The Duel in the Sun

If you've never given some extended thought to why exactly it is that you enjoy the things you enjoy, I heartily recommend it. It will be well worth your time, whether the subject matter is something deep like laughter or friendship or the Triune God of the universe or something more simple like a particular style of music or chocolate chip cookies or the color blue.

With a race on the horizon this weekend, one of the things I've been thinking about lately is racing. I imagine the conversation with myself has probably sounded something like this. . .

Me: What is it, exactly, about running a race that you find so fun, enjoyable, life-giving, and gets your heart pumping? Why even enter a race?

Myself: I'm not quite sure. That's a good question. I'll have to give it some thought.

I: Yeah, I thought so. I thought you were the thinking type. I can wait around for an answer though. I've got some time to kill since I'm sorta stuck here for a while...

After a few days of thinking—and this day in particular—I've started to realize that one thing I enjoy about running races is the element of story.

The casual observer of the racing scene is probably only asking two questions:

1. Who will win the race?
2. How fast will they run it?

These are not bad questions. But these are normally only questions that pertain to a single storyline in the event. What about the other stories?

What about the girl who's running in her first race, ever—will her training be enough to carry her across the finish line? What about the dude who's coming off a major injury and months of rehab—will his knee hold out to the end? What about the father-son duo running together—will they make it to the finish together? What about the guy trying to best his own personal record (PR)—will he sneak in under 4:21? What about the dude who bloodied his toe early in the race—will he have the mental stamina to persevere through pain?

One thing I love about running a race are the many races within the one race, the many stories within the one story. Tensions abound. And tension in a story means it will likely be a good one.

Today was 116th running of the historic Boston Marathon, and the 30th anniversary of "The Duel in the Sun," one of the closest Boston Marathon finishes of all time. In 1982 (when I was -3), Dick Beardsley and Alberto Salazar told a good story right up until the finish:

Bill Rodgers, a four-time winner of the Boston placing 4th in 1982, said this about the duel: "Here in Boston, every race is interesting, but some are just stunning. That was one of the most stunning ones...It was classic Boston marathoning at its most intense level."

The Boston 26.2 Brew

*This isn't related directly to running or story, but I found it interesting to see that Sam Adams—a quality producer of one of the simpler things I enjoy in life from time to time—crafted a special, commemorative beer just for this year's race: The Boston 26.2 Brew. Unfortunately, it's only available for a limited time on tap locally in Boston. If anyone wants to train and run in the Boston Marathon sometime in the future, let me know!