Where we explore the relationship between marathon running and time.
Apart from the obvious biophysical factors involved in running where skeletal muscles and tendons exert force on the ground to propel us forward there is a far more interesting branch of physics that affects all marathon runners.
It was Doctor Who who described it best when he referred to fluctuations in space time as “timey wimey”. Recent ground breaking theories in physics have also suggested that time is not a constant as we have all been led to believe.
Marathon runners would have been able to provide evidence for this for years. When we look to enter a marathon particularly any of the major marathons we look far into the future and send off our application secure in the knowledge that nothing needs be done now. The event is months and even nearly a year away in some cases. A qualifying time for the 2025 World Age Group Championships can be run right now, in the right event, even though the Championship itself has no scheduled venue or date. When to start training? Who knows?
With months to prepare little achievements occur. Flights are booked and accommodation. Still, not much to worry about. A couple of events to stay interested, a bit of track work but the marathon stays stubbornly in the distance. Until it isn’t…
Our normal build up is 12-16 weeks depending on the event. Still plenty of time. Not as many months but still months away. The seconds are starting to contract but all is well.
A bit of soreness, a missed session, family responsibilities. Changed flights, rescheduled to different cities, changing accommodation, eight weeks, seven, six….
Friday we leave for the first of three marathons over the next four weeks. That’s the day after tomorrow.
Last Sunday, Easter Sunday, and the car decided to throw an ignition coil. 8 hour drive coming up Friday. Tuesday Ben the mechanic saved the day. Big shout out to Ben. Car is back and purring. Whew! Time continues…Stress levels rise.
Time is getting short to make sure everything is in place. We come back from Canberra Monday. Get everything together and clean Tuesday and fly out to Boston via Auckland and Houston Wednesday. The seconds that were so free and easy not long ago are now rapidly counting down. Surely the can’t be the same length seconds that we had when entering.
All we need is a physicist with the appropriate equipment and knowledge to measure them and we could provide evidence for a whole new theory of relativity.
Where to
First up is Canberra on Sunday. Easy drive up the Hume for about 8 hours, weekend with family, Parkrun Saturday and the Marathon on Sunday. At the moment weather looks good cool and overcast. Hopefully not as cool and overcast as last year which was more at the cold, wet and miserable end of the spectrum. Aim is to run sub 3:26 and qualify for the 2025 Age Group Championship.
Back home Monday, on the plane Wednesday. Turns out we are going to Boston via Houston. This is a saga that I touched on in my last blog where Air New Zealand decided they didn’t want to take us to San Francisco but would to L.A. but didn’t mention that they could take us to Chicago until later when they charged an extra fee and then couldn’t have a stopover until United cancelled the internal flight then we could until Air New Zealand decided they wouldn’t fly to Chicago at all but we could go to Houston. Confused? As long as we end up in Boston before Monday week ready to run we will be happy.
So, Boston Monday week. The fourth of the majors second time around. Didn’t get into New York despite being 22 minutes under qualifying. A bit stiff but that’s the way it goes. Three weeks before the race that provided the qualifying time I ran eleven minutes faster but I had a birthday in between. Would have been 22 minutes under that qualifying as well. Three weeks later 34 minutes under and would have been in easily. The second marathon in Queenstown was a much harder course. Quicker time than the 3:23 I ran in Queenstown? Worth a go.
Final event will be Big Sur marathon on the California coast. Runs from Big Sur to Carmel along Highway 1. Due to storms there a couple of weeks ago the road has subsided. Meant that the road was closed and the event might not go ahead. Latest update is that barriers have been put in place and one lane closed. We don’t take up too much room so as long as there is no further damage we should get away with the event. Hopefully. If everything has gone to (my very cunning) plan then this will be a tourist run to enjoy the run and the scenery. There is a prize for combined Boston-Big Sur time but the Masters category is over 40 so would be racing against kids.
Challenging but once on the start line the seconds stretch out into the distance as we look forward to three hours plus of running until we get near the finish where the seconds accelerate. Where are those physicists when you need them?