5.02
I ran a marathon last weekend. My time of five hours isn’t particularly fast, and I was overtaken throughout by middle aged ladies who didn’t appear to be exerting much effort. But, I managed to run all the way. Hmm, that needs qualifying: I managed to run between water stations, and when I say run, after sixteen miles I had regressed to shuffling like a zombie on amphetamines. Brains!
There was a relay team of Indians called Sikhs in the City, which included a gentleman who is 101. Seriously impressive.
Things I learnt, which would be applicable if I chose to do this again (not entirely sure yet whether I can handle it again):
Try to keep your running style constant. If you need to slow down, continue to move your knees as per your faster running style so that your impact doesn’t change. If you start shuffling (which changes impact from a heel strike to a flat foot strike), this will give you sore soles after the race.
Apply sunblock. Even in Scotland.
Don’t pace yourself against someone who is running as part of a relay. Or against someone wearing a singlet from a different marathon. Even if they look old and frail, and you totally reckon you can take them. You can’t.
Don’t pour water down the front of your shirt, to cool yourself down. This water will collect in the groin area, and look like you have wet yourself.
Carb loading is an excuse to eat lots and lots of pasta. O for Awesome. And it works – I never felt low on energy.
Don’t pick a marathon immediately after a bunch of accounting exams. Whoops. I had to concentrate on my exams, and didn't run in the last two weeks before the race. On the bright side, this meant I was extremely relaxed on marathon day as I was no longer studying.
Around 90% of the runners in my pace cohort were running for charity. I don’t understand the English predilection for raising money for a third party charity via physical activity.
You want to run a marathon, as a private challenge to the limits of your physical endurance? Fine. You're a bit mental, but whatever. So why do people link this to fundraising for charity? If you want to contribute to a given charity, I can think of less painful and more productive ways than running 26.2 miles.
If you are primarily focused on the charity, why not cut out the activity, avoid the hours of training, and give a wad of cash to the charity directly?
Maybe I am ignoring people’s desire to socially affirm each other. Thus if I run a marathon and you donate money to a charity as a result of my run, you are publicly acknowledging my effort. This in turn requires acknowledgement by me of your donation, so everyone gets to feel socially affirmed. If you can’t earn social capital by raising money for charity, you can earn social capital by donating money to charity. And it gets even more circular when two people running a marathon donate to each other’s designated charity.
There could be social cues within English culture, as I haven’t encountered this phenomenon to the same degree in New Zealand. Whatever the cause, I don’t get the overall link between private activity and public fundraising.
