Happy Birthday to Me!

Numbers are arbitrary.  13.1 – 26.2 – 49 – 50.  It is the meaning we attach to them that matters.  Few dates are sacred.  Just because calendars start on January 1, doesn’t mean you have to wait until the New Year to start something. 

It is the same with distance.  The foot as a unit of measure has existed since the Romans ruled the world, but the actual length varied from country to country.  If marathons were based on my bare foot, they would be 25.1 miles long.  Oddly enough, that is about how long the marathon was prior to the London Olympics in 1908, when the Princess of Wales moved the start within the private grounds of Windsor Castle (so her children could watch the start) and the finish in front of the Royal Box.  If I were King, you’d all run marathon PRs.  If you vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true.

Charlemagne tried to standardize the foot as 1/6^th the distance between the tips of the fingers on his outstretched arms, but that never caught on.  Here’s an interesting idea for a handicap race; a 10,000 foot race based on each runner’s foot size. 

A meter is one ten-millionth the distance between the equator and the North Pole.  The first idea of the meter came about in 1668, but the length was not universally recognized until about 1790.  This is one reason why Phidippides died after he ran from Marathon to Athens.  There was no meter and, therefore, no 10,000 meter race for him to use as a tune-up for his marathon.  Poor guy.

I celebrated my 49^th birthday this Tuesday with a Phidippides Track Club workout; 3 times – 1200 meters / 400 meters / 200 meters.  What a great way to start my 50^th year on Earth.

On Wednesday Mary and I attended the national showing of Spirit of the Marathon II:  Rome.  It is an inspiring movie.  It follows seven athletes as they prepare for, and run, the Rome Marathon in 2012.  These are not elite athletes.  They are ordinary people leading ordinary lives, but their stories echo the challenges we all face.  It made it so much easier to get up early Thursday morning to go running. 

My daughter saw a preview for the film which prompted one of her friends to quip, “Do you think anyone ever goes to see movies like that?!”  There were about 50 people, including several from the Rocky Mountain Road Runners, at the showing. 

There was an introduction to the movie by Jeff Galloway (1976 Olympian in the 10,000 meters).  I remember when Jeff spoke at a Phidippides workout in 2001 while on tour promoting his book Marathon – You Can Do It!  He advocated a run / walk / run protocol to ensure a successful first marathon.  I could have used that advice several years earlier when I ran my disastrous first marathon.

The workout that day was a goofy “mystery workout” in which each runner in the group draws a slip of paper which they kept a secret from the others on the group.  On each slip were a number, and a distance to be run.  I drew #1 with a 200 meter work interval.  I can’t even imagine what Jeff thought as I bolted ahead.  But he gamely ran the whole workout with us.

I've just finished reading The Gluten-Free Edge by Peter Bronski and have just started reading Running on Air by Bud Coates.  The Georgetown – Idaho Springs ½ Marathon is eight weeks away; time to focus my training.