Marathon Videos for Spring 2017

It’s the end of January and for many runners they have begun or are beginning marathon training for the major Spring marathons; whether it be in the UK, Europe or the US. Whether it’s your first marathon, you are still chasing that golden personal best or fundraising for a great cause; marathon training can be tough. From the initial euphoria of clocking up the mileage, it can quickly become a very tiring enterprise. What seemed like a relatively easy plan to follow can become a slog and the long weekend runs can start to seem like out of body experiences, where low-blood sugar and overall tiredness start to play tricks on the mind.

This isn’t to seem negative about marathon training, far from it, I enjoy the consistency and purpose to one overall cause. I may have gone a bit over the top this year by avoiding cross-country to not get injured for the London Marathon, but there is something I find so amazing about how all-consuming marathon training is. That’s not to say that training for 10k or half marathon races is easy, but there just seems to be something about trying to run as fast as you possibly can over 26.2 miles that leads us on an endless path to see how far we can really push ourselves.

Nowhere is this more true than when we are training. It sometimes feels to me as though the training is harder than the marathons we run, as well as the races leading up to it. I sometimes wonder after running a marathon whether I felt more tired than I did after my heaviest training week leading up to the race. Besides the general fatigue that we all experience, there are  the inevitable ‘obstacles’ that we encounter on our training journey; work commitments, injury, missing key races, finding accommodation near enough to your particular marathon, illness, the list goes on.... It is to this end that I wanted to share the videos (and in one case a radio clip) that I found most interesting and inspiring in relation to marathon training. So whether you are injured, chasing that personal best or just setting out on your first marathon; I hope these videos help you with your running.

  

The Runners: The reason why I like this film so much, is because it is so down-to-earth. There is no one struggling to the race line, mid-grimace and determined to smash their previous race time. Instead we see a variety of different people explain, whilst they are running round a park, why they like running and what it does for them. There’s no thumping/ cheesy music or commentary; just the interviewer and the runner discussing what running means for them in their lives. To me that’s where this short film truly shines, it is the humanity that shines through each interview. Whether it is someone talking about depression or someone discussing a disagreement with their partner; it’s all there warts and all. It may not have an easy overall message to deliver to its audience, but this film goes a long way to showing us why we all run for such different reasons. 

 WhyRun?: This radio clip is very similar to The Runners video that I wrote about above. Adhanarand Finn goes  on a meandering journey to discover just why, when it is contrary to all our comforts and sometimes even desires, we want to go for a run. To paraphrase my favourite line from his talk: 'I got tired of telling people that I didn't run to get fit, but got fit to run'. What he uncovers through this short talk is that through this consistent activity of running day-in, day-out to train for a race; is that we achieve something spontaneous (and possibly joyful) through the sheer discipline of running. Finn argues that we have always been born to run- citing the ‘persistence’ running theory- and in fact our modern races are merely artificial constructs designed to play out this evolutionary drive. Finn concludes that by running the marathon we look deep into ourselves and this enables us to deconstruct our own preconceived notions of who we really are; very deep!

  

Rick Hoyt:  For anyone running a marathon to raise money or simply as a challenge, this video is for you. It tells the story of Rick Hoyt, whose son was disabled and decided that he would take his son running with him one day. This decision then evolved into Rick running half marathons, to marathons and then ironman races with his son. The times that Rick achieve are impressive for someone just running on their own, but what makes it truly phenomenal is that Rick ran these times with his son. It’s very hard not to be impressed by  this father’s love for his son and how hard he trained for his son. 

Steve Jones:  In the 1970s and 1980s British running had some incredibly talented runners. Steve Jones was one of those runners and is notable for some of his amazing marathon races. This clip demonstrates the sheer ferocity that Jones ran his races. The other thing that I think the video shows is what we can achieve when we are in our best running shape. It’s that moment during a marathon training or the marathon itself where we feel that we can carry on running forever; or clawing back runners who have gone off too quickly at the beginning of the race and are now slowing as you catch them. Most importantly, and like the Redmond video below, it shows us why we should never give up.

Derek Redmond:Whilst I wouldn’t necessarily classify this video as a ‘favourite’ one to watch, it is definitely something that happens to all runners. Whether it’s the frustrating injuries that we suffer during training, the niggle that suddenly erupts into an issue that forces you to revaluate your running goal for a particular training cycle or the injury that curtails your race; this video sums up the pain that we sometimes go through as runners. A particular touching moment is when Redmond’s dad joins him on the track to help him hobble to the line. I personally think we all need a hug now and again when we get injured, right?  

Jo Pavey:  I included this video partly because Jo Pavey is running the London Marathon this year, but mainly because I think she is such a great runner. What I think it can show to any runner is that no matter what your age, if you put in the hard work then you will eventually be rewardedh with the goal that you have worked towards and in some cases better than you expected. I am not exactly young myself and I know runners who are far older than me, who have achieved far better running times. What makes Pavey’s achievement even more remarkable is that she only given birth 11 months before the win in this video. So there you go, no excuses!

Paula Radcliffe Documentary I really like this documentary and you can find so many moments of inspiration from it. Not only did Radcliffe shatter a number of marathon records, but she was able to bounce back from the setbacks that she encountered along the way. Notably by winning the New York Marathon after her painful experiences at Athens in 2004. The final part of the documentary, showing the London Marathon’s history, made me particularly excited. Mostly because it is the first time I will be running the London Marathon.

Bob Graham: One of the things I want to do as I get older is move my focus of running away from purely being on the road, to exploring the beautiful British countryside. I have completed the National and Yorkshire Three Peaks challenges and I think they are some of the best bits of running I have done, particularly because they are so different from road running. I would encourage anyone to do some sort of fell or mountain running in the UK, as I believe it will greatly enhance their perspective on road running.

 Yes I Can Paralympic 2016:  Positive and motivational, what more could you want for an advert for the Paralympics and athletics in general? In a touching, funny and energetic music video this advert for the Paralympics challenges what we think we can and cannot achieve; with three simple words: ‘Yes I Can’.

Paralympics 2012  When we think of the Olympics we usually think of the glory and the triumph of our favourite athletes winning a medal. In my humble opinion, we rarely think of the dedication and sacrifices that those athletes go through to the four years prior to those Olympic events. Channel 4’s 2012 Paralympics advert takes us through the journey that those Paralympians went through to take part in London’s historic games; giving us a brief insight into why these sports people were competing at the Paralympics. What I love about the video is how it forces you to revaluate your assumptions about disabilities and what disabled people can do.

Nowness video on Paula Radcliffe: This video is a combination of the radio clip by Adhanarand Finn and the Paula Radcliffe. It gives off a surreal feeling of being on a run itself, whilst you listen Radcliffe's explanation for what running feels like to her. Like Finn's exploration it tries to grasp the true meaning of running, whilst also exposing the paradox of trying to expose something that by its very essence is elliptical. This is what I like about the video, and running as well, is that feeling of being aware of all your senses but realising that you are not really thinking about anything; and in that moment you are truly in the present, not going over the day's events.

A more practical part of Paula's commentary is about how she deals with the pain of pushing her body to the limit, such as how she counts to 100 to take her mind how far she has to go or how hard she is running at that particular moment.  It was interesting to hear her explanation about how she can get her mind to switch off from the pain and unintentionally alluding to Tim Noakes's Central Governor Theory. Showing again how important mindset, as well as the connectionbetween mind and body is, in relation to running.

Rocky: I may be admitting too much information here, but Rocky had an incredible influence on me during my teenage years. This was primarily because I had never known about the Rocky franchise or the satire of the famous montage video that defined the series. I am not ashamed to say that it was one of the things that got me into rugby, to have a very brief spell at attempting to train for boxing and now enjoying marathons. For anyone that is training for any particular sporting goal or objective in life this is the film that keeps you going. I think we all deserve at some time in our lives that chance to achieve our million to one shot.