Chapter 19 "Running Life" - 18 Boston Marathon

18 Boston Marathon wins and losses How to Happily Get to the Finish Line Without Blistering Your Feet On a Monday in mid-April, Patriotic Day, thousands of lithe-bodied, sunken-cheeked men and women in running shoes gather near a common street called Hayden Roe in the village of Hopkinton, Massachusetts. , from here west along the winding road to the heart of the Prudential Insurance Company in the Boston business district exactly 26.21875 miles.Here they take their last sip of water, or gatorade (the name of a drink— Or homemade bad-tasting drinks, smearing a final coat of Vaseline on areas where clothes might rub, tying shoelaces into knots, and relieving them in Hopkinton residents' vegetable gardens or flower beds.The residents here are calm and calm, living in large old wooden houses.Overhead, Boston TV's trio of helicopters circled the sky, waiting, children climbed into bare trees, friends and relatives came to say goodbye, like their darlings were going to the moon, never to be heard again It's like a message.At noon, an officer raised his pistol and fired a shot into the sky, and a mass of lean, limp heads bouncing up and down across Hayden Roe Street and the First Congregational Church began to pour purposefully onto Highway 135, Run towards the tall buildings of Boston, far to the east.

Two hours later, one participant crossed the finish line at a five-minute-mile pace through twists and turns and rough roads, and with excruciating pain.Then those who followed him also arrived.The first person sprinted to show a resolute look; the last person ran with a limp, his face pale and haggard.Some of them were running hard, bleeding from the scraped skin, and because they couldn't care what people thought of them, they hugged each other like soldiers after a terrible retreat, crying.Hal Higdon is not only a writer who can write fascinating essays on this subject, but an accomplished runner as well.When he summed up the mystery of this kind of running, he wrote: "The difference between a mile and a marathon is like the difference between burning your fingers with a match and slowly roasting them on hot coals." And it happened: a pleasantly peaceful feeling that no matter how dreadfully tormented it was on that lonely road, all it took was running the Boston Marathon, suffering all kinds of aches and cramps and groans of agony It's all worth it.

Not all marathons are the same as those in Boston, and every place has its own characteristics.The Atlantic City Marathon in the middle of winter is just a back-and-forth course on a surface as flat as a pool table, and it looks like little challenge—except that you have to run three rounds instead of one.The old New York City marathon was dull before the innovative Fred Lebaw and the officials who worked with him devised a zigzag route through the five boroughs, a back and forth through The rough roads of Central Park.Such a marathon is boring.Not so with the Boston Marathon.Oddly enough, it's not the most famous race of this distance (the most famous is the Olympic Marathon, held every four years), nor the hardest (more downhill than uphill all the way), or even the Phoenix. The views aren't the best either (unless you like warehouses, railroad tracks and the sprawling buildings of cities).Despite this, however, the Boston Marathon brings together most of the best parts of a marathon.

After 1972, the situation was even more so.This is the year for the first time that women are officially allowed to compete.Previously, they had resorted to various tricks — using false names, cross-dressing and other means — to enter the competition because officials believed they could not bear that much pain.In 1976, a 20-year-old college student named Kim Merritt won the women's championship with a time of 2 hours, 47 minutes and 10 seconds, except for 145 male athletes who ran ahead of her. , the rest are not as good as her.Presumably because of her record-breaking speed, the fear that they could not stand it was gone forever.

The mystique of the Boston Marathon remains the same, although in recent years it has become a race for a handful of elite athletes — a change that may have been inevitable.Only a few years ago, it was open to all, until the crowds became too overwhelming and the officials grudgingly instituted the following criteria for participation: In previous marathon races, those who ran within three hours were qualified, and the standard was reduced to three and a half hours for women and people over 40 years old. Part of the appeal of running the Boston Marathon is historical.This history can be traced back to 490 BC.In that year, a messenger named Phidipodis ran from Marathon to Athens to report the victory of Greece over thirty thousand Persians. (He yelled, "Cheer, we're victorious," the story goes, and then he died.) Yet it took another 2,500 years for the marathon to take root here.Inspired by the Olympic Marathon held in Athens in 1896, a group of Bostonians decided to hold a marathon in 1897. The distance was nearly Twenty-five miles, mostly dirt, the races were mostly locals—mechanics, milkmen, and farmers—who wore running shoes they made themselves, had no formal training, and mostly relied on willpower Power to run the full distance.The first person to reach the finish line that year was John McDermott of New York City, with a score of 2 hours, 55 minutes and 10 seconds, more than 45 minutes slower than today's long-distance record.

The length of the early marathon races varied greatly, but when the Olympic Marathon was held in Great Britain in 1908, a standard distance was finally established.That time officials increased the distance by a few yards to extend the starting line below the walls of Windsor Castle so that the royals could better watch the race.Boston was reluctant to change the traditional distance, and it was not until 1927 that the official distance was finally adopted. (The longer distance didn't hurt the indefatigable Clarence DeMar, who won for the fifth time that year in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 22 seconds.) However, even in the marathon As it matures, it's still a constant upset contest, with many of the winners apparently unknown.In 1926, for example, it was assumed that the contenders for the title would be Germany's Marathon and the 1924 Olympic champion, Albin Stantrus of Finland.No one paid much attention to a nineteen-year-old delivery man from Sidney Maines, Nova Scotia, named John Myers, who wore swimming trunks and white sneakers and had never run more than ten miles before.But it was Miles who competed with Stantrus and Demar, and when their strength weakened, he finally surpassed them and won the championship with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes and 40 seconds. An equally unexpected winner emerged, a Narragansett Indian named Ellison "Tarzan" Brown, one of the greatest marathon runners of all time.In addition to running, Brown, who lives in Alton, Rhode Island, has an unusual way of training:

chop firewood.One day he ran a barefoot mile in four minutes and twenty-four seconds over a cinder block.On another occasion, he ran two marathons within twenty-four hours and finished first in both despite suffering from an intestinal hernia. In our time, people think of Bill Rodgers, an athlete who didn't see a chance at number one, and while he stopped a few times along the way for a drink of water and a lot of shoelaces, he still keeps the game record of. Part of the appeal of the Boston Marathon is that its audience is unlike any other.There's a rapt look in the Bostonian's eyes when he tells you he's sitting on his grandpa's shoulders to watch the game.When you walk along the sidelines with people who know you well, you know they really understand what you're doing.There are about half a million viewers a year, and not a single one will laugh or taunt you about your bumpy knees.A policeman on Hatbreak Hill would say to a runner on a megaphone: "When you get to the crest, you've got six more miles to go, and those six miles are all downhill. You've done a great job." , I admire you from the bottom of my heart."

Does this happen elsewhere?The children standing on both sides of the road will reach out and hope to touch the athlete. It doesn't matter if there is only one person in Nabo. Will this happen in other places?In times of extreme distress, what better way to show yourself than to be in front of someone who understands your pain and its meaning? The Boston Marathon starts weeks before the official race, and people run long distances in the snow and ice in winter*.By New Year's Day, the race is on your mind.You may go for a run on the windy Ohio plains, with the snow howling in your ears.Yet what you imagine is walking through the cheering crowds of Boston.One day in Central Park, I was running along a 1.6-mile trail that loops around the reservoir, and a runner told me that during intense training, he kept his spirits up by imagining various points on the route to Boston. of.For these people, the contest has an almost magical power.

Note: *Unless, of course, you live in a warm place.However, such people are relatively rare among those who participate in the Boston Marathon.In the 1975 contest, of the 2,121 participants, 341 were from New York State and 307 from Massachusetts.One hundred and ninety were from Canada, 110 from Pennsylvania, 97 from Connecticut and 95 from New Jersey.There are only seventy-seven in California, forty-eight in Texas, and twenty-eight in Florida. Two or three years ago, after arriving in Boston a day earlier, I took a detour to the village of Hopkinton on Massachusetts Road, to see what it was like when there were no people there.It was a quiet New England village with a quiet, wooded square, and for the first time I saw it was a really ordinary place.No. 4 Heidenroe Street, the last house on the left, is clad in old-fashioned fish-scale tiles, with an incongruously decorated turret.The First Congregational Church at the end of the street had a golden weathervane and a steeple whose brass had long since oxidized green.This small town is very similar to hundreds of small towns you have seen, the only difference is that two thick white lines are drawn on the street near the square. of runners (and women for some reason) start between these two lines.To my surprise, standing near those two lines were six people, apparently running races, who, like me, had come here only to pay their respects in sentiment. (The starting line has changed since then.)

When I finally arrived in Boston, there was an unexplained sense of uneasiness. Everything was ready, and training that had not been done in the past could no longer be done.In addition, on the night before the game, I slept very restlessly, kept dreaming, and woke up early.A runner I know who shared a room with a friend in a hotel woke up at three o'clock on the morning of the race to find his roommate doing push-ups to ease his nerves.Another runner, in a semi-delirious state before the Bicentennial Marathon in 1976, walked to Boston Common and had run six miles by dawn.Finally, morning came, and Boston restaurants quickly and enthusiastically served pancakes to runners hoping for the last morsel of carbohydrate food.At eight thirty, the car drove to the village of Hopkinton.The world's sloppiest medical examination, which had previously been conducted there, was abolished in 1976.Now all you have to do is report to the middle school gym, get your number and four pins to put your number on your shirt, and a punch-out tag for you to put on whatever you want to put waiting for you at the finish line, one end of the tag It says "Keep this to check."There was a lot of noise in the gymnasium.There was a smell of turpentine.Runners, who usually wear worn gray clothes for most of their workouts, are now dressed in smart clothes—shorts with stars and stripes, bright headbands, new nylon tracksuits with the name of their running club. (Clubs named as Kettering Advancers Club of Ohio, Enfield Cross Country Running Club of England, Richmond Rowing Club of Canada, Beverly Hills Advancers Club, Sugarloaf Mountain Athletes Club, Wonderkoza Drummers Club of Japan .

In the end the club was a prodigiously energetic percussion band that played for the first time and then, with barely a breather, started playing to the crowd with a $20,000 drum). It's almost noon, and you pretend to be calm, and walk slowly towards the crowds that are gathering near the starting line of Highway 135.It's time for a final sip of water and a quick break in the back garden.Helicopters were already circling overhead, their horizontal rotors beating the April sky.On the side of Heidenroe Street, the special car for photographers was waiting there, and the rows of wooden seats on the car were filled with long lenses.Near the starting line stood the best runners -- the likes of New Jersey's two-time runner-up Rodgers, Tom Fleming and Connecticut's longtime surprise-winner John Vitale.Behind them is a large group of ordinary athletes, and behind them are people who have had heart attacks before and now want to prove conclusively that they are cured, casual participants who play and those who like to start slowly and work hard to cross Crowds of people catching up to their opponents one by one. The starting guns sounded.Unless you're at the front with the best athletes, you'll have a hard time finding a place to let go at the beginning before the crowd pulls away, and you'll just be jumping around, or walking, until the end You can let go and run.Finally you start running in earnest, feeling good, and walking with ease.The feeling is deceiving, it doesn't last more than an hour, and with the ninety-plus minutes to go, the race is something of a struggle for that amount of time.How hard you struggle depends on (1) how physically fit you are; (2) what the weather is like; (3) how your mood is; and (4) how wise you are at your own pace. At least some of these factors can be controlled, so if you know what to expect at each stage of the race, your chances of running well are greatly improved.To that end, here's a mile-by-mile look at the course of the Boston Marathon. Zero-to-0.8 miles: the beginning The first leg of the Boston Marathon is completely downhill, but this is not the time to tire yourself out by fueling up.Anyway, at this time, this section of the road is very crowded, and it takes a lot of time to go back and forth to surpass others.You just need to hold on to your seat and try not to run into a disadvantageous position in the crowd.In the first few hundred yards, especially where the crowd was pouring onto the 135 from the bend in Hayden Roe Street, many people had been knocked down before. Miles 0.8 to 3: A time to be cautious The grade leveled off at mile 0.8, where there was a house on the right with a swimming pool in the yard, and soon there was a gentle ascent.About a mile in, you'll see a Christmas tree nursery and a sign that says "Freedom Joint Research Center."For the half mile ahead, you pass rocky pastures on the right. At mile 2.1, a sign said "Enter Ashland," and at mile 2.7, another sign said "Worker Training Center."At mile three, the gentle downhill ends. So far, the journey has been a bit bumpy, but mostly downhill.So the main danger is going too fast on this section of the road.According to Jerry Nathan, who has covered more than 40 annual marathon runs for The Boston Globe, the most common mistake is not realizing how fast you run in the first part of the race.He said: "Many people run too fast in the first half and have to slow down later. An even pace is almost always the best result. Three miles to six and a half miles: Ashland to Framingham You're calm now, your mind has calmed down, and you're sweating.Your breathing is easier and your legs feel lighter.If you're the type of runner who likes to talk, now is the time to talk while you're still feeling well.At mile 3.5, take a sharp right and pass the Romeo & Co. supermarket.After 0.3 mile you'll cross Ashland's Main Street.Thirsty or not, this is a great place to start your drink.For the first half mile, you pass the Brackett Reservoir and start climbing a moderate hill.The number 5 on a post on the right indicates five miles. (Further down, you'll see miles marked in many places—though sometimes confusingly the landmarks are two or three widely spaced apart.) At mile 5.7, you'll pass the left Cantina's Pie's and Warby Industries Building, at mile six and a half, passing Framingham Station. (Marathon runners are perhaps the healthiest people in the world, and Framingham happens to interest them because it is home to the famous Framingham Heart Institute.) Miles 6.7 to 10.5: Framingham to Natick Run out of Framingham and you're on a comfortable level road.If you want to check your running form, at mile 7.8, you can look at your image in the long row of glass windows in front of the Hansen Power Company.After another tenth of a mile, the uphill began again.Go another mile and you'll see Coquitut Lake on your left and Fisk Pond on your right. You pass through a dense pine forest and end up in the beautiful city of Natick.There are nineteenth-century houses here, and each house has a rectangular green lawn and big trees with lush branches, which can temporarily shade you from the sun.By the time you reach the intersection of Main Street and West Center Street, you've run about ten and a half miles, and the clock atop the First Congregational Church gives you a chance to check your speed. You should still feel energized and at ease when you arrive at the place.If a person running a marathon is tired at mile ten, that's a problem. Miles 10.5 to 13.1: Natick to Wellesley Heading east of Natick, you pass St. Patrick's Hall and a little further on is the 726th Reserve Training Field.At mile 11.4 a long, gentle downhill begins, and at mile 12 you pass a sign that says "Enter Wellesley".A quarter of a mile down the road, you pass the compound of the Wellesley Tennis Association.After another 0.3 miles, you will meet the most appreciative marathon fans in the world today - the female students of Wellesley College.Another half mile and you're in town.The halfway point of the journey is here, not far from the Marco Polo Gift and Garden Center and Fool's Clothing Store. Miles 13.1 to 16.3: Wellesley to Charles Now, take stock of your running form in case fatigue and hills wear you down.Take care to keep it light and to minimize bouncing and unnecessary arm movement.From this point forward, any morsel of strength you can find is precious. Half a mile from the mid-point of the marathon, you leave Route 135 and turn onto Route 16 toward Wellesley Hills.At mile 14.2 you pass some grassy playing fields and seven tennis courts, and before long you reach Wellesley Hill, past the yellow roof of the Berkeley Hotel (mile 14.8).You cross Highway 9 on a long stretch of flat road, and at mile 15.7 the steepest ascent of the trip begins, a long downhill that is a harbinger of pain to come.Uphill is always a big test in the race.At the beginning of an uphill, two athletes can run side by side without taking a step, but when the uphill ends, one can almost always win the decisive leading distance. The downhill stretch ends at the Continental Barbershop in Newton Lower Falls.At mile 16.2, you cross the Charles River, and now you're about to start uphill just when you least want to. mile 16.2 to mile 21.4: high slope no doubt.This is the most difficult part of the journey.You might feel good and optimistic by the time you get to mile 16.3, but you might run out of energy after five miles.This is where the hills, collectively known as the Sad Hills, start, and consist of three or four (depending on how you count) hills that will wear out even the sturdiest athlete.None of the slopes are particularly steep or long, it's just that they're out of place and no one but a masochist would want them there. The first uphill starts exactly at mile 16.2, the second at mile 17.8, the third at mile 19.5 and the fourth at mile 20.6 .During the climb, you cross Route 128 past Newton-Wellesley Hospital.Take a ninety-degree right turn at Newton Fire Station, and in the process pass your favorite spectator of the trip—a rapt and silent audience with a fine-grained appreciation for athlete distress.Otherwise, why did they watch it on Sad Hill instead of choosing to watch it elsewhere? There are many theories about how to climb hills.Whatever theories are, they will be tested during this stretch of the race. The theory that seems to work best for me is to slow down pretty slowly on the first two hills.Remember there is still a high slope ahead.It also helps if you don't think about how much distance you have to run. Mile 21.4 to Mile 26.3: Sad Slope to Cautious Insurance When you reach the top of Sad Slope, you'll know because people will tell you.They will also say loudly that it's all downhill from here on out, which is obviously false and only someone who has never been in the race would say that.Admittedly there is a lot of downhill, especially as you pass the Boston College Institute and the Massachusetts Baptist House, "but at mile 219, when you start running along the tram tracks, the road quickly Flattened out. However, at the end, starting at mile 22.8. You've got a long downhill again. It's denser here. People crowding the road and leaning out windows, so if you're not feeling overtired Going dizzy, you feel like a hero. Suddenly, at mile 25.4, you catch sight of the Prudential Insurance Center and feel for the first time that you are approaching. You pass the Korean Taekwon School (25 1.8 miles)) Bull Hotel (26 miles) and Boston Harvard Club (26.1 miles). Finally you turn right onto Hereford Street, through a long, gently Turn left at the insurance company center, rushing down a slope towards a yellow flag with the finish line on it. The mood when reaching this flag is incomparable. In the Boston Marathon in 1976, I was only compared to a Japanese Athletes arrive a step or two early. We stretch out our arms and embrace each other sweating. Neither of us knows the other's language, but it doesn't matter, nothing needs to be expressed in words. To the right of the finish line, near the Prudential Insurance Center.There is a fountain.This is a great place to cool off your feet.Wait for me, if I'm lucky, I'll be there in a while. For all its fame, the Boston Marathon isn't particularly grueling.A runner named Larry Berman, using geodetic charts and accurate altimeters, found that the downhill from start to finish was 425 feet, not the usual 225 feet.However, when you run, you can't figure it out at all.