Marathon

Congratulations to everyone who ran the marathon today. Marathon Sunday is one of my favorite days in New York; people line up in all 4 boroughs (sorry, Staten Island) to cheer and pay tribute to thousands of strangers as they attempt to achieve what seems so staggeringly unattainable.

Although I have several friends who have run marathons, and my own father's run two, I can't quite wrap my head around what it takes to do it. Anytime I meet someone who's run one, I look at them incredulously, like they've just told me they casually discovered one day they could fly, or that they've hung out with Wonder Woman, and her truth lasso wasn't all that, and they went out for Cosmos afterwards and exchanged numbers.

One of the things that draws me to the art of long-distance running is the concept of setting a rhythm. Rhythm's my doppelganger as a drummer, even when recording to a click track that clicks every 1/2 second or so. So after my good friend Kevin finished the marathon today, I was asking him about he establishes a running rhythm. He says it's difficult, but is helped by the fact that there's a clock at every mile. To me, that sounds like an eternity between beats. I guess I don't get it.

Anyway, I was out today to support Kevin. He's been an exceptional runner for as long as I've known him but this was his first foray into the marathon. He set out to run 6-minute miles, which is absolutely ludicrous; that's less than a minute-a-mile off the world-class runners.

Here's how fast 6 minute miles are: after heading over to Williamsburg at the Bedford stop to see him go by, I headed for right for the subway in order to get uptown to meet his family at 105th and 1st, where he'd be going by later. I got on the L quickly, and after a 7-8 minute wait for the express train, I opted for the local. And with all the marathon crowd, the train probably took a little while longer to get uptown, but nothing unreasonable. I got out at 103rd and Lex, and fearing I'd miss him, I jumped out of the train and began a full-on sprint to 105th and 1st. (my full-on sprint is, coincidentally, about a 6-minute mile.)

I caterwauled down 104th towards 1st avenue, and when I was about 20 feet from the corner, I see Kevin race by. I'd only seen 4-5 other people go by, but there he was; I was still too far away for him to see me.

Wait, I drew you a map to help you visualize:


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Kevin........................................(1st ave)
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m
e



1
0
4
t
h

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(This map isn't drawn to scale; i.e., Kevin doesn't actually take up all of 1st avenue when he's on it. He's about 6'1.)

Since I'd seen him in Brooklyn, he'd run seven and a half miles, and outrun the NYC subway system. At a 6 minute mile pace, 7 1/2 miles is exactly 45 minutes, and I realized later that's exactly how long it took me to get from Wburg to that corner. Hell, I guess I knew exactly where he was going to be when I got off the train. That's rhythm.

Anyway, Kevin finished the race in an unbelievable 2:45, finishing 238th. He also beat Lance Armstrong, proving he has twice the balls of that so-called world-class athlete. (rimshot) Congratulations Kevin.

Photos here.