Hotober

Well the TC10 came and went. I ran a 59:30. The close reader will note that this way off my high goal time. I went out as fast as planned, but by mile three it became obvious that the heat and humidity would not allow for anything under 58:00. By mile five I knew the only goal left was to break 60 minutes. And I did that. It just wasn't my day.

I am glad I went out aggressively. I haven't done that in awhile. Also, given the context of the day (it was so very hot), I am satisfied with my time.

I placed third in my age group which speaks more to being in a weak age group (most 35 to 39 year-olds get slowed down by daddy duty) than anything else.

But this guy kicked ass. Maybe he'll get around to blogging about it. And this guy set a PR in the 5k and has already blogged a little about it.

Saturday, October 7 was a brutal, brutal day. The good people at Down the Backstretch do a great job of addressing the pattern of hot, too hot, Minnesota marathons. Click here to read more.

DtB also did a nice summaary of the TC 10. Click here to read it. Oddly, they neglected to cover my 71st place finish. Where's the love? I was only 13 minutes behind the winner Abdi Abdirahman.

But I love the quote below from the story. It comes from the winner of the race and pretty much sums up how we all felt that day.

Said Abdirahman of the conditions: "I didn't expect this to be this bad. It was horrible. It's one of those things, you can't control the weather. It's out of our hands. I was on good pace for five or six or seven miles but then it just got worse and worse."

And on a bigger scale, the furnaces that defined the Twin Cities and Chicago Marathons have generated a lot of publicity and debate in the running community.

There seem to be schools of thoughts emerging.
1. Marathon organizers need to do more to protect its runners. This would include the opinion piece listed above from DtB, as well as a piece Frank Shorter wrote for the NYT. Click here to read it.

2. Marathons are not meant for eveyone. Marathon organizers therefore need to screen its runners before letting them run.

Just like some people can't make a basket from twenty feet out or throw a perfect forty yard spiral, not everyone should think they can run 26.2 miles. Click here and here for more.

As someone who has just finsihed coaching a class for beginning to very experienced marathoners, I actually side more with the second school of thought. However, I do not believe lowering the time limit or having prequalifying standards is the solution. An inexpeirenced 3:30 marathoner is more likely to run himself into harms way than a veteran 5:30 marathon, in my opinion.

Rather, the culture of marathoning has to change. As a running community we need to get the word out that running a marathon is not just an individual decision, but a commitment. It is a lifestyle. Before someone plunges into running their first marathon, he or she should several half marathons first. I would recommend getting two years of base running in. Get to the point where you can easily run 45 miles per week. I don't care how fast you go, just how far, as you build base.

But now there is big money in marathons. You can market them as an experience. Something you can say you did, like take a guided tour up Mt. Everest or go bungee jumping.

To say that there has to be time standards for someone to run any marathon smacks of elitism. But to portray the marathon as "an experience for everyone and anyone" trivializes just how much work and sacrifices have to be made to run one safely. And there is where the health risks start.