Still Running (weakly). Issue 107

PAST – inspiration – “And El Guerrouj is down, he’s gone,” said David Coleman, as the favourite for the 1996 Olympic 1500 metres title crashed to the track with 400 to go.

The curse of the Olympic 1500…………

So many times, the men’s race has been completely unpredictable.  In 1952, the insertion of a semi-final removed Roger Bannister from the medals.  In 1956, Ronnie Delaney of Ireland was perhaps lucky to be allowed to deploy his kick unchallenged, against faster milers like Landy, Tabori and Hewson.

At least 1960 and 1964 went to plan, as Herb Elliott and Peter Snell took the titles.  But Jim Ryun was the fastest runner in 1968, only to be undone by the Games being held at altitude, allowing Kip Keino to win by a huge margin.

Ryun would have been a contender in 1972, had he not tripped in the heats, allowing Pekka Vasala of Finland to outkick Keino.  John Walker was again lucky in 1976 that none of his faster rivals – especially Eamonn Coghlan – got their tactics right.  Sebastian Coe of course won the next two races, although a properly hydrated Ovett and an uninjured Cram might well have denied him.

No one had heard of Peter Rono until 1988, when he triumphed over two other Peters – GB’s Elliott and Jens-Peter Herold.  Morceli was by far the fastest athlete in 1992 but got it wrong, allowing Cacho to win in front of his home crowd.  And so to 1996.

Guerrouj’s frustration was repeated in 2000, as another unknown, Ngeny, beat him, but he made up for it in 2004, winning both 1500 and 5000.

PRESENT – perspiration – I was struck by something that 2024 Barkley Marathons finisher Jasmin Paris said about three-time finisher John Kelly.  She said that, during the race, she had desperately wanted to nap, but was scared of sleeping for too long, and she recalled that Kelly had once deliberately lay down with his head in a puddle so that he would be too uncomfortable to sleep for very long at all!

This reminds me of a children’s story that centres on three Mexican brothers who take it in turns to guard their family’s treasure through the night.  The only way that one of them finally stays awake is by sitting with thorns either side of him, so that any slight nodding off would result in a stabbing awake.

It also reminds me of David Hemery training through the winter of Boston, USA, in preparation for the 1968 Olympics, where he won 400 hurdles gold in a new world record.  Every other athlete at the university ran on the indoor track under a heated dome.  Hemery arrived one freezing afternoon, expecting his coach to cancel the scheduled outdoor session of reps on the snow-covered track.

The athlete asked if he should do some weights or just rest.  But Billy Smith pushed his shoulder against the door and said, “Out there is the road to Mexico.”

FUTURE – suggestion – Luckily most of us will never have to resort to such extreme measures, but you can see the principle.  And so I ask you, does any of us run to have an easy life?  I would suggest that, if anything, it is the exact opposite.

As I said to one of my athletes, who wanted to run 50 miles for her 50th birthday, but, nearer the day, was talking about switching to 50km: “You can do 50km if you like but you will regret it afterwards ………. This is not about it being manageable or easy to do, or anything like that – it is because it is difficult to do, that you are doing it, and why we run marathons and test ourselves anyway.  I repeat, it is precisely because it is difficult that you are doing it, and why you wanted to run 50 miles in the first place.”

Don’t shy away from the difficulty – therein lies the satisfaction.