normalizing it all

I wish good luck and a strong finish to everyone running tomorrow in the New York Marathon and to the runners participating in other marathons coming up the rest of this fall!

As the media frenzy leads up to the New York Marathon, there is more than one story to pay attention to. There is history, current competition, excellent runners, ordinary runners, and a whole city gearing up for a big day. For most runners, today is a rest day and for the evening, a bit of pasta. I recall watching the New York Marathon all the way  back when Bill Rogers and Alberto Salazar each won it multiple times. The first year Salazar won, I watched along first avenue and wondered who was this guy in the bright yellow shorts running so upright and far ahead of everyone else. I then jogged over to Central Park to see the early finishers. Then at the end of the race, I’d be out for my run and watch the “slow runners” coming in at over 4 hours. Of course, no fussing or teasing about a 4 hour finish now! Back then it was also wonderful to watch Greta Waitz win consistently year after year. The New York Marathon continues to be exciting. Paula Radcliffe has an amazing string of victories. And the race itself going through all the boroughs with so many people watching and cheering, and crossing so many (difficult) bridges is a tremendous event.

The New York Times joined in the media frenzy. After a “run-up” of articles the last few months that have been quite good and resulted in a lot of participation at their forums, the marathon made it to their OP-ED page today. Unfortunately the article on the op-ed page lamented our missing champions and the fact that an American hasn’t won the men’s division in 27 years since Alberto Salazar won. The author deems this failure a lack of “narrative”. The piece concluded by making fun of runner’s world for having general articles on improving muscular fitness and articles for beginners.

In actuality, I’m going to recommend the Runner’s World New York Marathon coverage as the best place to read about what is coming up and for fine overall stories and profiles of the runners participating. Runner’s World both profiles world class runners and offers excellent information on the sport of running to lesser mortals. Running is a participatory sport. At a time in which 65% of U.S. adults are overweight, a magazine offering tips about starting running without feeling bad because you are slow, how to improve, what shoes might be best for you, nutritional recommendations, recipes, motivation tips, and even advanced training, can not be a bad thing.

With Runner’s World publishing excellent articles on stretching, overall fitness, strength training, nutrition, along with articles on the best and the fastest, it can only help the overall health and fitness of their readers. I’d encourage all runners to both visit their web site and get a copy to read. There is much inside for every runner, and the articles go deeper than the newstand cover may suggest. Other fine magazines geared to runners include: Running Times, and Marathon and Beyond.

There are a few things we can consider doing to improve our runners. At the same time we need to work on the overall fitness and health of everyone. Runner’s World encourages everyone, and has always done so. While there were many exciting past races, many are still excited to be out running and doing the best they can. To improve the sport (and our health) we have done a disservice to everyone by requiring only one year of gym in high school. Childhood obesity is at an all time high and this does not help. Encouraging more athletic participation and demonstrating team, carry over sports,  and individual sports and making it school centric would be helpful.

Better coverage of track and field and running events  in national news and sports shows would be helpful. Live coverage of major races and track events on television would be a good thing. And how can we not have live coverage of the Olympic events? With a million cable stations available why was there not a package for sale that included multiple channels along with many different events for those few weeks. Years back this was done, and it would have been quite successful the last few Olympics.

We have no failure of narrative, publishing, or research. The American College of Sports Medicine is the most respected organization of professionals in the world. Their journals (especially Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise) are eagerly awaited by researchers and clinicians working in the field of sports medicine. We have the tales of Dean Karnazes. This year has seen one of the most enjoyable reads on running in Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, by Christopher McDougall.  We have research, topical magazines, participants, web sites, bloggers, and as much narrative as we could hope for.

The media could certainly do a better job in presenting running events, and the benefits of the sport and helping to publicize  appropriate goals and how they can be established. Complaining that not enough Americans have won lately doesn’t give adequate credit to those who have both talent and have worked hard for their success. And we need to remember that we are all a part of the human race. Going beyond sport is a book published earlier this year by Johns Hopkins Professor David Calleo, Follies of Power: America’s Unipolar Fantasy which points out the reality and significance of  a multipolar world. The international lessons here extend beyond politics, trade and international affairs and into sports. If one pays attention, you may yet find yourself bringing back accolades to your country perhaps even in the form of a Nobel prize.

The United States has a fine and growing group of excellent men and women runners, yet New York is open enough over the years to have welcomed and been joyful for all of the marathons winners and their participants from wherever they come from. (Even those from Boston during the world series. )

Runner’s World NY Marathon Coverage

New York Times Marathon Coverage

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24 Hours To See New York: Gene Kelley, Frank Sinatra

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