The question never seemed so appropriate, nor so poignant as it did following the Boston Marathon bombings earlier this week. On his show, Dan Patrick (as well as many others) repeatedly, and almost rhetorically, asked this question. While many of us hope that our answer would be "to help others," the truth is that we don't know. But for the runners and fans on Monday who faced that very question, hypotheticals removed, there were many who answered heroically.
Stick around a race long enough and you'll begin to hear tales of the wall. It is the stage of endurance races where you reach your physiologic limit. Most common in triathlons, marathons, and long cycling events, "hitting the wall" (or "bonking") describes a state of altered consciousness. Athletes describe hallucinations, confusion, dizziness, and utter loss of control to the point of an out of body experience as they push to the end of a race. The physiology is incompletely understood and has been attributed to energy depletion, dehydration, and nervous system dysfunction. The effects are disastrous as we see runners wobble, stumble, and struggle through until they fall or finish.
Mondays attacks were an extracorporeal wall. And yet they seemed to tear down the very wall they represented. Out of the smoke, amidst the chaos, we saw runners go beyond the marathon they were racing to give blood and help their fellow competitors. For those who were stopped short of finishing the 26.2 mile course, they added extra miles to the nearest hospital or to the reunion area where they found family and friends.
The thing about running is that for 99-plus percent of us, it is not a livelihood but a lifestyle. We run for fun and for fitness, for peace, serenity, and camaraderie. And in so doing, we form special bonds- a silent nod to the man we pass every day on our favorite loop or the collective energy as we gather en masse at the start of a race. We are out there for the love of sport and the love of life. The tragedy of the Boston Marathon will endure in infamy, but already we have bonded together and those runners who continued on to donate blood showed their heroism and dedication to this family. Should I ever be asked the question of which way to run, I hope the motto "Boston Strong" pushes me in the right direction.
Stick around a race long enough and you'll begin to hear tales of the wall. It is the stage of endurance races where you reach your physiologic limit. Most common in triathlons, marathons, and long cycling events, "hitting the wall" (or "bonking") describes a state of altered consciousness. Athletes describe hallucinations, confusion, dizziness, and utter loss of control to the point of an out of body experience as they push to the end of a race. The physiology is incompletely understood and has been attributed to energy depletion, dehydration, and nervous system dysfunction. The effects are disastrous as we see runners wobble, stumble, and struggle through until they fall or finish.
Mondays attacks were an extracorporeal wall. And yet they seemed to tear down the very wall they represented. Out of the smoke, amidst the chaos, we saw runners go beyond the marathon they were racing to give blood and help their fellow competitors. For those who were stopped short of finishing the 26.2 mile course, they added extra miles to the nearest hospital or to the reunion area where they found family and friends.
The thing about running is that for 99-plus percent of us, it is not a livelihood but a lifestyle. We run for fun and for fitness, for peace, serenity, and camaraderie. And in so doing, we form special bonds- a silent nod to the man we pass every day on our favorite loop or the collective energy as we gather en masse at the start of a race. We are out there for the love of sport and the love of life. The tragedy of the Boston Marathon will endure in infamy, but already we have bonded together and those runners who continued on to donate blood showed their heroism and dedication to this family. Should I ever be asked the question of which way to run, I hope the motto "Boston Strong" pushes me in the right direction.
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