Sunday 26th April 2015 was a great day for me and
the London Marathon. I have already talked about the joys of spectating in my
previous post, but after watching Gem running the London Marathon; I knew that
I needed to write about the marathon atmosphere that day and experiencing
watching someone you love achieve one of their goals.
On a national (and possibly international level) Paula
Radcliffe ran her final farewell marathon in
London that day- finishing in just under 2hrs 37mins. A phenomenal effort
considering the surgery Paula underwent in April 2013 and how she could barely
run after it. For loads of people finishing in under 2hrs 37mins would be an
amazing time; so it just shows how much of a world-class athlete Paula is, that
she could complete the marathon in this time “unprepared”. It got me thinking
about how the act of running is such an extraordinary thing. It is such a
simple action, yet to get faster we spend hours, days, weeks, months, years and
even decades trying to improve our race times!
We run for a whole variety of reasons, probably as many and
unique as humanity itself. For me it is to constantly challenge myself by
seeing how fast my body will let me go over 26.2 miles and for Gem it was being
able to complete a marathon despite studying and having an incredibly busy job.
So when I saw Gem running at miles 14 and 21 I was filled with a pride and joy
that I had never felt before. I suppose this is why people “crew”, to get that
feeling of supporting someone you want to do well. In my case that was
amplified by my feelings for Gem. I was
so glad that Gem got to experience such a wonderful atmosphere for her first
marathon. There were a whole variety of runners going round from fancy dress
elite runners (spider man and a leprechaun), a man bouncing two basketballs
around the marathon and someone running in a full blown tyrannosaurus rex
costume. This is what makes the London Marathon so special, the participation
of so many different types of runners as well as the money raised for such
great causes.
I have checked the good for age qualifying times that
runners need to achieve for other marathons and –besides Boston- London seems
to be the most generous in allowing people from a whole range of abilities in
at 3hrs 5minutes. New York has a minimum of 2hrs 55mins and Berlin is 2hrs
43mins for my age category. My dream would be to get 2hrs 40mins, then I would
stop looking at marathons as competitive events and run them more for enjoyment
or even maybe turn to ultras. So if I took myself to be a normal runner, then
qualifying for New York or Berlin could potentially be the pinnacle of my
running career. That is what I think makes London so unique, is that it is open
to whole variety of running abilities.
Yet London also seems to be able have an incredible elite
edge to it with Wilson
Kipsang and Eliud Kipchoge battling it
out. I think that is also what makes it such a special event; is the
ability for someone who could never even run six months ago to complete a
marathon alongside some of the world’s best runners. Furthermore, compared to other sports, there
is a tangible sense of comradeship about running a marathon even if you are
competing against another opponent. Unlike team sports the responsibility is
entirely upon you and therefore you cannot blame other individuals in your
team. Running is clear cut and simple, either you are faster than the person
you are competing with or you are not. I think this allows runners to give each
other a healthy amount respect (at least most of the time). Maybe that’s why
Kipsang was able to say this about Kipchoge after narrowly missing out on first
place, and personally I found this quite impressive:
"I'm happy for my friend to have won and
for me as defending champion to run a good time and get second place, I'm
really happy. It was a very tough race but a fantastic one."
Whilst watching the Gem and the thousands of other runners
go through the heart of London, I realised that I had also demanded a lot from
running but had not given very much back. Sure I had supported a variety of
charities through running; but this was far outweighed by the advice, support
and general good will people had given me on my running journey. Then there are
the unsung heroes- race organisers- of all the races we attend before going
into a marathon. The race organisers who dream up the idea of a race event
(that in some cases may last for decades), the vision to see this idea into a
reality and the drive to keep that particular event going year-in-year- out.
Just think for a second of all the activities that go into planning even a 10km
race these days; marketing, a medal, perhaps an online booking form, finding a
route, etc. This is only a small list of things that I can think of off the top
of my head, I’m sure there are many more. We, as runners, talk a lot about our
sacred personal bests and the running times we are aiming for, but we rarely
think about the people who organise these races that we use to prepare for big
events like the marathon.
Ultimately after watching the London Marathon I feel humbled
by how much more I have to learn about running, the titanic effort that people
from a whole variety of backgrounds put in to getting races organised and
cherish the fact that I am part of such an amazing sport.
No comments:
Post a Comment