Posts Tagged ‘houston marathon’

The Amazing Wardian

The elite runners who made our 2012 Olympic marathon team deserve all the accolades they get, but one marathoner who didn’t come close to making the team deserves a moment in the spotlight as well.

Michael Wardian is a talented distance runner, but he is better known on these pages as the guy who holds the world record for the fastest marathon run in a superhero costume (a 2:34:56 dressed as Spiderman), and the former record-holder for the fastest marathon while pushing a stroller (occupied by his son, Grant).

This weekend Wardian did something worthy of a superhero. On Saturday, he ran in the Olympic marathon trials, finishing in 62nd place with a 2:21:50. On Sunday, he ran in the Chevron Houston Marathon, finishing in 16th place with a 2:31:17.

“I just like to show people you can do more than you think you can do,” Wardian said. “That’s a pretty neat thing. I have all the responsibilities that everyone who’s not a professional runner has. I have to go to work in the morning. I have a family. And I can still come out on the weekend and make a good effort and run a marathon.”

The New Gold Standard for Marathon Spectators

Marathoners are eternally grateful for the motivation and support of their friends as they endure the tribulations of covering 26.2 miles. Geoffrey Lussier’s friends, however, went the extra mile, so to speak.

At each mile of the Houston Marathon, Lussier was greeted with a large poster of his face, along with some comedic or motivational words.

“I did not know until I came over the bridge at Mile 1 and saw my face,” he said. “At first I wondered how many they had put up, then I kept on seeing them. Around Mile 6 or 7, I couldn’t wait to see the next one.”

The Houston Chronicle kindly posted the contents of each mile marker to accompany its story. Here they are:

• 1. • Lookin’ good! (So far. …)

• 2. • Adrenaline got you this far. All guts from here!

• 3. • Seriously, who fartleked?

• 4. • It’s all uphill from here.

• 5. • Runner X-ing

• 6. • You’re not slow, you’re enjoying the course.

• 7. • Relax. You’re not going to win.

• 8. • I love the smell of 22,000 runners in the morning.

• 9. • 26.2, because 26.3 would be CRAZY!

• 10. • When Chuck Norris hits walls, they fall down.

• 11. • Johnny Knoxville wouldn’t even do this to himself.

• 12. • Only 5.3 miles to finish! (if you take the most direct route)

• 13. • You’re already a winner. You won the lottery to get here.

• 14. • Nobody to blame but yourself.

• 15. • Toenails were made to fall off.

• 16. • If you were a Kenyan, you’d be done by now.

• 17. • Shirt, how do thou chafe me? Let me count the ways. …

• 18. • You paid $115 for this?

• 19. • Sweating = fat cells crying.

• 20. • Your training runs ended here.

• 21. • At this point, it will hurt just as much to walk.

• 22. • Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall you just hit.

• 23. • Graveyard ahead. Look alive.

• 24. • Give me a high five!

• 25. • If pain is temporary, why does this feel like an eternity?

• 26. • Congratulations!!!! Almost. …

That certainly raises the bar. Have your family and friends ever outdone this at a race?

Rainforest Action Network Booted from Marathon Expo

A team of runners from the Rainforest Action Network purchased a table at the Houston Marathon Expo at which they distributed stickers and pamphlets about “Chevron’s refusal to clean up over 18 billion tons of toxic oil sludge they are responsible for in the Ecuadorean rainforest.” Since Chevron is the title sponsor of the Houston Marathon, this didn’t sit well with the race organizers, so they removed the exhibitors from the expo and refunded their money.

“We’re not a political event, and we certainly don’t appreciate them using our expo to promote their politics,” said managing director Steven Karpas. “It’s our expo, and we have the right to control access to the expo. We just didn’t find their message to be appropriate given the title sponsor.”

“We are outraged that Chevron would deny marathon participants the right to run for what they believe, in our case, human rights in Ecuador,” said Rainforest Action Network runner Maria Ramos. “It is sad that the Chevron Houston Marathon – which raises awareness and money for many important causes – would deny the rights of participants to appease a corporate sponsor that is clearly ashamed of its human rights record.”