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EIGHT MILES TO GO AND YOU'RE...

TNF IRATE TEE:

Running on empty

By PAT RICH

The Vancouver
International Marathon
was my first marathon
and I finished it.

Any one of the other 1382
runners who started Sun-
day's 26 mile 385 yard event
will know that the statement
stands on its own and needs
no elaboraton

On the surface it looks hke
a pretty unexciting sentence

ranking far below the great
sports reporting leads of all
tume

But. ooh the

information

wealth ol
emotion and
feelings that are hidden just
below the surface!

In an article such as this I
desembe the race or |
can desenbe my run

can

Since T never even caught

a glace of the winner Garry

Henry. during the race. and
because the only part of the
race that I have personal
knowledge of was that part
where people were running 6
minute and 40 second miles,
I can only describe my run

Beginning with the feeling
I had at the 1&8 mile mark,
going into Gastown, when I
realized that whatever
energy suurce | was using
had dred up and there was
still eight miles to po

In the jargon of runners it
is called “The Wall that
point where (he body starts
burning up muscle to keep
‘self going

PAIN

I discovered that its not so
much a wall as a
quicksand filled
where you dont
further than the
and you

long

tunnel
think any
neal step

dont have the

Strength to lift your head up
and look at the people lining
the route

The circuit around Stanley
Park seemed to go on
forever and I had the awful
conviction that all chose
people | had overtaken in
youthful exuberance at the
beginning of the race were
going to overtake me at the
end when | was weak and

helpless
This didnt happen
because everybody was

going Chrough the same long
tunnel as myself and had as
much spnnt teft as a pole
axed dairy Cow

The 1& mile mark isa good

place to start because it was
there that the race really
began for me

Up unal Ahat point | was
having » gyfceat time running
faster thag | had planned

and fechng really good

I knew it had to end at
some time because, ac-
cording to any of the well-
known running books I had
just not trained enough (40
miles a week is not enough
according to most sadisuc
authors).

But that sure didn’t worry
me at the start when I'd
psyched myself up to a
breaking point and started
off) with a huge crowd of
other runners from Robson
Square at " ¥O in the
morning

As we all headed down
Stanley Park the
note of hundreds of running
shoes striking

towards

pavement

sounded just hkhe a heavy

raintall
And by the end of the race

a heavy rainfall was) just
what I was be praying for

Ihe was

CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

sunny weather

ith awin:PageB3

>

DELIRIOUS _safter
running 14 miles,
North Shore News
reporter Patrick Rich
places a paper cup on
his head and exhorts
other runners to do
the same to protect
themselves from giant
invisible penguins
intent on ruining the
marathon. (Pip Stairs
photo)

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