Wow! We make our own beds, then must lie in them...
It's been a while since I last committed thoughts to blog here, but the fury in the running community over the alleged cheating of one Boston Marathon finisher has really taken be aback. The short story is this guy posted a letter that his kid's principal sent informing him that the child's absence from school to attend his Boston race was not a sufficient excuse (i.e. the kid wasn't sick). His BIG mistake was not to argue with the principal about the merits of the educational benefits of a family trip to the Boston Marathon, but rather posting the principal's name! Now the poor principal is apparently receiving death threats from numerous losers, which is something that I cannot fathom from any sensible to remotely sane person doing...
But on the running front, this runner has now brought his entire racing and running history under the microscope of the running community. Seems like he cheated his way into his BQ and now the posse is on the loose. Makes for interesting reading to look through the Runner's World Forum and LetsRun.com community threads. A lot of hate out there to be sure... Though I did find these memes very amusing! Mr. Rossi seems to be a publicity hound, and he sure hit the jackpot on this one.
Which brings me to my current state of affairs. As I embark on a plan to train for and run the Prince Edward County Marathon on October 4th, 2015, I am faced with the prospect, if everything falls into place, of defending my result. Given my injury history I recognize that the potential for me to BQ this year is remote, but that does not mean that I will train to NOT qualify. What if the miracle of miracles happens and I train health, hit all my paces, take care of my body, nutrition, rest, and on the day have the run of my life and qualify? Who out there will then go through my past results and possibly question my achievement? I suppose keeping this blog up and running is one way as it shows clearly the ups and downs that I've gone through. Another way is to make my Garmin data public. Then again why should I have to worry about justifying my future success to anyone other than myself and my family when I know that my training and my racing performance has ultimately lead to a legitimate result?
Too early to think about such a horrible possibility, but never too early to state unequivocally that I would never dream of cheating to get to Boston. Qualifying may be easy for some, but it sure as hell is not for me. In the seven years since I've picked up running I have not come close to qualifying. Through ups and downs, successes and failures, milestone achievements (few) and disappointments (many), and all of the personal history that is amassed throughout the process, I would never be able to sleep at night nor face my family if I cheated on something that I've already committed so much time and energy into doing. If it's not to be it's not to be; I can live with that. But I will not give up and look back on what might have been if I cheat and give anything less than my best effort. What lessons would I be teaching my kids in the process? And what is the point of doing something so personal as training for and running a race that really has no meaning to anyone except the runner themselves and then deciding that just getting to run the race, no matter what, is more important that achieving the standard in the first place? Running the BQ standard, fair and square, is much more important to me than actually participating in the Boston Marathon.
I hope to do both. And I hope my kids are able to share the experience with me.
But on the running front, this runner has now brought his entire racing and running history under the microscope of the running community. Seems like he cheated his way into his BQ and now the posse is on the loose. Makes for interesting reading to look through the Runner's World Forum and LetsRun.com community threads. A lot of hate out there to be sure... Though I did find these memes very amusing! Mr. Rossi seems to be a publicity hound, and he sure hit the jackpot on this one.
Which brings me to my current state of affairs. As I embark on a plan to train for and run the Prince Edward County Marathon on October 4th, 2015, I am faced with the prospect, if everything falls into place, of defending my result. Given my injury history I recognize that the potential for me to BQ this year is remote, but that does not mean that I will train to NOT qualify. What if the miracle of miracles happens and I train health, hit all my paces, take care of my body, nutrition, rest, and on the day have the run of my life and qualify? Who out there will then go through my past results and possibly question my achievement? I suppose keeping this blog up and running is one way as it shows clearly the ups and downs that I've gone through. Another way is to make my Garmin data public. Then again why should I have to worry about justifying my future success to anyone other than myself and my family when I know that my training and my racing performance has ultimately lead to a legitimate result?
Too early to think about such a horrible possibility, but never too early to state unequivocally that I would never dream of cheating to get to Boston. Qualifying may be easy for some, but it sure as hell is not for me. In the seven years since I've picked up running I have not come close to qualifying. Through ups and downs, successes and failures, milestone achievements (few) and disappointments (many), and all of the personal history that is amassed throughout the process, I would never be able to sleep at night nor face my family if I cheated on something that I've already committed so much time and energy into doing. If it's not to be it's not to be; I can live with that. But I will not give up and look back on what might have been if I cheat and give anything less than my best effort. What lessons would I be teaching my kids in the process? And what is the point of doing something so personal as training for and running a race that really has no meaning to anyone except the runner themselves and then deciding that just getting to run the race, no matter what, is more important that achieving the standard in the first place? Running the BQ standard, fair and square, is much more important to me than actually participating in the Boston Marathon.
I hope to do both. And I hope my kids are able to share the experience with me.
Labels: Boston Qualifying Standard, cheating to BQ is wrong, privacy
posted by Vava at
11:13 AM
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