Marathon Day

There are some things in life that I just can not comprehend.  Climbing Everest without oxygen (actually climbing Everest at all), deep sea diving without air, smoking, parachuting for fun, wearing a corset, making sure your partner never sees you without makeup, eating food (or food like substance) from McDonald's, eating offal .... Marathon running - I think running should be done on tennis courts or because there is a large, hungry beast behind you but otherwise ambling along suits me fine.

As I write the Boston Marathon is being run.  It was the first annual marathon to be run in the USA.  Today all the best women runners are from Africa and the second best are a mixed bag of nationalities.  They are lopping along making it look relatively easy and unremarkable, at least for now.  But I know that with the expected temperatures for today by 11 am they are going to be looking a lot less comfortable.  It is expected to be about 29C by the time they cross the line.  I admire them, I respect them and I know that I could never, ever do what they are doing.  It is not a matter of age because thirty years ago I could not have done it.  There is something different about people who enter these races.  Kirsty knows someone who is running today.  I have met someone who is running today.  They appear normal but they are different from those of us who do not throw ourselves outside our front door and head off on the road building up stamina, distance, times and hope.  They enter races to get credit for time and distance.  They pay their dues, financial and effort wise, and then they enter the big races.  Regardless of weather they head off challenging themselves all in the hope that they are going to make a personal best, if not win.

I have seen Bruce Fordyce, the eight time winner of the Comrades Marathon, a few days after the race.  To say he looked as if he was uncomfortable is to put it mildly.  Standing beside him at an intersection waiting to cross the road my feet ached in sympathy.  This, I thought, is not something to which I aspire.  If my feet want to do anything they want to be in warmish water being used to keep me afloat. In my late teens I attempted to do some jogging.  Let me just say that it did not go well.  I kept at it for a few weeks and came to realise that my body is designed for .... napping/walking/strolling/sitting/swimming but most definitely not for running/jogging.  My legs are to short (a poor excuse but one that I will go with) for striding.  Anyone who has watched me walk will know that my step is not wide. Now if there was a sport that called for short steps I'd be a front runner (no pun intended).

The BBC recently had a programme on what makes a world class runner.  They interviewed runners from Ethiopia and Kenya and also spoke to a teacher/priest who lives in the area where some of the world's best distance runners are from.  It is mainly, he maintained, about a natural ability and that thing that we refer to as determination.  He said that there are a fair number of kids that have the natural talent but it is the determination that separates the extraordinary from the talented.  It is that aspect of being an athlete that I most admire.  It is not enough to just be good or have talent you have to be determined to improve and have a desire to be the best you can be.  Anyone who is at the top of their sport has spent years getting there.  Rarely is anyone an overnight success.  Failing for these people more often motivates them than makes them resign themselves to being second rate.

I suppose that is something that comes about through personality and encouragement.  Then there is the factor of winnings but that is restricted to the few top performers.  At the ancient Olympics winners could literally rest on their laurels for the remainder of their lives.  The rest got to say that they were participants.  For all the back runners there are applauders who encourage them to reach the finish line.  Families and friends who cheer them on not only during races but when they go out at dawn to run before work or the family awakes.  I pull up the covers and snuggle - they pull on running shoes.  I shuffle off the bathroom - they stride down streets in the soft morning light.

The wheel chair race record has just been broken by a Canadian, Josh Cassidy.  The winner had abdominal and lower spine cancer which is why he is in a chair. Courageous young man. Thus are champions made.

These are the people we should be watching rather than the "Real Housewives .." or "Jersey Shore".  In the year of the Olympics it might just be time to turn our attention to the people who deserve our notice.  These are the role models that are really worthwhile.  Each person we see out there doing something that requires individual effort for a sense of personal achievement rather than a huge salary to catch a ball are the modern day sport heroes.  At least that is my opinion.