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rumon carter | sports, reports & reviews
A Runner’s Tale (Michael)
Jim (coming soon – in multi-media)
From Rumon
My latest Triathlete Magazine online column, reporting on lessons learned from last weekend’s London Marathon, is live here. (When will they stop using that terrible picture from the Bear Mountain Summit Challenge?!)
(Apologies for the delay on the race report. Running around finalizing the purchase of our new house while getting Aviva packed for her trip to Africa and my quick trip to Courtney tomorrow to do the ski leg of the Snow to Surf Adventure Relay.)
With thanks once again to CBC radio and Kirstie Hudson, here’s the link to our post-race interview from London.
From Rumon
4:48 a.m.
The milk in the fridge has gone sour in my absence; thankfully, everything else at home is sweet, notwithstanding being wide awake at this hour, no tea to greet the morning. I look forward to being realigned with my west coast circadian rhythms.
Our London departure couldn’t have been much better. One last run, jogging along the morning Thames with Ben, soaking up the Old World through the outsoles, capping a terrific trip. Shook hands with new friends then waved goodbye to England, promising to return.
As I start to look forward to the next trip, next goal, next project, I’m gaining inspiration from the network built along Three Roads to London. This morning, I’m on the roads of Iten, Boulder and Boston, watching the final video blog from chasingKIMBIA – it’s brilliant. Perhaps it’s time to buy a video camera.
From Rumon
1:36 a.m. as I begin to type. Too late. Tired.
Another great day.
Saw off the Fowles then saw ourselves off, hiking through Ickenham to the tube, Picadilly line to Earl’s Green, District Line to Parson’s Green, across the green, press the buzzer and into the rabbit hole. My mind has been expanding since then (do I need to eat the other half of the mushroom to make it stop?).
A fantastic, at times Carrollian, day with polar explorer Ben Saunders, sharing ideas, telling tales, watching video and eating. Oh, the cuisine in London. I need to leave just to get back to training and healthy living. This marathoning is bad for the waistline!
We’re on the plane in 11 hours time. Between then and now we may or may not run, will definitely drink some coffee and will once again navigate the tube system before jetting home, reappearing above ground to our better halves’ embraces.
What a trip. So many stories. But I first owe you one from the race. If I stay awake, I shall endeavor to do put it down from seat 20f. In order for that to be a possibility, I must now lay down my head, imagining ice crystals on my duvet and polar bears outside the window, patrolling the high street.
From Rumon
Today was another day of post-race perfection, the highlight our run to Denham and back. If there was a single thing that marked the run it was the sound of a lengthy exhale, the words “my god…” wrapped in a sigh. I marveled at this run, taken as it was from a paved suburb into pastures and trails within seconds. Who would guess we’re only 17 miles from Central London? I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story – Denham, obviously, is one of the Crown Jewels – with this one bit of explanation.
I’ve mentioned that across the road from the Fowles’ residence is a field. In this field are cows. Michael has written about them and their love of running. After runners. So Michael was quite pleased when they were on the other side of the field as we ran through on our outbound leg. Not so as we were headed home. The picture of Michael looking back in my direction was taken seconds after he had checked ’round the hedge for his favourite cows. “There’s one right there,” he hissed, “And it’s looking straight at me – we’re dead!!” Well, me, being the prat that I am, had to add a little more fun to the mix, mooing at the lovely heifers as we ran past. You can see how that worked out – jolly good fun!
Sports writer Cleve Dheensaw of the Victoria Times Colonist put together a great article yesterday, April 23rd, profiling the 2007 Flora London Marathon misadventures of Steve Osaduik and the two bonking rogues, as well as some great commentary from our man Jim Finlayson.
You can find the article online here.
More pics on the Flickr site. Hilarious run today (as you might gather from a couple of the pictures). Story to follow (in a little while).
From Rumon
As I look out into the Fowles’ bucolic backyard, it’s hard to imagine we’re just a one-hour tube ride from downtown London; like a colt that’s been too long in a stall (here the stall being the concrete confines of downtown London), I can’t wait to get out for a run through the pastures. A quick few updates before doing so:
- It’s incredibly sobering to hear about the death on Sunday of a 22-year-old London Marathoner, to say nothing of the 5000 other runners who had to receive St. John’s Ambulance treatment. There have been comments raised that the organizers should have provided more water, but given the thousands of extra bottles they put out upon hearing the weather forecast and the fact that aid stations were already placed at least every mile, it’s impossible to maintain a position that the race is entirely to blame. Should some of that blame rest with the earlier runners, runners like me who took water at nearly every aid station, but never the full bottle that was provided? Individual bottles were a wonderful luxury while you were drinking from them, but the waste of both plastics and water was manifest. Bottom line, it’s a horrible tragedy that a young man passed away in the midst of the pursuit of what was surely a lofty personal dream.
- The legs are feeling a little creaky this morning, but no worse than after a hard long run, which is what the marathon amounted to in the end. Not so good though that I could answer Michael’s question this morning, “Are you going to run the Garden City 10k [in 5-day's time]?” with anything other than, “Are you daft?!?” I may be keen to run already, but not a hard 10k. Give me another week, though, and perhaps you’ll see me at the adidas Vancouver International Half Marathon.
- For a great read and to find out what those much faster than Michael and I do after their (variously successful) marathons, check out Matt’s latest Daily Run over at Chasing KIMBIA – it’s fantastic.
- Michael left his camera lying around this morning, so I took the opportunity to sneakily upload some of his excellent pictures to our Flickr site. Now, at long last and after what was surely an unbearable amount of anticipation, you can see photodocumentation of the infamous double-decker/lorry crash. Also some great pics of the Fowles kids, the Ickenham environs from Michael’s earlier stay and more London pre-race.
You know, Michael and I have to be two of the luckiest guys on Earth…
We had a great day today, playing tourist, eating the types of foods we’ve been foregoing the past while, rehydrating in a manner of speaking (it’s St. George’s Day – the English equivalent of Irish St. Patrick’s Day – here in London and the pints are flowing around the city, the red and white standards flapping in the breeze). We cruised by Westminster Abbey, photodocumenting the spot where we met up yesterday, less than a mile from the finish; through St. James Park and its blossoms; by 10 Downing; into and around Soho, poking our heads in a few shops. In the end, it was likely just what the doctor ordered, working the kinks out of the legs, but we were happy to put our feet up when we returned home. Home tonight is Ickenham, with Michael’s uncle, aunt and wonderful, hilarious little cousins. No plans yet for tomorrow, but there’s a good chance we’ll run. The desire is already there and there are country fields just across the lane. Enticement.
Notes:
- Thank you everyone for the supportive comments – there’s no better salve for tired legs and slightly hammered egos.
- I’ll try to get to Part II of the race tomorrow (my tomorrow, that is; it’s almost time for bed); for Michael’s pan-global cheering squad, he tells me he’s planning on putting together a similar play-by-play for the near future (and Michael and I would love to hear something similar from Jim as he finishes his prep for Victoria’s Times Colonist 10k, this Sunday).
- Looking forward to meeting with our man Ben Saunders on Wednesday – the stories he must have to tell.
- Michael and I just got off the phone with Kirstie Hudson from the CBC, taping an interview that I think she’s going to air during the afternoon.
Suddenly smashed – must sleep. G’night all.
