Author: The Dragonfly Swimmer Published: April 28th, 2011
A few days ago, a reader passed along a link to a brief online Q&A with a runner named Alex J. Taylor, of Somerville, Mass.
Alex is fast. He finished this year's Boston Marathon in 2:22:19, a PR.
That's not why the reader passed along the link, though. The reader passed along the link because she found some of the questions (obviously posed by a non-runner) amusing.
Questions such as, "How is Somerville as a jogging city?" And, "Why participate in such a grueling sport? Aren't there other sports that are just as fun but not as punishing?"
My favorite bit, however, came during Alex's response to the question, "How do you like the crowds drinking beer and passing out cups of water along the (Boston) racecourse?"…
The crowds along the Boston Marathon route are the best of any race I've ever been to. They're very supportive and they give a lot of support to local runners in particular. The running community is big in the greater Boston area, so I get to see a lot of familiar faces along the way of runners that aren't competing who come out to watch and cheer everyone on. My favorite person handing out food/water along the course was a little girl in Natick who insisted that her orange slices were getting lonely.
So this guy, clearly an experienced runner, shows up to run what is possibly the world's most prestigious marathon; takes off in a field of 27,000; follows an historic, landmark-filled course lined with hundreds of thousands of cheering spectators, including screaming college women; and crosses the finish line in a personal-best time, amid the spine-tingling roar that is Boylston Street. He does all of this over a period of hours, and his most persistent memory is…
A little girl in Natick who insisted that her orange slices were getting lonely.
That bit touched me, for two reasons:
1. It's adorable.
2. It says so much about the beauty of running in general, and marathon running in particular.
That thing, of course, is running's ability to clarify.
This is what many people, especially non-runners, just don't get about running: That if you do it long enough, and keep your mind open enough, it can bring certain seemingly trivial details into super-sharp focus. That it can make you notice things, and appreciate them — sometimes in much deeper ways than you ever expected to.
Every time it happens, at least to me, it gives me a little buzz. And makes me feel a little bit more alive. Little moments like the girl with the orange slices turn out to be not little at all. They're huge, and they always feel like gifts, from running to you.
Are there "other sports that are just as fun but not as punishing?" Maybe.
But maybe that's the wrong question.
Attention, Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Area Runners!
If you're running this weekend's Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon and 5-K — or, heck, if you just live nearby, come meet a few Runner's World staffers at the race expo this Saturday:
Amby Burfoot, signing copies of The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life
Budd Coates (9:00 – 5:00), promoting CoreSliders and signing copies of Run Your Butt Off!
Sarah Lorge Butler, delivering a talk on Run Your Butt Off!, at 9:00, then signing copies of the book afterward
Charlie Butler (10:00 – 5:00), signing copies of The Long Run and delivering a talk on the book's subject, Matt Long, at 2:00
Mark Remy (10:00 – 2:00-ish), signing copies of The Runner's Rule Book and The Runner's Field Manual
Where: Holiday Inn Allentown, 904 West Hamilton Street (click here for details and map)
Tags: Alex J, Amby Burfoot, area runners, best time, boston area, Boston Marathon, Boston Marathon route, Boylston Street, brief online, Charlie Butler, college women, crowds, deeper ways, drinking beer, experienced runner, familiar faces, favorite bit, favorite person, Field Manual, Finish Line, greater boston, greater boston area, grueling sport, Holiday Inn Allentown, j taylor, jogging, landmark-filled course, Lehigh Valley, Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon, Life Budd, Link, little bit, little buzz, little girl, Little moments, local runners, long run, Marathon, Matt Long, My favorite, Natick, orange slices, persistent memory, personal-best time, questions, race expo, roar, Rule Book, Runners World, running community, Sarah Lorge Butler, somerville mass, spectators, spine-tingling roar, Sports, super-sharp focus, That thing, The Little Girl, The Runner, The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life, trivial details, West Hamilton Street, World staffers, wrong question
Category Running |
Author: The Dragonfly Swimmer Published: April 27th, 2011
He never stood a chance.
If you happen to be a distance runner or a quadruped, there's an article that may interest you in the May 2011 issue of Outside magazine.
The article is titled "Fair Chase" and subtitled "On the plains of New Mexico, a band of elite marathoners tests a controversial theory of evolution: that humans can outrun the fastest animals on earth," and you can read it right here.
The framework for the article — let's pit some fast marathoners against a pronghorn antelope and see if they can't pursue the thing until it overheats and falls over — is a little gimmicky, but fun. And I won't give away the ending here.
The underlying idea is the theory that, as Outside explains, "our ancestors evolved into endurance athletes in order to hunt quadrupeds by running them to exhaustion." (This is called "persistence hunting.") Harvard's Daniel Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist, is among this theory's most visible proponents.
Well, with all due respect to Dr. Lieberman and his fellow experts: I think you're close, but not quite there.
My own theory is that our ancestors did indeed use running to hunt — not by running animals to exhaustion, but by cornering them in social situations and talking to them about running until they collapsed of boredom.
At which point the runners could surround the quadruped and devour it at their leisure, using the calories to fuel more long runs and speed workouts, which they could then describe at agonizing length to future quadrupeds, who would then collapse of boredom, etc.
You know. Circle of life.
A typical scenario might play out like this, at a gathering of our australopithecine ancestors, one of whom has buttonholed an obviously uncomfortable antelope by a crude, stone punch bowl:
* * *
Australopithecine ancestor: "Me been runner for long time. Me not training for anything right now. Maybe spring marathon. Whatever 'marathon' is. And 'spring.' You run? You have four leg. You probably run."
Antelope: [snorts]
Australopithecine ancestor: "Me bet you run fast. Me no run fast. Me more of jogger. Ha ha. But at least me out there. Me try to do many short run most time, then one long run some time. Also Yasso 800."
Antelope: [eyes dart nervously, looking for an out]
Australopithecine ancestor: "You barefoot runner? Me into barefoot running. Change life. Just seem more natural."
Antelope: [snorts, shudders]
Australopithecine ancestor: "You know where me like run? Savanna. Flat, pretty. Me feel like me can run forever on savanna. Me perspire, but that okay. You perspire? No? Ha. You look like you want perspire now. Anywaaaaaay… Me tell you about time me hurt leg?"
Antelope: [twitching, panting, scratching at ground]
Australopithecine ancestor: "Me try to run through hurt. No work. Hurt spread! Look, me show you where pain go…"
Antelope: [falls over, unconscious, bored out of its skull]
Australopithecine ancestor, to others: "Dinner ready!"
* * *
…Like I said, this is also just a theory. Maybe someday I'll test it. As soon as I finish that crude, stone punch bowl.
Attention, Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Area Runners!
If you're running this weekend's Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon and 5-K — or, heck, if you just live nearby, come meet a few Runner's World staffers at the race expo this Saturday:
Amby Burfoot, signing copies of The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life
Budd Coates (9:00 – 5:00), promoting CoreSliders and signing copies of Run Your Butt Off!
Sarah Lorge Butler, delivering a talk on Run Your Butt Off!, at 9:00, then signing copies of the book afterward
Charlie Butler (10:00 – 5:00), signing copies of The Long Run and delivering a talk on the book's subject, Matt Long, at 2:00
Mark Remy (10:00 – 2:00-ish), signing copies of The Runner's Rule Book and The Runner's Field Manual
Where: Holiday Inn Allentown, 904 West Hamilton Street (click here for details and map)
Tags: Amby Burfoot, antelope, area runners, australopithecine ancestor, Barefoot running, boredom, calories, Charlie Butler, circle of life, controversial theory, cornering, daniel lieberman, distance runner, due respect, elite marathoners, endurance athletes, evolution, evolutionary biologist, exhaustion, Fair Chase, fast marathoners, fastest animals, fellow experts, Field Manual, Holiday Inn Allentown, Hunting, jogger, Lehigh Valley, Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon, Life Budd, long run, long time, marathoners, Matt Long, My own, New Mexico, Our Ancestors, outrun, Outside magazine, perspire, pronghorn, pronghorn antelope, proponents, punch bowl, quadruped, quadrupeds, race expo, Rule Book, Runners World, Sarah Lorge Butler, savanna, social situations, speed workouts, spring marathon, stone punch bowl, subtitled, The Long Run, The Runner, The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life, theory, theory of evolution, typical scenario, uncomfortable antelope, United States, West Hamilton Street, World staffers
Category Running |
A few days ago, a reader passed along a link to a brief online Q&A with a runner named Alex J. Taylor, of Somerville, Mass.
