The morning long run (22M) couple Sunday’s ago took a
bit more than four hours to finish. It was raining steadily before I headed out,
and the forecast was rain for most of that day. So, I opted for one of the
“intestinal” routes to stay closer to home (less than 3M), just in case. This post,
though, is actually not (mainly) about the run itself. It’s more about a
thought that occurred during the “intestinal”part of the route, where I encountered a man, who had a significant
midsection, delivering newspaper in a car, as he and I weaved into and out of
different culs-de-sac (outlined in blue on the map).
But, first, a side note on the run itself. Even
accounting for the steady moderate rain, the pace for that run was about 1.5
minutes slower than my long run training pace for the Pocono Marathon back in
spring. The difference in pace was not because of aging—at least not mostly (😊)—but because I’m following a new
training plan (for the upcoming Harrisburg Marathon) by James Graham, a medical
doctor from England who began running marathons in his mid-40s (4:46) and,
within five years, ran his first sub-3 (2:56). There are two key differences
between Graham’s plans and my previous one: (1) There are three rest days per
week vs. one, though, of course, the individual runs are longer for the same
weekly mileage and (2) there is a greater emphasis on training by heart rate
(HR). It’s the latter that resulted in my slower long run pace. Whereas,
before, I was running by target pace, Graham’s long runs are paced by HR. In
the plan I’m using (50-mile peak week), the recommended long run HR = HRmax – 60
to 50. I’ll find out in Harrisburg whether this works better. But, regardless, I
definitely appreciate the three rest days!
OK, back to the newspaper
delivery man. What came to mind was this: There is a certain privilege (or
luxury) in being able to go out on a Sunday morning and run 3 or 4 hours,
without being constrained by the need to work or by any number of other reasons,
personal or otherwise. I have the privilege of opportunity. And, like other
privileges that one has had for a long time or is born into, my opportunity
privilege is one that I’ve not been at least keenly aware of.
That thought opened for
me a different and broader perspective on what is obviously a major problem in
this country. One just need to spend a few minutes watching the crowd go by at
airports, malls, or other public spaces. That this country has an obesity
problem is well documented; some 40 percent of the adult population are considered to be obese. Watching
the passing crowd, at times I would think to myself, if I could do it, why
couldn’t they? If I could keep running and stay fit, even as I age, why
couldn’t they? What I’d been leaving out was the many and varied personal
situations that could prevent or constrain opportunity, situations such as the
need to work delivering newspapers or mowing the lawn for some apartment
complex (which I saw four or five Sunday long runs ago).
In running, in sports in
general, in any endeavor that requires dedicated effort to excel, natural talent and hard work are two requirements that come to
mind. Opportunity, however, does not always. A key idea in David Epstein’s
book, The Sports Gene, is that exceptional talent plus lots of correct practice
plus help in timing or favorable circumstances or environment—opportunity—are
necessary for greatness. One example of the importance of opportunity is the
dominance of Jamaican sprinting, a key to which is keeping the best sprinters
on the track. Jamaica is better able to do this than, e.g., the U.S., because
there are no other more popular sports like basketball or football. Someone
like Usain Bolt in the U.S., on the other hand, would much more likely end up in the NFL than the
Olympics (or at least NFL after the Olympics). Hilary Hahn growing up had the
"gift of nature" and practiced 4-5 hours a day. She also, however,
had supporting parents and teachers, who created the favorable environment. She
also had the privilege of opportunity.
