Marathon History and Motivation

Every day I receive an e-mail from Runner's World with a motivational quote. Some of them really hit home, while others I delete and never think of again. This morning was one of the quotes that I delete and never think of again. That is until my little sister reminded me of it.

It's horrible, yet fascinating, this struggle between a set purpose and an utterly exhausted frame. -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

So Heather, my little sister, starts a gchat with me to tell me how cool today's quote was. And I said, "what? I don't remember it. What was it?" She reminds me what it was and I say, "hm... I wonder what it means."

Within five minutes my research guru little sister sends me an e-mail with subject line "the background" and in it is a link to an article called, The Great Marathon Boom of 100 Years Ago, written by Don Allison. Well good thanks, Heather. What the heck is this? Why did you send it? At least I have reading now at lunch.

So I'm reading the article at lunch (a great article by the way) and all of a sudden - there's the quote. As Allison states in his article,

As he [Dorando] entered the stadium for the final laps to the finish line, he staggered and turned in the wrong direction. With assistance from two race officials, the diminutive Italian was helped and turned in the proper direction toward the finish. He fell three times and arose each time, but not without help from two officials. Crossing the finish line first in 2:54:46, it had taken Dorando nearly 10 minutes to cover the final quarter-mile. A fresh Johnny Hayes arrived at the finish just 30 seconds later.

Later on, Allison quotes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (yes, the author of my RW Daily Quote as well as Sherlock Holmes) from his report in the Daily Mail describing Dorando at the finish.

. . .Then again he collapsed, kind hands saving him from a heavy fall. He was within a few yards of my seat. Amid stooping figures and grasping bands I caught a glimpse of the haggard, yellow face, the glazed, expressionless eyes, the lank black hair streaked across the brow…It is horrible, and yet fascinating, this struggle between a set purpose and an utterly exhausted frame.

Needless to say this quote has a lot more meaning to me now than it did before. I hope you enjoy the article and the quote. I know I appreciate it much more now.