CPTC’s Alan Ruben – a Hall of Famer, a former president, and generally a running legend – was featured in this year’s NYC Marathon program.  This year marked Alan’s 30th consecutive NYC Marathon.  Remarkably, 25 straight of those were sub-3 hours.  Alan’s well deserved spotlight from NYRR can be seen below.  Congrats Alan!

Text From NYRR Program:

The first time Alan Ruben ran the New York City Marathon, he thought it would be “a nice way to say goodbye” to the city. The Englishman had been living and working here for a couple of years and was about to head home. That was 1987, and he hasn’t missed a race since.

“It’s definitely my favorite marathon in the world,” says Ruben, 60, who moved to NYC for good in the 1990s and is a fixture in the local running community. He’ll run his 30th straight New York City Marathon on November 5, the 60th of his career, and his first at age 60+.

“They’re getting a lot harder now,” says the father of three, whose remarkable NYC streak includes 25 consecutive sub-3:00 performances, from 1989 to 2014. That sub-streak came to end after Ruben suffered a mild stroke and battled plantar fasciitis in 2015. He finished in 4:28 that year, but rebounded with a 3:12 in 2016.

Asked to name his favorite year running the five boroughs, Ruben cites 1988, when he was living back in England. “I decided to just fly over and do it,” he says. “After that I thought, ‘That was so good, I’d like to run every year.’

“I like the way the course is laid out,” he continues. “I love how you’re on the bridges with no one around, and then you come off the bridges, and there are crowds. There’s lots about the race I like.”