05.31.10
5 Things I Got from the 100th Anniversary of the First Marathon
Today’s Comedy Around the World goes to Athens, Greece. Home of the first ever marathon race, 26.2 miles.
When I signed up to run the race with the Leukemia Society’s Team in Training marathon fund-raising program, I pictured a big party. After all, that year marked the 100th anniversary of the running from Marathon into Athens during the war. The runner died at the end, but that was beside the point. This would be a big party! Lots of excitement! History, athletics, fun!
Was I ever wrong.
That race taught me a lot. From that fiasco I got:
1. A crash-course in perceptions. What was marketed as a majestic event was in reality a tragic disaster. Note to self: The Greek people are not into fitness or—apparently history, either. At least not the kind of history that involves fitness activities. Another note to self: it’s very, very bad to run a marathon in 80+ degree (F) heat with little water, and completely on pavement. Especially when all your training was done on the soft, snow-packed roads of rural Western Pennsylvania.
2. A better way to train. The guest speaker for our pre-race workshop was Jeff Galloway. He gave us his training regimen. I followed it in the next marathon I ran, in Anchorage. It was my most enjoyable marathon ever. If indeed there can be such a thing as an enjoyable marathon.
3. To trust that people will pull together and create a fun or at least a manageable event, even in times of crisis. As those of us in the back-of-the-pack clamored for water in the sweltering heat, sometimes picking up discarded bottles along the road, a funny thing happened. People who had intact bottles of water were sharing it with strangers. Runners noticed the other runners who were distressed and shared their water from their backpacks. Everyone was in pain, but some still found the strength to care for the others left behind. It was an amazing thing to see and a scene I will always remember.
4. What works for one sector, faction, or business may not work for yours. Like I mentioned in 1., the Greek people weren’t all that excited about this race. At least not by the time my fragmented body wandered into the finish area in downtown Athens, which was—ironically enough—in the Olympic stadium. I realized I may have been reliving the death scene that occurred at the end of the original marathon. There was no parade hailing me to the finish line. Instead, I had to wend my way around rush-hour traffic that had smog that was unbearable. I didn’t know which was more dangerous, breathing the smog or holding my breath.
5. Look at all the aspects, all sides of the issue. If I would have done my research, I could have known that Athens would be quiet that day. That I would have to motivate myself, rather than rely on the kindness of Greek strangers. I would have found out the race course, and that it included absolutely no grass or snow or other soft surfaces. I would have known that the water was only rationed according to your own tour group. There’s nothing like seeing an oasis of water bottles and dragging yourself there only to find out that it’s for another charity group, not yours. Had that group been less rigid and inflexible, they would have saved several of us runners from heat exhaustion.
Your “100th Anniversary” celebration is your way of creating a humorous atmosphere. Make sure the celebration that others join is the same one you’ve envisioned. And bring enough water for everyone! to others as you;re picturing it for yourself?
Inflexibility, inefficient facts,
