Marathon Moments

Well, Ryan came down for the Chicago Marathon and all he wanted more than anything else was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. In order to do that, he had to run 26 miles in three hours and ten minutes. According to the electronic chip they assigned him, he ran it in three hours and twelve minutes. Even accounting for the extra minute Boston allows, Ryan’s time was still thirteen seconds too long. He’s going to appeal, thanks to the weather being terribly cold and windy today. He’s fairly certain he could have run three hours and five minutes if not for the unseasonably cold weather today, and I believe him. Why? He ran the first half of the marathon in one hour and twenty-seven minutes. If worse comes to worse, he can always run in Texas. That marathon is in January, the land is entirely flat, and the temperature is almost always 65-degrees that time of year. He says he can run that race in less than three hours, but it’s too close to Boston, so he’s afraid he can’t recuperate in time.

So, poor Ryan, but he’ll get over it. He thinks a rickety old grandma dragging a Winnebago runs faster, but he has no reason to feel bad. Chicago assigns numbers based on previous races. He qualified to start in the 3000-4000 bracket, and finished the race ahead of many women who had numbers in the hundreds, signifying them as elite runners. If the cold affected them so badly, something tells me many runners will be complaining to the Boston committee, and they’ll make a special concession. It’s crazy, isn’t it? I can’t imagine running seven-minute miles for three hours, and Ryan thinks he’s a loser for being that slow. That man is nuts. Sure, I shocked the hell out of him when he saw me play Tribal Style in ITG last night, but DDR and running are greatly different beasts. I’ve thought about training to run, but both ITG and DDR have breaks between songs… running for three solid hours seems impossible, and I’m not sure my heart’s work capacity would allow that kind of exertion.

And there we have the truth of the matter. Never in my life have I been a good runner. In Elementary school, even the fat kids finished the mile before me, and that was after my surgery. I was always the last, always the slowest, and I’m pretty sure my heart is to blame. Every time I engage in physical activity, I always seem to reach a certain point, and suddenly experience a precipitous drop in energy while my body overheats. Even after four years of DDR, though my stamina seems endless, I have no clue how the output of DDR compares to running. I guess the next step is to talk to a guy at work who runs and see if he can point me in the right direction. I’ll try it a couple times, and if I still suck at running, I can chalk it up to physical limitations. DDR is the perfect exercise to someone who needs breaks, so I’d be content knowing that’s my limit.

Until Tomorrow