Almost Famous

Last night I watched the WGBH's Nova episode on marathons in which they take 13 novice runners and train them for a marathon in 9 months. The content was pretty disappointing since it couldn't choose sides between the science and soap opera. And any self-respecting runner would find the science and physiology that they explained rather elementary.

HOWEVER, you should watch the show at least once on PBS (they'll probably still be rerunning once a year until your grandchildren are retired). Why? Because 80% of the shots of the training runs were on a course I run or bike at least once a week! That's right, the same Mystic Lakes that they run along on TV are the ones I've talked about in previous posts. My dad (who was impressed with the science) and I sat there yelling things like, "Look! That's the bridge by Wedgemere Station!", "Look! The parking lot!", "Why are they running in the street when there's a path right there?!" We got a particular thrill when the narrator said, "This is their final long training run, parts of it on the Boston Marathon course", and they were STILL showing footage of the Claire rout (which is NOT on the Boston course). I would give you a youtube clip, but they cut out most of the important footage, so it wouldn't be worth it.


That's right, I run where the stars run. In fact, I ran there before it was cool. So you heard it here first!