Post-Boston

[Antonio247]

Congratulations again, EG! Great achievement and beautiful report.

I´d love to be able to take part in a marathon again but I´m not mentally strong enough to go through all the training it means and the physical and psychological effort the marathon itself involves.

Best of luck!

[marathondan]

Just caught up with your report and travelogue, EG. A lovely piece of writing -- thank you. Packed with wisdom both from you and others. The longest distance being the six inches between your ears, for instance. In terms of your sense of success / failure, I echo others that 6-8 months ago, your race was all but off. Most of your race was run on the (dark satanic) treadmills of the Home Counties.

And I still marvel that you can stuff half a minced cow down your face within an hour of finishing a marathon.

However, while not wishing to denigrate your report, the Jamie Pollock video was fantastic. I don't think I'd seen it before. I just watched it at work, twice, and both times had to put my hand over my mouth to suppress what I can only describe as a yelp of delight. Priceless.

[El Gordo]

Sorry Antonio -- I managed to miss your comment. Thanks for your kind words. Don't write off another marathon. You never know. Madrid is a tough one. Maybe aim for London, which is, er, easy. :o

Cheers Dan, and don't apologise for the Saint Jamie classic. I refuse to believe that people can't afford a mere 7 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAc8JooS3MY though I GUARANTEE that one viewing won't be enough. It's a glorious effort. Just a shame for him that it was into his own net. There were 4,000 of us going crazy just behind the goal and to the right, though it doesn't look like it from the clip. We weren't allowed right down the front.

Still no running, incidentally. I've well and truly lost my running mojo. I'll rediscover it, but it might take a bit more self-loathing.

[Sweder]

I missed the JP classic first time round - excellent stuff.
Reminds me that I still have a -1 scoring record from my days as a cumbersome yet willing centre back for the Falcons and Kingston Village My own goal was also a thing of beauty, out-stripping the centre forward to toe-poke the ball past our on-rushing, horrified keeper.

In my last match for the Falcons we won a penalty. We were 1-0 down and everyone wanted me to take it to erase my shameful record. The potential ignominy of missing it -and consigning us to defeat into the bargain - got the better of me and to a chorus of good-natured derision I declined. I regret it to this day.

'Self-loathing' - yes, plenty of that going on around here. I seem to be in self-destruct mode. I like the phrase; might nick it for a short piece on my own non-running - 'Fear and Self-Loathing in Northern Germany'. Bah.

[Bierzo Baggie]

I've only just got around to reading the Boston report as well. What a bumper feature-length treat. I love reading about these places I'm never likely to visit!

Particularly enjoyed the Boston history and the references to Dick Beardsley. He was partly responsible for my first ever run. When I was an 10-year whippersnapper I watched the inaugural London marathon on TV and Beardsley crossed the line first with some Norwegian fellow. Feeling very inspired by it all I called for one of my mates and we went for a run. I don't remember much else except that I was probably wearing a pair of normal trousers and at some point we crossed with a teacher from school who said hello and then creased up laughing.

Also remember Saltazar breaking the world record (New York?) and the next day finding out the course was incorrectly measured.

Excellent writing Andy. I actually prefer these long meaty reports because they're ones I'd be incapable of writing myself. I'm short and quirky me...

[El Gordo]

Thanks BB. I'm only sorry it took so long to post. I kept thinking I must have more to say about the race itself, but in the end, had to admit that I didn't. I could have included a lot more about the travelling, and actually ended up cutting stuff out. In particular, politics. I had a constant battle with M about what to listen to on the car radio. She favoured cheesy music while I developed an unhealthy fascination for talk radio, and the sprinking of bitter right-wing nuts who dominate the medium. While Obama continues to enjoy his honeymoon, it was a frightening reminder that there is still a semi-hidden rump determined to destabilise and rubbish everything he does and says. Some of the distorted analysis has to be heard to be believed. But anyway, I left that bit out in the final version. I also said little about the 2 or 3 day journey between LA and San Francisco, which was astonishingly scenic.

Re the first London marathon in 1981. I was at a party in Kensal Rise, NW London, on the Saturday night. As was the norm for parties I attended in those days, it went on all night. At around 8 in the morning, I decided it might be time to go home. A mate then suggested that it would be more interesting to go and see the first running of the marathon. So we wandered into town, and took our place aming the spectators. Can't recall where we stood. We must have seen Beardsley and the "Norwegian fellow" go past but I can't honestly remember. All I recall is being bowled over by the spectacle of thousands of people running through the streets of London. I believe there were only about 8000 runners allowed in that first year, though it still seemed like a lot to me. A big city marathon was a total novelty in those days. Unfortunately it didn't directly inspire me to start running -- indeed it just emphasised how distant I was from those types.

Who'd a thought it, eh?

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

A fantastic race and report yet again indeed, EG. That you transformed yourself from a write-off to a medallist is nothing short of astonishing. I well remember your report from a year ago when your phone beeped you a long-forgotten reminder on the day of the race, and the melancholy that provoked... so to turn it around the way you did is incredibly inspiring.

And Dan ... the dark satanic treadmills indeed! I shall be remembering that line for sure. My own treadie stands dark and forelorn in a dusty corner...


...but not for much longer.