Babylon's Ali Caruana defends Suffolk Marathon title; Long Beach's Ryan Scrudato wins men's race

While the weather wasn’t quite as "‘picture perfect" as it was a year ago — with gray clouds in the sky and a hint of rain hanging over the late October morning —  the day still couldn’t get much better for 35-year-old neurologist Ali Caruana from Babylon. Caruana won her second consecutive Suffolk County Marathon on Sunday in Bay Shore.

“It was a little more windy this year, but it feels good” said Caruana,  who ran the 26.2-mile course in 3 hours, 5 minutes, 17 seconds. “I love this course. It’s worth it.”

Ryan Scrudato, a 30-year-old from Long Beach, won the men’s marathon in 2:46:57.

Runners began their journey at the Babylon LIRR station, moved east on Montauk Highway and ran over the Great South Bay toward Captree. They then ran back over the bridges toward the finish line in Gardiner County Park in Bay Shore.

That turnaround, Caruana said, was the hardest part of the course.

“It’s mile 21, when you crest the first little bridge,” said Caruana, who works at Stony Brook University Hospital and won last year’s race in 3:00:41. “You look ahead and you still have a ways to go, the wind hits, and you’re always tired.”

Though rain was forecast for the run earlier in the week, the wet stuff held off for most of Caruana’s run — with only stray droplets hitting the ground as she crossed the finish line. Needless to say, this lack of falling moisture was a welcome development.

“I think the wind would have been worse,” she said. “I was more glad that it wasn’t windy. I think we got the calm before the storm and then the wind started picking up. I wasn’t so worried about the rain, as much as the wind . . . The first 15-17 miles were perfect conditions.” 

Caruana will continue to rack up marathon miles as the fall progresses. She plans to run the New York City Marathon on Nov. 6, her first try at that longtime run, and she’ll run the California International Marathon on Dec. 4. It’s certainly a lot of running, but after some initial debate, she decided that she couldn’t decline defending her Suffolk title.

“I wasn’t sure, because I’m running New York in two weeks, but there’s nothing like running in your old town. So it was kind of a no-brainer to do it again . . . I’m from Babylon, so I felt like I had to defend my title.”

Running two marathons in 15 days may seem like a tall task, but Caruana is undaunted by it. She probably would have run almost just as long a distance Sunday as part of her NYC Marathon training, so why not try and defend a hard-fought title?

“I probably would have run [about] 20 miles if I hadn’t done this,” she said.  

Though she doesn’t love setting specific goals for races, preferring more to live in the racing moment, Caruana said she’d like to run the New York City Marathon in under three hours.

“I think I’m there. I think it’s possible,” she said. “I know, with the adrenaline and everything about New York, that should make it a little bit easier.”

Men’s winner Scrudato, an English teacher at Renaissance High School for Musical Theater and the Arts in the Bronx, said he started to cramp up during the 18th mile, needing to nurse the condition the rest of the way.

“I was just trying to get in at the end,” Scrudato said.

When the cramp made its unfortunate appearance, it became less about winning and more about controlling the pace.

“[You have to] ease off a little bit and try to get through in one piece,” he said. “I just wanted to get through without stopping.”