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Residents and visitors can expect some early morning road closures this Saturday and Sunday as runners of the the Asbury Park Half Marathon and 18th annual New Jersey Marathon wind their way through the city.

Approximately 2,000 runners will take part in the Asbury Park Half, according to the event website. The New Jersey Marathon will see 3,000 runners make their way through the city and back up to Long Branch, said race director Joe Gigas.

Traffic in the area will pause from time to time along the beach front and Lake Avenue but won’t be terrible, said Police Chief Mark Kinmon, who will be running the full marathon Sunday.

“We’ll be allowing traffic to get through when there are breaks in the race,” he said.

For the second year in a row, due to boardwalk reconstruction, runners will not enter the boardwalk and pass through the Grand Arcade.

The Asbury Park Half Marathon is part of RunAPalooza, a series of three races including the Asbury Park half, the Jersey Shore Relay Marathon and the Jersey Shore 5k. The races are a joint effort of the Jersey Shore Running Club and the Special Olympics News Jersey All of the races benefit the Special Olympics.

Saturday’s half starts in Point Pleasant Beach with two out-and-back legs going south to Bay Head before continuing up through Brielle, Manasquan, Sea Girt, Spring Lake, Belmar, Avon, Bradley Beach and Ocean Grove before finishing in Asbury Park.

Sunday’s full NJ Marathon will enter Asbury Park from the north end, over the Park Avenue bridge. From there, runners will head east onto Deal Lake Drive, north onto Kingsley Street and turn east again at Seventh Avenue.

For the second year in a row, due to boardwalk reconstruction, runners will not enter the boardwalk and run through the Grand Arcade on the southern route. Instead, they’ll stay on Ocean Avenue before heading down Asbury and Lake avenue and through to Ocean Grove.

On the way back, runners will pass through the casino building and onto the boardwalk where they will head west at Third Avenue, back north up Ocean and Kingsley avenues and around the east side of Deal Lake.

Mile markers 18 and 20 are both located in Asbury Park — two “hugely important agonizing places” since that is where most runners hit what is known as “the wall,” Gigas said.

“It’s a physical and mental issue,” he said. “Around miles 18 and 20 the little voice in your head that tells you you cant do this, starts screaming you can’t do this,” he said.

Those mile markers are placed in Asbury Park for a reason, Gigas said, as marathon runners love to run on the Asbury Park boardwalk and through the Grand Arcade, and a lot of spectators frequent the area, encouraging runners where they need it the most.

Two bands will be set up in the area to help runners along, he said.

NJ Marathon and Half Marathon runners historically raise between $1 million and $1.5 million each year to support various charities, he said.

Registration for the Asbury Park Half Marathon is closed save for a few “special entries” priced at $150. For more information, visit the event website.

Online registration for the NJ Marathon closed on the 20th and is at capacity, but slots are still open for the NJ Half Marathon and Half Marathon relay, which do not snake through the city. Registration for those events is available at the NJ Marathon runners’ expo, which takes place in Monmouth Park tomorrow and Saturday. For more information, visit the event website. 

[Photo at top taken from the NJ Marathon website.]

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