(Olympic women's marathon is on the TeeWee over the bar...)
Me: "There's a sport that's not made for spectators."
Dinner companion: "Maybe if they let you scoot along on mopeds to watch. Or if they ran it in a stadium..."
Me: "But it'd get pretty boring just watching people run in circles for hours."
DC: "I don't know, Indy and NASCAR seem to do okay."
Me: "Yeah, but marathon runners don't occasionally just cartwheel down the track and burst into flames for no reason. Now that would be some excitement."
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6 comments:
I know this is racing central, but my feeling is, if they won't let me play with the cars, what's the point.
I don't know what Nascar is up to, but I have been the distance, slowly, on the Marathon a few times, and I am always in awe of the pace and punishment those atheletes go in such a short time. But circles around a track, won't cut it - watched a 10K lately?
Given that they occasionally crap all over themselves, the moped thing might not be the best way to go. Some things just don't mix well with heat and humidity. Leaky bowels, for instance.
I ran the first Bloomsday Run in Spokane. Now for me to run, something must be chasing me!
earl,
I think Tam is right when she posits that, for the masses anyway, it's not much of a spectator's sport.
I think the few of us people who are serious runners out there do know and understand the training, dedication and sacrifice it takes to honestly face that challenge. Let's face it, we're few and far between in this country, and I don't see that sort of thing changing very soon, if ever.
Were you just as shocked as me that NBC covered the men's 10,000 final, in its entirety, just about an hour ago? I was stunned to see them cover more than the start, only to break away with their usual Greenspan/Ebersol storytelling/human interest BS, only to break back 25 minutes later with the bell lap. Stunned, I tell you, and it was a great race too.
Good on them...for once.
Steeplechase runners sometimes flail spectacularly. That's what marathoners need - some "incentives" like: wild cattle, cactus and cowpies. Jagged rock-strewn paths and slippery wet ones, water hazards and sand-traps - with real traps in 'em! And some contemporary elements like chain-link and barbwire.
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