Veteran wins Boston Marathon... in 1938

With 38 year old Meb Keflezighi winning today's Boston Marathon, here's some footage from British Pathe news of the 1938 Boston Marathon, won by Lesley Pawson: '33 years old, and referred to as a has been, comes through to win in 2 hours 35 minutes'. Les Pawson, from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, also won the Boston Marathon in 1933 and 1941. He died in 1992.

Pawson at the end of 1938 Boston Marathon

Meb Keflezighi in Boston today - his time was 2 hours, 8 minutes and 37 seconds

'Wellesley College girls cheer the leaders as they pass the campus' (1938)




The Wellesley College 'Scream Tunnel' today - still making noise at the Marathon halfway point
(photo fr0m Sporting News)

#Megsmiles and the joy of living

Last Monday (13 January 2014), 34 year old Meg Menzies was tragically killed by a driver while out for her morning run in Hanover County, Virginia. Meg, a mother of three children, was a member of the Richmond Road Runners Club and Boston marathoner. The driver has been arrested and charged with drink driving.

A monument close to where Meg died made up of running shoes

On Facebook, Meg's friend and fellow runner Brooke Roney suggested that people might want to run this weekend in memory of Meg and to raise awareness of road safety for runners and cyclists:

'In her honor, our hope is to raise awareness of drunk driving, texting and driving, and overall safety of runners and cyclists everywhere. This Saturday, January 18, 2014, no matter what your distance, no matter where you live, run for Meg. Take in the fresh air, be aware of your surroundings, keep your headphones on low, feel the heaviness in your lungs, the soreness in your legs, and be grateful for it - for all of it. The sweat, the pain, the wind, the cold…everything. Be grateful for that moment'.

The response has been incredible with more than 95,000 runners across the world committing to take part. Some organised special runs, some had a pause for silence before their runs, others (including me on my weekly 5k parkrun in Hilly Fields) just told people about it or thought about how we take for granted the fact that we can breathe and put one foot in front of the other.

The reaction reminded me of the outpouring of grief and anger following the deaths of cyclists in London, including last November when over 1000 cyclists lay down in the road outside the Transport for London  HQ (pictured above). I also thought of my friend Paul Hendrich, who was killed while cycling in London six years ago this week.

Paul Hendrich

If Paul H. was here today, I would like to talk to him, as we used to do, about Paul Gilroy. In the latter's book 'Between camps: nations, cultures and the allure of race' (2000) he ponders how human beings can develop what he calls a 'planetary humanism' based on what we have in common rather than what divides us in terms of race, country and culture. He grounds this notion in the shared experience of suffering:  'The recurrence of pain, disease, humiliation and loss of dignity, grief and care for those one loves can contribute to an abstract sense of a human similarity powerful enough to make solidarities based on cultural particularity appear suddently trivial'.

But there is also a positive sense of commonality based on the things many of us enjoy to do. 'Megsmiles' is an expression of the fact that we all grieve, but that we can also all celebrate the joy of living, and those of us who take part in the very simple human movement of running share something that is bigger than what divides us.

Faced with a tragedy like this we can think about some of the things that governments, road planners and drivers could do to make the world safer for cyclists, runners and walkers. But most of all we can be reminded of the simple fact that as millions of us rush around every day we need to look out for each other.

Meg Cross Menzies

'Days in the sun and the tempered wind and the air like wine

And you drink and you drink till you're drunk

On the joy of living'
(Ewan McColl)

Songs about Running (1): Fugazi's Long Distance Runner

There are thousands of songs with running in the title, but most most of them aren't really about running. More about fleeing - running from commitment, running from danger, running for the hills...

But Fugazi's post-hardcore anthem Long Distance Runner, from their 1995 album 'Red Medicine',  sounds like it was written by someone who knows what they're talking about. Not sure who in Fugazi was a runner, but pretty sure somebody must have been. I guess you could draw a link between songwriter Ian MacKaye's straight edge philosophy (no drink, no drugs) and a hardcore fitness regime. The opening line of this song would make a great name for a running blog, if anyone fancies starting another one!

The farther I go the less I know

One foot goes in front of the other

It all boils around to not hanging around

To keep moving in front of the gravity

The answer is there the answer is there

but there is not a fixed position

It keeps moving along so I keep coming along

and that's why I'm a long distance runner

and if I stop to catch my breath

I might catch a piece of death

I can't keep your pace if I want to finish this race

My fight's not with it

It's with the gravity

Long distance runner

Running History (5): Advice to Runners from 1895

The Book of Athletics, edited by Norman W Bingham Jr., was published in Boston in 1895 by the Lothrop Publishing Company. If there's any doubt what it's about, just check out the full title: 'The book of athletics and out-of-door sports : containing practical advice and suggestions from college team-captains and other amateurs, on football, baseball, tennis, rowing, golf, sprinting, bicycling, swimming, skating, yachting, etc.'

There are two chapters for runners. The one on 'Running and Hurdling' was written by Bingham himself:

'Scarcely any form of athletics has so many followers who differ so absolutely in physique from the popularly accepted idea of an "athlete," as do the so-called " pedestrian " sports, which include running and hurdling. The frailest and palest youths have  sometimes proved themselves the most powerful racers ; and it is no uncommon sight on the track to see a thin, weak-looking boy run a big, muscular fellow "off his feet." The possession of a pair of long legs is no assurance that their owner will be able to get over the ground quickly, nor, as has often been proved, do decidedly short ones prevent his doing so. The fact is, there is absolutely no means of judging off-hand what sort of a racer one will make...

The most popular distances with amateurs in America are the one hundred yards' dash, the two hundred and twenty yards' dash, quarter-mile, half-mile, and mile runs. The three-mile and five-mile runs are less often attempted, and the still longer distances are seldom covered except in " cross-country" running.

There are many theories as to the best method of preparing for each one of these distances. One trainer may tell you to do one thing, and another will say that is just wrong. Moreover, persons of different temperaments and dispositions will not always do well under the same treatment. Experience alone will prove just how much and what sort of work will bring a man into the best possible condition...

Men who are training for distances from the quarter mile up scarcely need to be sent beyond their distance oftener than once or twice a week. The rest of the time may be spent in running from half to two-thirds the distance at a much sharper pace.

As to a man's "style" in running, there is not much to be said, except that he should be as natural as possible. He should stride out freely, getting his knees well up in front of him, but should not attempt to step too far. The arms should swing easily backward and forward, and should not be hugged up to the chest in such a way as to contract the lungs. Above all, don't attempt to run with your mouth closed. It is pitiful to see some men half strangle themselves in a race by attempting to breathe through the nose alone'.

The chapter on Hare and Hounds Runs was written by David W Fenton, of Harvard and Manhattan Cross-Country Teams. As discussed here before, the popular school game of hare and hounds (or paper chase) was the basis from which developed much college and adult cross country running in Britain and the United States. Fenton writes that most events took place over five to ten miles, and offers observations including the following:

'Long before cinder tracks and spiked shoes were known, our ancestors settled their disputes of superiority in regard to their powers of speed by running across the meadows and plains. It is an interesting fact to note the decline of this long-distance running during the past century, and its revival again, chiefly through the medium of hare and hounds runs, in the larger American universities.

Any one who has enjoyed these runs on brisk fall afternoons, and experienced their invigorating effects, will never avoid an opportunity to take part in this popular out-door sport. The delicate youth who is urged into it by the enthusiasm of the old runners, increases his powers of endurance, gains health and strength, and sees Nature in all her beauty...

In the past, college hare and hounds chases have been confined to the fall ; but any number of fellows thus inclined can enjoy this sport at any season of the year. Those who are accustomed to the routine work of chest weights and dumb-bells should take part in this out-door exercise, by going out for a five-mile spin twice a week, and, on the return, experience the reaction of a cold shower-bath'

Record Sleeve Athletics (2): Marathon by Santana

Marathon was a 1979 album by Santana, and the sleeve features some ancient Greek runners. As well as a short introductory title track, the album features an equally short bass driven instrumental called Runnin'.

So was Carlos Santana a marathon runner himself? It seems not, but in the 1970s he was a follower of the Indian spiritual guru Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007), as was his wife Deborah. Chinmoy and his devotees were  very involved in athletics, and  the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team continue to organise the Self-Transcendence races across the world including in the UK.

While Santana undertook the rigorous Sri Chinmoy regime, including 5:00 am meditation, he drew the line at marathon running: 'This shit is not for me- I don't care how enlightening it is' (source). Deborah Santana did though take part in marathons and ultra-marathons. 

Running on Screen (1): Muybridge's Runner, 1887

One of the earliest moving images of running comes from Eadweard Muybridge's famous Animal Locomotion series of 1887. A sequence of 12 photographs were looped to create the illusion of an endless run, with a further 12 documenting the same motion from a different angle. The still images capture the runner suspended in space, both feet off the ground.

I don't believe that the name of the runner is recorded, but it is known that these pictures were taken at the University of Pennsylvania with the encouragement of the university's provost, William Pepper. The athlete is believed to have been a student there. According to Marta Brown, 'The athletes were the product of Pepper's new system of physical education at the university, meant to develop an overall fitness and vigor, key, according to Pepper, to the "cultivation of manly and courageous qualities" that defined white masculinity... In the minds of pioneers like Pepper, the physical prowess of the university athlete would be a manifestation of the American way of life' (in 'Eadweard Muybridge' by Philip Brookman, Tate Publishing, London, 2010).

One thing that I hadn't noticed until recently is that the otherwise naked runner is wearing some kind of cap. Anybody comes across running headgear like that before?