No not for me but for thousands of others this is the weekend they have been training for! Ottawa Race Weekend!! For the first time in six years I am not participating in the events of this weekend and it sucks! For the last 5 years I have run the half and the year before I ran the 10k so not doing anything this year is a bit of a disappointment. However in my defence I have been a little preoccupied with trying to get into my new house (Closing date May 28th! Yahoo!!!!!) and travelling back and forth to Parry Sound almost every weekend.
As I thought about everyone running this weekend I got to wondering about all the people and how when you watch an event like this you see so many different people of all different abilities. Which made me think of this? Is it harder for an elite athlete to run a full marathon in just over two hours or someone else to run a full in 6 or 7 hours?
Some would say that because the elite athlete is much faster that it is harder for them but I think I would have to disagree. Consider this, an elite runner is going at their max capacity for about 2 ½ hours well someone else could be at their max for upwards of 6-7 hours. Also someone who is on the course for 6-7 hours is exposed to the elements, whether it is heat, rain or wind for a way longer time. Plus they have a much longer time to be concerned about dehydration, blisters and cramping. Sure the elite runners have the same concerns but all I am saying is that it is not to the same extent. As for the training the elite runners train and that is it, it is their job and they live, eat and breath running 24/7. Now for anyone to run a marathon they have to train, a lot! And I would guess that most people that do so have jobs and families that take up the majority of their days so fitting in a 32km run on the weekend is a bit of a challenge. So again what is tougher, running as a job or running in addition to your job?
All things considered seeing how fast these elite runners can pound out 42.2km is pretty amazing but in the end everyone who does a marathon goes the same 42.2km and to me running for 6 hours seems way harder than doing it for 2 ½ hours. Congratulations Judy you did it again!!!
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