which seemed remote as I struggled this fall, is very much within my reach if I have a healthy few months, and I plan to go after it hard early next year.

A Digital Defense of School Librarians

Books are giving way to e-books; newspapers to news aggregators; encyclopedias to Wikipedia. And that is why we need librarians, especially school librarians, now more than ever.

If you think that librarians are archaic, you’re most likely thinking of a 1950s bespectacled stereotype. Librarians are no longer – if they ever were – those hushing and shushing guardians of books. They are media specialists, guiding children and adults through every form of media, from books to databases, newspapers to blog posts, and even from YouTube to Twitter.

In the libraries of old – the ancient days of 1990, say – mastering the Dewey Decimal system was enough to get you started on your research. But there is no card catalogue 2.0. In order to use the Internet as a library, you need 21st-century research skills: the ability to pick out reliable sources from an overwhelming heap of misinformation, to find relevant material amid an infinite array of options, and to navigate the shifting ethics of creative commons and intellectual property rights. As good as your kid may be on Facebook, she is not born with a digital M.L.S. These skills are learned, not instinctive, and the only way for students to learn them is for someone else to guide and teach them.

This seems as elementary as the ABCs – but apparently nobody’s told the school districts. Librarians and teacher librarians, who are double-credentialed, are being driven out of their increasingly stripped-down libraries. Painful as it is, it’s no surprise to come across a tweet like Shankhead’s: “being an engaged school librarian, at least in my neck of the woods, now means being an ‘Austerity Specialist.’ Whatever it takes.”

I’m not sure what it takes to convince the school districts of common sense, but it definitely takes librarians to teach students how to evaluate credibility, create content of their own, and conduct research in their increasingly interconnected world. And it might take the SKILLs Act, a bill in the House of Representatives, to ensure we still have school librarians to train the next generation.

Students will create and consume online content, and even social media will find a way into their research. Should a student trust a blog as a source in a paper? If not, then how about a blog on The New York Times website? A blog run by an online magazine? Can they use collaborative technology, like wikis? Even teachers need help answering these questions. There are no official guidelines to using the Web, and even if there were, they would change by the minute.

As the information landscape becomes more and more complex, why would we abandon our professional guides to it?

A curated search engine for students

Most educators today struggle to harness the potential of technology and the Internet, which have only just begun to change the skills that students need to succeed.

David Ligon's post on "New Media Literacy," is a comprehensive look at the opportunities and challenges 21st century teachers face. It is exhilarating - and terrifying. As Joyce Valenza and Doug Johnson recently wrote in the School Library Journal blog, "School librarians, as we once knew them, may no longer be relevant. And, yet, this is undoubtedly the most exciting time in history to be a librarian."

I agree emphatically. In my school days, evaluating the accuracy of information was rarely part of the mix - if it was in the library, it was accurate. To fully develop critical 21st century learning skills, students will have to be taught how to find, evaluate, use and communicate information gleaned from a dozen credible sources, chosen out of the millions of resources available a fraction of a second after the click of a "search" button, and in countless other places. It is a transformative moment in the history of our education system.

So how do we teach students these critical skills ? When they conduct online research, most students heavily on major search engines, and review only the first few results. Students sense that some results are better than others, struggle to distinguish effectively, and worry about wasting time on the wrong one. So they put their faith in the search engine, hoping it has somehow placed the best results are the top.

This is not something that can be overcome in a 30-minute tutorial. Just as students develop writing skills by reading hundreds of great books, they learn to recognize a credible Web site by using hundreds of them, and learning from the experience. Teachers and librarians should refer students to the best Web resources, and let students devote most of their energies to distilling it and communicating the information they find.

With that in mind, our first product, findingDulcinea, directs users to credible and comprehensive information online about thousands of subjects. It is accessed through both an internal search function and by rooting through the category-driven tree-structure. After we spent 75,000 hours over 18 months creating it, we realized all this information we had amassed could be accessed in a manner that was more consistent with established user behavior.

And thus was born SweetSearch, a custom search engine that is derived from our work on findingDulcinea. SweetSearch only searches 35,000 Web sites that have been evaluated by our staff. It does not include results from the unreliable sites that often rank high in other search engines and waste students’ time. You know those hundreds of bookmarks you have to lists of great sites selected by teachers, librarians and subject-matter experts ? Think of SweetSearch as a giant, searchable repository of all of them.

This curated pool of Web sites allows students to choose, from a list of credible results, which ones are most relevant to their research, rather than spend much of their time deciding which sites are worth their consideration.

We launced SweetSearch in February of this year and have been improving it ever since. We've been gratified to see usership grow dramatically in recent weeks. Most encouraging has been the fact that every day, we see more school librarians linking to SweetSearch from the school library Web site. Some examples can be found here and here.

We invite the educational community to help us curate SweetSearch; please send any suggested additions or deletions to SweetSearch@DulcineaMedia.com