The Boston

This years Boston Marathon* is history and although I will never participate in it, I do have a comment or two to make about it.

I was reading the sports page accounts of the race in the Sacramento Bee and the first thing I read made a big issue of the fact that Kenyans had done so well, once again, and that Americans had finally made it into the top 5 finishers. I couldn’t help but think that the writer has never participated in a marathon and in fact, has no clue as to what marathons are all about. Nationality has nothing to do with these races. It’s a race against yourself, competing against that voice inside you that says you’re tired and want to stop. A race to do better than you did the time before. American? Kenyan? Who cares! If you enter a marathon and you finish that marathon, you win. It’s that simple.

The Olympics are already ruined by the cult of nationalism; I would hate to see marathons end up the same way.

*The Boston Marathon is a runner’s only marathon. I’m a racewalker and so I won’t be participating.