A Marathon Man

Slow and steady finishes the race with a smile!

A few weeks ago I was asked to contribute a short piece to the website of the running group I belong to about my experience in running my first marathon.  The original text (http://www.warsawtriclub.com/news/)  was edited a bit; however, the following is the orignal text.

Shortly after spending the first half of 2012 making the transformation from weekend jogger to spirited runner by participating in the Warsaw Half Marathon, I spent an evening under the influence of a couple of beers pondering my chances of actually completing the full marathon in September.  As alcohol can often impair one’s decision making process, I came to the beer-goggled conclusion that I would be up to the challenge  to complete the 42.195K in one go by the end of September.    So without making any other serious calculations I made the proverbial leap of faith and registered on the marathon’s website.  After receiving my race number a couple of days later, it became official.  I was going to run in my first marathon.    

Still standing!

The course of action was fairly straight forward: to run as often as possible between May and September.  Fortunately, being an English Teacher affords one an opportunity to take advantage of those long vacation periods in order to rack up the miles in order to be ready for a long run.  All things considered, the gist in getting ready (in my experience at least) is in fact to run a lot.  More specifically, however, is to run increasingly longer distances until about two weeks before the race.  At which time one should be able to run about 30-35K in one go.  Then, a couple of weeks before race day, one should let the body rest a bit.  For me, at least, in three and a half months I was able to transform myself from a moderate runner struggling to push through a 15K run into someone maybe more similar to a Forest Gump type is able to just keep running.   The only glitch on my side was not taking in enough water on the long run before the marathon.  It was a painful ending to a long 36K run in the afternoon with only three quarters of a liter of water to carry. I found myself feeling nauseous and unable to eat anything for a couple of hours after the run.  Lesson learned.  I am not an expert on running.  However, if I could impart some advice to you dear reader: stay hydrated.

On the big day I had my pre-run, morning breakfast ritual consisting of a big bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios (no product placement intended) with sliced bananas, a strong coffee, and about two liters of water.   After eating, I successfully attached my race bib to my WITC shirt and made my way to the national stadium.  Upon arriving, I dropped off my extra clothes, and dutifully waited to use the bathroom.  Judging by the size of the line, the other participants all seemed to be well hydrated before the race as well. After the bathroom break, there was no time to waste.  It was time to run a marathon.  Publically I mentioned to most people beforehand that my goal was to just finish the race, but privately my goal was to finish under four hours.  So, I moved myself as close as possible to the 4 hour pacer.  Once I got started I didn’t stop.  With an exception of one bathroom break around the 15^th kilometer, I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.  I kept a pace of about 11K an hour and finished in just under four hours.  I kept a steady pace, and luckily didn’t run into that proverbial wall most runners speak of so ominously.   So that was it.  I ran my first marathon.  I think there were three or four things, however, that carried me through the race; staying hydrated, good tunes, and the amount of people who came out in support of the runners-especially, the people from WITC who were all such a welcome sight with the cheers and high-fives.  Thanks guys!  So now it’s time for a run.

A Touchdown for American Football in Poland

It’s no secret that the most common kind of football in Europe is the kind that actually requires regular use of the feet, and which actually forbids any use of the hands unless one is the lonely goalkeeper.  Nonetheless, American style football is starting to show its pigskin face recently in Europe.   In Poland their league has grown enough to move their championship over to the national stadium, which had 25,000 people in attendance in July.  This weekend the national stadium in Warsaw played host to the Euro-American Football Challenge.   The organizers welcomed a group of scrappy young American footballers to challenge the best of the European clubs.  Twenty thousand plus curious fans turned up, as well as Solidarity leader and former Polish President Lech Walesa who gave a lively opening speech and successfully carried out the coin toss. 

I was lucky to be part of the large turnout as well.  After scoring a free 50 yard line seat, I hopped on the bus and  moved myself to the stadium.  After finding my seat I noticed that it was a pretty noisy crowd for a country relatively new to the sport.  The announcers were lively, and even seemed to be dropping explanations about the sport to help iron out some of the nuances for the newcomers to American football.  

The challenge itself was quite close throughout the first half, with the score even at seven.  However, shortly into the third quarter the challenge fell apart, with a few too many costly turnovers by the European side.  Because of this, the American team quickly capitalized on the turnovers and scored a few touchdowns against an apparently weaker and less experienced European team.  Despite it nearly being an Olympic  'dream team' type blowout, the European team did manage to slow the American momentum towards the end of the fourth quarter to avoid a complete disaster.  The American team won 34-7.  Regardless, the most notable thing about the event was size of the enthusiastic crowd who nearly all stayed until the end of the match.  Despite the lopsided result, it could be the winning touchdown for the growth of the sport in Poland and in Europe.

Home is where you feel like (at)

I recently received a phone call from an English teaching Polish colleague of mine regarding a question she had received  from a journalist asking if the English slogan used for the Euro2012 ‘Feel Like at Home,’ was linguistically accurate.  As Euro 2012 is happening in less than two weeks, a quite imposing series of murals circling the central train station have been put up showcasing an array of international football fanatics in their respective country’s colors.   It’s hard to miss, trust me.  The imposing size, the bright colors and the eye catching slogan will undoubtedly capture even the most uninterested pedestrian’s attention.  Despite the size, the relevant thing to many Poles here in Warsaw is the slogan ‘Feel like at home.’ The debate is whether this expression is linguistically correct.    

The headline states that many Poles are upset about the supposedly linguistically invalid expression, yet many native speakers of English are nodding in approval about the expression maintaining that it’s not as natural as many of us would say; however, it’s logical. 

'Feel like at home', and Poles 2012 your hosts!

To the native speaker’s ear it doesn’t sound too wrong.  Anyway, if you look at the article found here(: http://natemat.pl/16321,burza-wokol-hasla-feel-like-at-home-w-szklance-wody-polacy-wytykaja-blad-a-native-speakerow-like-nie-razi   )   you will see that many are unhappy about the slogan.  Nevertheless, as one of the native speakers asked for the validity of this motto, I will reiterate that it doesn’t sound that bad.    We hear a lot worse from you Poles-from the best of you as well to boot.  Anyway, as a little experiment, I Googled the expression and it does not exist.  Of course, the best expression  and probably the grammatically correct expression is the expression ‘feel at home.’  The expression ‘feel like at home’ is a direct translation from Polish.  Regardless, if Poland invites me to feel at home or feel like at home, I will happily accept.  So, Where’s the fridge? And can I help myself to a beer?

Behind the main train station

To Run or to Jog? That Is the Question!

Is it running or jogging? It seems that I have always considered myself a jogger.  You know, the type that throws on a t-shirt, shorts, socks and tennis shoes and makes a few cheery rounds around a track or past a few houses before calling it a day.  The type of person who isn’t really walking but moving at a pace that isn’t really moving that fast either and is able to carry on a conversation about world events or poker strategies at the same time. Nevertheless, it probably would have been accurate to mark me a nothing more than a complete beginner until recently.  Jogging is an activity that often takes little motivation to get me moving, yet I had never been able to cover long distances in short amounts of time. Anyway, I was finally able to overcome this barrier recently by completing my first half marathon at the age of 35. 

 

About a year ago I started training for the half marathon in Warsaw.  I trained as often as I could.  However, I had never gone over 20 kilometers before.  So on race day I felt rather intimidated. In March, on the morning of the race I carefully found the back of the group (of  several thousand) and  sheepishly crossed the starting line.  Frightened as I was, in the end, I finished it quite easily.  The training paid off and I was able to complete the race in just over 2 hours which isn’t really a great time, but for me it was one of those little milestones.  I am more than a jogger now, at least.

Flash forward to a  week ago on a warm Saturday. I competed in a 10k race in my neighborhood, which included  only 264 people, so it felt more relaxed than the half marathon. This was part of the Warsaw Grand Prix series that comprises ten races over Warsaw during the year.   This was my first in the series.  Despite the heat, I ended up pushing myself without a water break, and crossed the finish line in just over 46 minutes, which for me is a great time.  I even placed right in the middle of the group at 132 out of 264 runners.  The next one is in June and I’m going to be there.  I even planning on doing the full marathon in September.

So in some way, I guess I’ve become like Forest Gump.  I’ll just keep running.  No more jogging.  Or whatever the vernacular is these days.   On the other hand maybe the concept of  running is more about one's level of commitment.  For me the biggest difference is that I can run faster, but more importantly, is that I take it more seriously or with more enthusiasm.  It no longer is just throwing on a shirt and shorts and making a few steps around in a park.  It has become more ritualistic. I try to have proper shoes, comfortable socks, and a t-shirt that isn’t too heavy or burns the nipples at long distances.  I also watch what I eat (slightly) more than before.   Most importantly, however,  I just do it because I feel better at the end of the day.  This is what’s important.