It's Okay to Admire
Talking about runners who are better, faster, stronger than me (which is... well... quite a lot!)
I don’t know about you, but the Summer Olympics have generally been kind of a drag this year haven’t they? I mean, put aside the ethical issues of even having them in the middle of a pandemic in the first place or the fact that we missed out on seeing Lady Gaga emerge from a green warp pipe dressed as Super Mario, these Olympics haven’t been as exciting as I remember them to be.
It’s been especially dire for those of us living in the US. Simone Biles got the “twisties,” Sha'Carri Richardson got a bullshit suspension for smoking weed before the events, the US Women’s Soccer team lost to the one country no self-respecting soccer team should ever lose to (i.e. Canada), the US Men’s basketball team are playing so badly I keep looking for Spike Lee on the sidelines, and my God, the British are beating everyone in swimming of all things!
I guess if I’m honest, the Summer Olympics haven’t really been my thing in general - I’m more of a Winter Olympics guy (looking at you, Curling) - so take my gripes with a grain of beach volleyball sand. That said, the one sport I have been able to fully enjoy this year despite the existential dread surrounding these Olympics is track & field. I don’t know what it is about these events, but I watch them like I’m Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the TV. The mental and physical strength it takes to compete in any Olympic sport is unbelievable, but when it comes to running - something I myself enjoy doing quite often - I’m in awe at the all around strength, even if it means I look like a chump in comparison. I mean, look at these guys!
A dang 10k in under a half hour?! That should not be possible! Human beings should not be this fast. It’s not right! Do you know how hard that is to do? Running that fast is hard enough to achieve, but to just run in circles for a half hour alone has gotta be mentally draining. Don’t their feet ache? What about their knees? Just…how?! It’s pretty amazing. So is this…
Gah! Mu is 19 YEARS OLD! She just made those other runners look like complete amateurs. [Doc Emerick voice] MY GOODNESS! Look how smoothly they are running, too. I would be flailing more than an inflatable tube man in a wind storm trying to catch up to these runners.
Even Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner, a fellow Villanova alumni I was hoping would compete for a medal (although it was cool to see a Villanovan in the Olympics other than Jay Wright of course), finished 7th in her 800m heat last week with a time of 2:04:62. I mean, shit man. As we were watching some of the races last week, I gushed about this to my fiancé. “I usually run a half a mile in 4:30 - 5 mins at best,” I told her, to which she replied “cool” with all the enthusiasm of a teenager receiving socks for Christmas. I guess I was only one in the room amazed by the feats of these runners, because the cat sure as hell wasn’t going to speak up.
Finally, there’s this guy - Karsten Warholm from Norway - who broke his own 400m hurdles world record to win gold. Not to mention, the runner up - USA’s Rai Benjamin - would’ve set the world record on his own had Warholm not been a superhuman sprinter. "I just ran with my life,” Warholm said after the race before delivering my favorite quote, “I would die for that gold medal today.” Replace “gold medal” with “beer” and I can TOTALLY relate. Also, look at this man’s face after setting the record. Heck dang yeah, rip that shirt buddy, you earned it!
Watching these Olympics has been a startling reminder of how impressive these athletes are compared to normal schlubs like me. They are how I picture myself looking like when I’m on a good run when in fact I probably look more like this. Maybe there was a time in my life where I would’ve been really discouraged by this. If I were a 19-year-old runner and I saw Mu run as fast as she did, I probably would’ve quit on the spot and devote my life knitting. But today? I’m cool with it. That’s the beauty of being in your 30s, I suppose. At this point in my life, I’ve grown used to watching athletes who are younger than me. While it’s admittedly jarring to hear, say, the new-look Los Angeles Lakers being referred to as “old,” I’ve come to terms with being the average runner I am. Never will I be that fast or that in-shape. Never will I be able to run freely without a knee brace. I’m on the other side of 30 and I think it’s pretty safe to say my chances of running like an Olympic athlete are about as good as me sharing a steak dinner with Paul McCartney.
Growing up, my dad would tell me that there are always going to be people richer and poorer/prettier and uglier/faster and slower/etc. than you, and to just worry about yourself and don’t compare yourself to others. He always liked to golf with people who were better than him at golf, which I never understood. “Won’t you be intimidated?” I would ask. I’d feel like they were judging my every swing (and trust me, there are always A LOT of swings involved when I’m golfing). But ever the optimistic, he always would view it as a learning experience. If he could play golf with someone who could be a borderline pro, maybe some of that greatness will rub off on him. Maybe he’d learn something about reading greens or hitting a chip shot that he wouldn’t have thought about before. That’s how he always approached it.
I’ve found myself taking away similar lessons from watching these superhuman runners on TV. Like a golf swing, it can be easy to forget that there are thousands of little mechanics involved that make these runners so consistent and so good at what they do. It’s interesting to see some of the strategies these runners use mid-race, like when to conserve their energy and when to really go for it. I also didn’t know that different tracks have different feels to the feet (I guess they’re not all the same after all?).
So, I’m in awe. It’s okay to admire. Usually in sports, admiring a pass or a home run will get you a body check to the ice or a stern talking to from Tony La Russa. It’s not something you want to do during a game. Lucky for me, I’m not an athlete. I’m just a guy sitting on my couch watching from afar. I can admire away, and I gotta say, it’s been inspiring watching these athletes put in the work and push the limits of what runners are capable of. Their dedication and passion for running has been rubbing off on me. I may not be able to run a half a mile in 2 minutes, but damnit, I’m gonna get off my ass and run a whole lot this week!
Back in the day, my friends and I used to know this person we only referred to as “4:05 Guy.” He was a friend of our friend’s sister. He was a runner, a good runner apparently. He was a little older than us, and my track-running friends were impressed. Not being a runner at the time, I didn’t really understand what the fuss was about. It was like they were fawning over Lil Sebastian and I was Ben Wyatt. “4:05 Guy” became their dang idol. Why? Because apparently he once ran a mile in 4:05. Today, I kinda find that hard to believe, being that the current world record for men is 3:43.13, and the women's record is 4:12.33. But hey, maybe it IS true! You never know. Maybe we all need our own “4:05 Guy” to look up to as runners. It can’t hurt to have a little inspiration, right? Use it, learn from it. I wonder how “4:05 Guy” is doing these days. I hope wherever he is, he is at least still able to run without a knee brace.
IT KEEPS YOU RUNNING: Music for Your Miles
Music and running go hand-in-hand. Here’s what you should be putting on your running playlist this week.
Electric Candlelight
Speaking of being in awe…
I NEED to tell you about this Philly band. I’ve listened to a lot of bands from the city of Brotherly Love over the years, but I haven’t heard anything quite like Electric Candlelight. There simply aren’t many bands that sound like them anymore. Formed during the pandemic (what a time to get together, eh?), Electric Candlelight is a supergroup featuring singer Owen Stewart from Ruby The Hatchet, guitarist Justin Pittney (Residuels and Moon Women), bassist Max Jonas (Tough Shits), drummer Joshua Aaron (The Lawsuits), and Philly favorite Ali Awan on guitar. They’re a lean mean wrecking machine of heavy psychedelic, classic rock who is making a BIG noise in the Philly music scene.
It's been a long time since I've heard a sound like this outside of classic rock radio. A lot of bands are indebted to say, CCR or MC5, but I have yet to hear a band own it quite as hard as this. Stewart's voice is towering and soulful - one of the most powerful I’ve ever heard - and the band surrounding him is just as loud and locked in. Their live show over the past few months has been a revelation, and they have a big one coming up at Johnny Brenda's in September.
They just released a killer new single called "Grand Delusion" which was recorded live to tape and mixed by producer Jeff Zeigler (War On Drugs, Kurt Vile, Nothing). This follows a pair of introductory singles released this year so far: the epic freak-out “Another Year Gone By” and the bluesy, strutting “Make No Mistake.” The band is currently recording what may very well be a full length, although I don’t know that for sure, I can only hope. Either way, I can’t wait to hear more. I’m all in.
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