The Best in the World

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m an athlete, not a sports fan. I don’t care much to cheer on others so much as I like to be out there myself 🙂 However, I did just dedicate myself to watching the coverage of the women’s olympic marathon.

Some of the big names are practically household names for runners: Deena and Paula. I also was interested to see how Catherine Ndereba, aka Catherine the Great, would do.

Anyone who watched the race knows that Constantine Tomescu-Dita pulled out ahead halfway through the race and held her lead. Despite the fact I do not go out of my way to follow running, I knew I recognized that name. I’d run with her, as I had with Catherine Ndereba.

Well… I ran the same race as these ladies.. (Ndereba in Boston, 2005 and Constantine in Chicago, 2006) – I just finished more than an hour behind them. For that is the joy of the marathon: you can be out there running the same course at the same time as the world’s best.

Perhaps it’s not fair to say it is the same race, as the goals, pressures and conditions are not the same. But I see running as a great equalizer: there is really little equipment we “need”, and we can all toe the same line. I’m not a sports “fan”, but I get to recognize names and feel a sense of comradery with these women, having some sense of shared experience with them.

They are fantastic role models, to be sure, but they are also human. I think I have always appreciated the distance of the marathon and the efforts of the athletes ever since watching the World Track and Field Championships in 2001. (Constantina actually placed 10th there!). This was just as I was flirting with taking up running, and I remember watching some of the best athletes in the world struggle and drop out. I was in awe with a race where even the best sometimes are overcome by the physical duress of the challenge. Whether finishing in 2:30 or 5:30, everyone who completes a marathon has accomplished something incredible.

I have heard that there is a reason why world records in the marathon are generally not set during championships like the Olympics. A world record may be set when a single athlete takes on the record. In a championship, the competition is with others. However, in all cases, the course and the environment are omnipresent, and can stop even the best-intentioned runner from realizing her dreams. It happens to each of us who choose to lace up our shoes and take on this distance.

Yup, it’s totally cheesy. But we’re all champions for it.