Working life

Running the women's marathon

By Masako Yamada

6月5日にオールバニーで開催されたマラソンのスタート直後の様子。筆者の友人は、このレースに参加するため、わざわざカナダから駆け付けた。

A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a friend living in Montreal. Her husband, Don, had spent a sabbatical year at my advisor's lab in Boston, and we became friends then. They have since returned to Canada, and we have continued to stay in touch. I'ｖe visited them once in Montreal, and this time around, they asked me whether they could stay with me for a night. She wanted to run in the Freihofer's Run for Women in Albany on June 5.

The fact that she was willing to make an international trip for a 5-kilometer race proves how committed she is to the sport. This is an important event, and among the invitees are runners who are likely to show up in Athens. At the same time, the race is open to thousands of casual runners, and I was encouraged to sign up as well. I quickly declined and instead offered to cheer with Don on the sidelines. Don needed no excuse to duck out of the race: Naturally he was disqualified because he is a man.

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I could immediately tell which persons were runners. They were the ones with the extremely thin legs. What seemed to surprise Don was not that the women were so thin, but that 90 percent of the people milling about were women. Some of the men's bathrooms had even been (temporarily) covered with "WOMEN ONLY" signs. Since I attended a women's college, this environment didn't particularly shock me.

I don't know the least thing about competitive sports, so I asked a lot of questions about racing, including what to serve for dinner on the night before a race. I was told something simple, like pasta and sauce. On the morning of the race, I was surprised to see my friend drink black coffee. After we arrived on the scene, I stood by, fascinated, as she pulled off her long training pants. After a while, she took off her training shorts. Her running shorts remained. Likewise, she arrived in warm-up shoes, and as the race neared, she switched to lighter shoes. She ran through the course once before the race, to get used to the terrain, contrary to my intuition to conserve energy. I learned a lot just by being with her.

このレースの始まりは1979年。一般の選手に交じって、オリンピック代表級のランナーも招待選手として参加している（http://www.freihofersrun.com/）

Fifteen minutes before the race, Don and I took our positions at a strategic location close to both the start and the finish line. The event began with the customary speeches, but a trio of parachuters added excitement by jumping out of a plane and doing intricate flips and free-falls before landing exactly in front of the starting line. That was the sign for the race to begin.

The elite runners zipped by quickly, and the thousands of other runners followed in a big clump that took several minutes to pass by. Since the course is only 5 kilometers long, we knew that the top runners would be back in no time. Sure enough, they came back about 15 minutes after the race began.

A minute or so later, Don looked to see if his wife was coming. He said he knew she'd be thrilled if she could make it in less than 17 minutes 30 seconds. She didn't make the target, but she still ranked within the top 10 of her age group, and I was able to photograph her as she neared the finish line. She hardly looked winded as she walked over to meet us.

Many teenagers zipped along comfortably, but they weren't as fast as the top runners who were mostly in their late 20s, 30s, and even 40s. I was told that the padding that mature women have in their thighs (yes, even though they look stick-thin) serves as a shock absorber. Moreover, the legend is that women who've given birth make excellent runners because they can tolerate pain.

Marla Runyan, 35, has won the past three years. This year, she ran the race in 15 minutes 25.5 seconds. Last year, she ran the course in 15 minutes 24.4 seconds. The year before that, she ran it in 15 minutes 26.4 seconds. It makes my head spin to think that after all those miles of tough training, the difference is just a few seconds. This discipline is something that I don't understand and can never emulate, but it's inspiring to see it in others, especially at a live race.

Shukan ST: July 2, 2004

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