Did anyone watch the 2012 London Olympic Marathon Trials?
Eight seconds. A lot can happen in eight seconds. It is the minimum time a cowboy must stay on the horse or bull for a scored ride in a rodeo.
The eight second length of a qualified ride was devised purely for the safety and well-being of the animals involved. I assume that includes the human animals. After eight seconds the horse or bull's bucking ability decreases because of fatigue, adrenaline loss, etc.
In order to prevent the animal from becoming overly stressed, the buzzer or horn will sound to signal the rider to end the ride and prepare to dismount. This keeps the animal's spirit high and healthy and keeps them from 'breaking' or taming down. I am not sure if that includes the human animals.
In the Olympic Trials eight seconds is how long Dathan Ritzenhein watched as Abdi Abdirahman took the third and final spot on the 2012 London Olympic Marathon team while he ran the last yards of the race. What a heart break.
Ryan Hall set the early hard pace, but Meb Keflezighi matched that pace, surged late in the race and held on to win by 22 seconds.
Well, my bucking ability has certainly decreased over the last few years and, while I haven’t had it tested, I’m sure I’ve lost a fair amount of adrenaline as well. That doesn’t mean I’ve lost my competitive spirit.
Take this morning’s long run, for example. We ran two laps around the Cherry Creek Reservoir. There is some unspoken rule that every hill must be contested and none of us want to be the first to back off the pace. The result is a lot of needless exertion. It is race-pace conditioning, which is probably a good thing for us.
Our focus is on upcoming races. Four in our group are running the Boston Marathon while two of us are running the Platte River ½ Marathon which will be held the same weekend in April. We all recognize the need to increase our long runs and today’s was about 19 miles at an average pace of about 7:17 / mile.
Some day I’m going to climb onto one of those mechanical bulls and see if I can hang on for eight seconds.
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