Month: February 2022

YOU DESERVE A MEDAL!

The ultimate ego boost!

The ancient Olympic games date back to 776 B.C. At the games the victors in each competition were adorned with olive wreaths.  The contemporary tradition of awarding gold. silver, and bronze medals for the top three finishers began over  a hundred years ago when such medals were first awarded in every event at the 1904 Olympic Games held in St. Louis Missouri.  

The modern marathon also began with the modern Olympics first held in Athens Greece in 1896. Its current distance of 26.2 miles (42.195 km) was standardized by the International Amateur Athletic Federation 1921.

The practice of giving out finisher’s medals to all participants completing a marathon race did not become common until the mid to late 1980s.

Today, there are currently over 1000 marathons races held across the United States each year. About 1% of the US population has run a marathon. Marathons are the ‘gold standard’ of running. Nearly every runner wants to run at least one marathon in their life. Non-runners sometimes even put running a marathon on their respective bucket lists.  If you asked the average person on the street how many miles are in a marathon, 90% or greater would not be able to tell you the correct distance, despite the prevalence of all those oval car stickers with the 26.2 on them.  However, the MOST popular distance race is not the marathon, but the half-marathon.  The number of half-marathons held annually in the USA is nearly triple those of the full marathon. Many seasoned runners sign up for multiple half-marathons each year. 13.1 miles is still a challenging race, but it does not beat-up your body as much as a full marathon. The bonus of this race is that you also get a finisher’s medal if you complete the distance.  Some runners collect the various finisher’s medals, either by running favorite races annually, choosing races by the medal offered, or an combination of both.

Shorter distance races such as 5K , 10K or 15K do not as a rule hand out finisher’s medals. The only medal you’ll get in these races is if you place in the top of your division. Ultra-marathons also exist but only .03% of the population has run these distances of 50K (31 miles) 100K (62 miles) or 100 Miles (161K). At ultras, finisher’s medals may, or may not be offered depending upon the race.

Running half-marathons, full marathons, or (for those brave souls who dare) ultra-marathons is no easy feat. It takes up to 20 weeks of training to achieve these distances safely. If you skip the training program, you can expect a world of pain and physical injury, or possibly even death. Two out of every three Americans are overweight, and exercise is a foreign concept for most of them. Your health is your wealth, and you only get one body. I don’t care how easy or difficult running a half-marathon or greater is for you, but if you complete that distance you deserve a medal. You earned it! You’ve accomplished something that roughly 97% of the people in the country couldn’t do to save their lives. You are amazing!

In the short run

As previously stated, to earn a medal in a short-distance races such as a 5K, 10K, or 15K, you need to place in a top position in either your gender, age division, or weight class as is the case of Clydesdales.  By breaking the race down into different brackets, you even the playing field so that all participants are able to compete at their best in an effort to shine by going for the proverbial gold. Winning a medal in your division is an incredible ego booster. It is a physical representation which proclaims that you bested another athlete. It is an amazing feeling to have that medal placed around your neck, or handed to you in front of a room of your peers.  When I began running, I ran with a small group of fellow runners all of whom were very supportive and encouraging of ‘the new guy’. And that’s a great thing, to feel accepted and be part of the group.  But it was kind of a mismatch as this pack of runners were much faster than myself, and overtime, they began to grow weary of waiting for ‘the slow-poke’ at the end of these fun runs on local trails.  These athletes ALWAYS walked away with a medal at the post-race award ceremony.  THEY expected a top place medal. THEY WERE FAST!  My hope was just to maybe one day earn 3rd place.

Since then, I’ve met many other running-friends most of whom are roughly the same pace as myself and we have much more fun. 

Expect the unexpected

At the 1st Third Thirsty Thursday race of 2020, I was sitting with that original group of faster runners and watching them go up one-by-one to get their medals. By this point I had lost all hope of ever getting one.  I was stunned when my name was called for the 1st time ever.  I had to ask race director Ron Horn three time “ME?” while point at myself as he said “YOU!” while pointing back at me before I claimed my medal.

The best medals are the ones we don’t expect. The worst medals are the ones we think we deserve, but don’t get. It can be soul-crushing to see someone else walk away with the last medal when you ran you’re fastest pace ever and thought you had the award without a doubt.

Ironically this happened to me just last year. Once again it was at a Third Thirsty Thursday race on May 21, 2021. The thing about the Clydesdale Division is that after a while, you know your competition. The course is a straight out-and-back 5K.  You go straight down the trail 1.55 miles, turn around at the marked point, and run straight back. So as you run out, you’re aware of who passed you, and you have an idea of who’s still behind you. As you see people in your division heading back to the start, you count. 1St, 2nd, 3rd, etc. This particular race is a series, but it also allows for race day sign-up, so the line-up of competitors can change from race to race. As I counted the 4th male Clydesdale heading back, I was confident the 5th place spot was mine. Hitting the turn-around point, I saw that fellow Clydesdale Joe was right behind me by mere yards.  This began a frantic pace to stay ahead as Joe and myself kept trading the lead. I re-claimed the lead at the last quarter-mile calling out as I passed “I’m fighting you to the finish ‘Apollo’ you ain’t taking the win, I’ve got ‘The Eye of the Tiger’!” As the finish line came in sight, Joe yelled back “Alright, LET’S DO THIS!” We sprinted the final 50 yards neck-and-neck like two crazed stallions. And just like that, Joe crossed the finish line  with me just one second behind him.  I was crushed!

Ironically, it was all for nothing.  I had missed a ‘faux pony’ who must have technically just barely been a Clydesdale. The coveted 5th place spot had already been claimed. Joe was 6th and I was 7th. But what a race it was!

The Epic Battle for the gold against Muhammad Ali

Until I began running, the only medal I ever earned in my life was that one time when I was competing against Muhammad Ali. First I didn’t even know I was battling him, it was a total surprise.  Second, it wasn’t THAT Muhammad  Ali. It was this short Muslim kid in 9th grade named Muhammad S. Ali. It was our final year as seniors at Van Wyck J.H.S 217 in Queens NY and we were both the top students in computer programming. We had to right a computer program that did two things based on the info entered. I don’t remember the specifics, but I only know that my program worked and his didn’t. I ‘think’ I used a bit of spaghetti logic with an IF-THEN-GOSUB line that delivered the proper answer.  At graduation we earned the top awards in computer science, I took the gold medal, he got the silver.     

The eye of the beholder

Like beauty, these medals  only have value given to them by the recipient. They are either treasured mementos, or worthless trinkets.  If it’s important to you, then it’s important. Most runners like myself display our medals on the wall.

Some pack them away in a keepsake box. One very competitive runner I know has an entire trophy room to display medals, trophies, race-bibs, and framed news articles,  If I owned a house, I might do likewise some day. On the other end of the spectrum, I know a runner who throws away his race-bibs, and gives away his awards to his grandson to play with. He ran the race, he knows how he did. It’s done, who needs a keepsake? Well that’s his viewpoint not mine. I earned my medal and you can have when you pry it from my cold dead hands!

You can find me at these upcoming local races

March 2022

Shiver by The River 10K Winter Race Series #4 of 4  March 13th @ 10:00am Muhlenberg PA

Be sure to check back  on March 13th, 2022 for another article.

As always, I wish you success and happiness!

THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

Everyone’s journey is different!

The joy of running! It is a feeling that cannot be conveyed to a non-runner. The non-runner views running as a form of punishment or self-torture. They cannot imagine running a marathon.  They also will never know the deep feeling of personal satisfaction a runner feels after completing a marathon.

A runner runs! It’s who we are, it’s what we do, and it defines us. We are on a journey  of self-improvement.  All runners are not created equal. Each of us is unique in our own special way, and we come to the sport of running from different places in our lives. Everyone’s journey is different, and how we got here is not that important, what is it that we made it!  Five years ago running a marathon was the furthest thing from my mind. It wasn’t until Nathan Maxwell (a Twitter friend who is an ultra runner) inspired me and encouraged me to start with a 5K and work my way up. Since I began my running odyssey three years ago, I have been smothered by accolades, encouragements, and numerous ‘thumbs-ups’ from the running community.  I have been called ‘amazing’, ‘awesome’, an ‘inspiration’ and a ‘rock star’. I have made many friends. Iron sharpens iron and I would not be where I am today were it not for my running friends. In my division, I have placed in the top five twice, and the top four once.  So what’s my division you may ask?  

I am a Clydesdale. In addition to being a breed of horse, Clydesdale is a term applied to larger runners. We are in a different category because of our larger size. Distance running is broken into different divisions by sex, age and weight. A 4O year-old runner would have a hard time beating a 17 year-old.  Same for a woman out-running a man, and a larger person beating a smaller, faster person. So by competing within your division, with similar athletes, you are encouraged to do your best without being discouraged by others outside your category.

The Clydesdale movement began in 1988 and was started by Joe Law who wanted to level the playing field to encourage larger runners. Their motto is “You don’t have to be thin to be fit.” There are male and female Clydesdale divisions as Clydesdale is a breed and not a gender of large horse. None-the-less, some women opt for the cutesy term Clydettes, or prefer to be called Athenas after the mythical  goddess of strength and wisdom.  I’m not a fan of the last term, but that’s just me.

WHAT’S THE SKINNY?

If you saw a man exercising alongside a woman, you might think something like ‘good for them’.

They’re both doing the same exercise. You wouldn’t think ‘she can’t do that, she’s just a girl and he’s so much stronger than her’. You’re a judgmental bastard if you do. Yes men are bigger and tend to be stronger than women,  but this is just a physical reality. It is not an indication of one being better than the other. In reality, the woman is working that much harder than the man to accomplish the same exercise.

Now compare the next two athletes doing a simple planking exercise:

Again, if you though ‘kudos for her’ on the first athlete, but laughed at the second athlete, you’re not a very nice person and you need to check yourself. The overweight woman is working that much harder to do the same exercise than the skinny girl is. There is NO SHAME in trying to improve your health.  This is the real importance of having a Clydesdale division in running.  Winning a medal in a race is an incredible ego booster. Being able to say that I got off the couch, I trained, I worked HARD and I WON THIS! It’s an amazing feeling. Every person deserves to feel good about themselves and have a great life. The Clydesdale division gives us our moment to shine! 

There is no such thing as a FAT PERSON.

Fat is a component of food. It is something that gets stored in our body for energy reserves when you overeat and do not exercise enough. As such, overweight people get slapped with the stigma of being  lazy,  gluttonous, or both.  Every person you know is struggling with some inner demons or internal conflicts that you know nothing about.  Fat-shaming is a real thing and overweight people are constantly humiliated by people  mocking or criticizing them about their size. When I tell non-runners that I have a race coming up this weekend, I sometimes get comments like ‘you run?’ My former boss was famous for this. When I ran my first marathon, he asked me “how many days did it take?”.      

Overweight people are laughed at and rejected in  so many situations in the real world that they tend to believe that they are worthless, or not good enough.  As a result, they lock themselves away from  the world. It takes an incredible act of courage to make that first step and take action to improve your health.

 You may be laughed at by callous people being jerks. Ignore them!   I was 322 pounds before I started running. When I signed up for my first 5K race EVER in 2019, my non-running friends informed me that it takes months of training to run those races.  I told them I had already been running treadmill for the past 8 weeks at that point. When I finished the race, Helene Horn told me I was amazing. Not one of my non-running friends showed up to watch my race.

FAUX PONY BALONEY

When is a Clydesdale NOT a Clydesdale? This is a controversial gray area. Some of my fellow Clydesdales and myself included are slightly upset when we see a runner who looks way too light to be a Clydesdale walk away with a medal. Is this stolen honor, or just sour grapes? The category is not a perfect division. Muscle is much denser than fat, but a pound of muscle is equal to a pound of fat.  Some race directors rely upon a BMI formula based on weight and height, while others go by weight alone. In the weight alone situation, the limits are usually men: 210lbs+ women: 160lbs+ .   Now here’s the thing what if a man is packing a lot of muscle on his frame, very little body fat at all, AND weighs in at 210lbs 1oz ONLY because he ate breakfast that day. Is he REALLY a Clydesdale? According to the rules of that race, yes.

A 250lb Clydesdale packing an excess of body fat, with a BMI of over 35 is going to get clobbered by such an athlete.

What if a very tall, skinny girl with very long legs and who weighs who 160lbs 1oz decides to sign up as a Clydesdale? Should she? Is it a fair race against a short plump woman with short legs who weighs 230lbs and is running her heart out to try to get a medal, only to see the tall girl walk away with the prize?

What about the 20-year-old Clydesdale who is competing against the 45-year-old in the same division?

The above situations have occurred at various races and at various times. Everyone wants a medal. Not everyone is going to get one, and there are some who never will. The Clydesdale division is a necessary race class, but it is NOT a perfect division. Until a greater number of overweight runners begin signing up for races there is no fixing this imbalance in the class. Unlike professional boxing which has 17 different weight classes, there is no way to subdivide the Clydesdale category when Clydesdales on average make up less than 10% of the runners in any given race. It sucks, it’s not fair, but no one ever said life was fair. Participation medals are worthless trinkets. If there is an imbalance in our beloved Clydesdale division, we need to use that to encourage us to push ourselves that much harder. And when we do earn that medal by our own merits, it will be the greatest feeling in the world!

You can find me at these upcoming local races:

February 2022

Ugly Mudder 9.5K Trail Race February 19 @ 10:00 am Reading PA 

March 2022

Shiver by The River 10K Winter Race Series #4 of 4  March 13th @ 10:00am Muhlenberg PA

Be sure to check back  on February 27th 2022 for another article.

As always, I wish you success and happiness!