Of the Long-Distance Runner: Steak, brandy, and strychnine... how to win the marathon in 1908

Someone once said that normal people who think they’re weird are less interesting than weird people who think they’re normal. Runners are fine examples of the second category. Few activities are more acceptable grandma-conversation, and yet few present such a strong mix of obsession and ecstasy. There are few weirder ways of spending our time.

In this blog I’ll be attempting to get beyond the smokescreen of normality that shrouds most writing about running – the times, the distances, the technical tips. There’s already plenty of that out there and frankly, my dears, most of it is dreadful. If there were anything worse than hearing about Other People’s Children, this would be it. Writing about running is almost never as interesting for the reader as it is for the keyboard-wielding runner: my challenge is to make it so. So we’ll look at what makes runners tick, why an eight-second difference in time can merit hours of discussion, and at the devotion-stupidity-madness that running is.

Sometimes I’ll look at the history of running, sometimes at the social interactions it makes possible. I’ll give a sense of the mental landscapes around which runners heave their skinny frames, both through discussion of books, films, or songs, and directly from conversations with my fellow devout.

On your marks.

Of the Long-Distance Runner

Thursday, 1 March 2012

Steak, brandy, and strychnine... how to win the marathon in 1908

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