Olympic Marathon Chills and Misguided Dreams

When Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania was approaching the tunnel of the Olympic "Bird's Nest", did anyone else get the chills? I sure did, especially when the crowds roared for her lap around the field to win the women's marathon gold.

Never experienced running in the front pack or even near the top 10%, the Olympic coverage provided a unique viewing experience in how the elite runners "run" a marathon as opposed to my perceived "running" of a marathon. They're clocking 5:35 minute miles, whereas in my last race I finished with 9:06 pace. Hmmm...? Nearly twice as fast as me. Hmmm....? My god Constantina was hauling ass with pumping arms and muscles twitching as compared to my "HAULING" ass, swinging arms and cramping muscles.

Constantina Tomescu-Dita was an immortal for this race. To find the mortals, the television coverage did pan to those finishing beyond the medal winners --a cramping Paula Radcliffe, something I of course could relate to. Yet Radcliffe is not a mortal runner. She is the world record holder and just a month earlier had a stress fracture in her thigh and overcame this injury to run in the Olympics. Months earlier, I wrote about my two massive blisters from ill-fitting shoes, yet persevered after a week layoff -- not quite the same thing when comparing immortal runners to mortal runners. Hey, it still hurt nonetheless!

As Constantina made her second victory lap, the delusional thoughts began: in four years I'll be 45 and if I train hard enough...hey, Dara Torres is competing at 41 and there is some dude in his 50's competing in sailing...just maybe if I train hard enough, I could be in the Olympics. Wouldn't it be cool to be a 45 year-old marathoner against all odds? Stop, this is an impossible dream. Maybe there is a sport where I could excel? Bocce Ball? Lawn Darts? NO, a spectator may get injured or even worse, my dogs won't survive all the hours necessary for training. But, as a result of of training for Olympic lawn darts and misguided throws, think of all the dogs I could rescue from the animal shelter!