My mom sent me this video of the Boston Marathon course (anyone know how to embed this baby?) and while it was lousy footage, it was still really exciting to watch. I was trying to watch for the nasty Newton hills from miles 17-20 and felt my heart racing as we got into the last 3rd of the race. The music got me excited too, I think I'll have to find it for my playlist.
I had hoped to get a good feel for the course, but all I got was the feeling that it was really really long! I ran 22 miles a couple of weeks ago and that was long, and it felt long, but to actually watch 26.2 miles fly by and still take almost 5 minutes was a little intimidating.
I found this entry on a Boston Marthon blog site and felt like it spoke true to one of the coolest things about running. It's so true!
Q: Do you agree?
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Why is it so important to many of us to qualify for the Boston Marathon and, if possible, re-qualify and return to Boston? Because it's a thrill to achieve something meaningful, even -- or especiallly -- when it comes by a small margin.
For me to get to Boston the first time, I had to run the best marathon I had ever run. Being a middle-of-the-pack kind of guy meant my best marathon allowed me to qualify by six seconds a mile (3:33:20).
Six seconds a mile? That's one or two slow miles, one cramp, one pit stop, or one or two slow hills.
Several of my running friends, on their best days ever, had similar small margins of great success. For faster people, qualifying by larger margins could mean personal records as well, but frequent fast times could lessen some of the pressure, as well as the thrill of just qualifying.
Getting to Boston once (it took me nine years) hardly persuaded me that re-qualifying would ever happen.
So what do you do?
You try. You eat even more carefully. You lose more weight. You train smarter and over time you lose most of your running partners.
The years pass, miles and injuries accumulate, and failed opportunities to qualify become more regular.
Then on one day, one magical day, in one place, fitness, weather, and mental toughness come together again.
Another great effort produces another small margin of great success. The feeling of putting it all together again to achieve such a result at the edge of the limits of one's abilities is incredible.
Many articles decry the relaxation of Boston's qualifying times. Those qualifying times are high standards for most runners. For those of us who line up for the race on April 20, we are running Boston because we ran the absolute best we had ever run just to meet the standard.
That is what makes the Boston Marathon so important to us.
Local profiles, Training
The ties that bind
PermalinkComments (2) Posted by Ty Velde April 5, 2009 09:35 AM
One thing I have always enjoyed about marathon running is the camaraderie and community associated with it.
Everyone who’s ever run a marathon has their own personal experience, and while those who’ve never ran a marathon often react to you with a sense of awe; your fellow marathoners will more often than not, react with a sense of empathy. The reason being is that it’s your fellow marathoners who really understand what running a marathon is all about and what it really takes to accomplish what is both a very challenging physical, as well as mental, feat.
Therefore, whether you are an elite runner or someone who’s running for the first time, the experience of a marathon really creates a sense of community that forms an unspoken bond that exists between us all.
I can’t begin to count the number people I’ve met and bonded with over the marathon experience. Whether it’s on a plane, at a party or even a business dinner, when you’re speaking with someone and suddenly the subject of a marathon comes up, it amazes me how suddenly you can go from being almost complete strangers to old friends. When sharing stories and experiences ranging from training to injuries to race day, the conversation between two marathoners can just take off and flow.
On the bus to Hopkinton, I personally love speaking with people about their qualifiers, as everyone always tends to have a great story and have qualified in different races from all over the country and the world. This is also a great way to find out about other races (or qualifiers) and what they’re really like. Sure when you’re at the Expo you’ll see a ton of booths promoting a lot of races, but nothing beats getting first hand information from someone who’s actually been on the course and crossed the finish line.
One thing about marathon running is that there really does seem to be a feeling of mutual respect that transcends the community. Whether you’re an elite athlete or a first-time runner, we all know that marathon running is an intense commitment, as well as experience. Running a marathon instills a tremendous sense of personal pride that’s not necessarily associated with the “time”, but more importantly the accomplishment. As a result, it’s something that everyone who’s run a marathon understands and contributes to it fostering such great community.
However, a fundamental reason that I personally believe that marathon running fosters such a great community is because at the core of it all it’s an intensely personal experience. Unless you are a true elite runner, when you’re out on the course the person you’re really competing against is yourself. Sure, there might be those few people around you that you mark as the ones to beat, but in reality, these people are not competitors, but rather subconscious motivators. Therefore, when on the course whether you’re goal is to set a PR of just cross the finish line, the person that you’re really competing against is yourself. As a result, when you cross the finish line the result is a sense of tremendous personal accomplishment that not many other “life experiences” can compete with.
It’s these personal experiences that help to create the larger community that we’re all a part of. It’s these personal experiences that make you want to say “Hey, I’ve been there too”. It’s these personal experiences that encourage you to lend a hand or to offer words of encouragement when you see someone struggling on the course.
In the end, it’s hard to pin down exactly the one thing that brings us all together, but maybe that’s exactly the reason why the community of marathon runners is so open, dynamic, accepting and vibrant.
For me to get to Boston the first time, I had to run the best marathon I had ever run. Being a middle-of-the-pack kind of guy meant my best marathon allowed me to qualify by six seconds a mile (3:33:20).
Six seconds a mile? That's one or two slow miles, one cramp, one pit stop, or one or two slow hills.
Several of my running friends, on their best days ever, had similar small margins of great success. For faster people, qualifying by larger margins could mean personal records as well, but frequent fast times could lessen some of the pressure, as well as the thrill of just qualifying.
Getting to Boston once (it took me nine years) hardly persuaded me that re-qualifying would ever happen.
So what do you do?
You try. You eat even more carefully. You lose more weight. You train smarter and over time you lose most of your running partners.
The years pass, miles and injuries accumulate, and failed opportunities to qualify become more regular.
Then on one day, one magical day, in one place, fitness, weather, and mental toughness come together again.
Another great effort produces another small margin of great success. The feeling of putting it all together again to achieve such a result at the edge of the limits of one's abilities is incredible.
Many articles decry the relaxation of Boston's qualifying times. Those qualifying times are high standards for most runners. For those of us who line up for the race on April 20, we are running Boston because we ran the absolute best we had ever run just to meet the standard.
That is what makes the Boston Marathon so important to us.
Local profiles, Training
The ties that bind
PermalinkComments (2) Posted by Ty Velde April 5, 2009 09:35 AM
One thing I have always enjoyed about marathon running is the camaraderie and community associated with it.
Everyone who’s ever run a marathon has their own personal experience, and while those who’ve never ran a marathon often react to you with a sense of awe; your fellow marathoners will more often than not, react with a sense of empathy. The reason being is that it’s your fellow marathoners who really understand what running a marathon is all about and what it really takes to accomplish what is both a very challenging physical, as well as mental, feat.
Therefore, whether you are an elite runner or someone who’s running for the first time, the experience of a marathon really creates a sense of community that forms an unspoken bond that exists between us all.
I can’t begin to count the number people I’ve met and bonded with over the marathon experience. Whether it’s on a plane, at a party or even a business dinner, when you’re speaking with someone and suddenly the subject of a marathon comes up, it amazes me how suddenly you can go from being almost complete strangers to old friends. When sharing stories and experiences ranging from training to injuries to race day, the conversation between two marathoners can just take off and flow.
On the bus to Hopkinton, I personally love speaking with people about their qualifiers, as everyone always tends to have a great story and have qualified in different races from all over the country and the world. This is also a great way to find out about other races (or qualifiers) and what they’re really like. Sure when you’re at the Expo you’ll see a ton of booths promoting a lot of races, but nothing beats getting first hand information from someone who’s actually been on the course and crossed the finish line.
One thing about marathon running is that there really does seem to be a feeling of mutual respect that transcends the community. Whether you’re an elite athlete or a first-time runner, we all know that marathon running is an intense commitment, as well as experience. Running a marathon instills a tremendous sense of personal pride that’s not necessarily associated with the “time”, but more importantly the accomplishment. As a result, it’s something that everyone who’s run a marathon understands and contributes to it fostering such great community.
However, a fundamental reason that I personally believe that marathon running fosters such a great community is because at the core of it all it’s an intensely personal experience. Unless you are a true elite runner, when you’re out on the course the person you’re really competing against is yourself. Sure, there might be those few people around you that you mark as the ones to beat, but in reality, these people are not competitors, but rather subconscious motivators. Therefore, when on the course whether you’re goal is to set a PR of just cross the finish line, the person that you’re really competing against is yourself. As a result, when you cross the finish line the result is a sense of tremendous personal accomplishment that not many other “life experiences” can compete with.
It’s these personal experiences that help to create the larger community that we’re all a part of. It’s these personal experiences that make you want to say “Hey, I’ve been there too”. It’s these personal experiences that encourage you to lend a hand or to offer words of encouragement when you see someone struggling on the course.
In the end, it’s hard to pin down exactly the one thing that brings us all together, but maybe that’s exactly the reason why the community of marathon runners is so open, dynamic, accepting and vibrant.
2 comments:
I think that you find that in a lot of communities. I think that common experiences bind people. I've met a good friend here because I took up running. It is something for us to do and talk about together. But, I've made friends in other ways, in my major in college, in orchestra in high school, in Girl Scouts, in church, etc.. We all share some common interest, belief of experience so it is much easier to build relationships.
Yep, totally agree. I think there is just something special when what you share in common is rarer or really hard so there is a common respect. Like if you made the cut for a special choir or are really into a particular hobby like in that movie, "Prize Writers of Defiance Ohio" (is that what it was called?) where only a relatively small group of people do what you do, there's a greater level of respect because you know what it takes to do xyz.
I think that's why I feel such a connection between church friends because we all choose to live a particular standard and there's a lot of respect and understanding in that.
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