I LOVE distance racing!!

It seems like for the majority of Olympic events, you have a pretty clear idea going in of who will win. Sure, there are suprises along the way, but the favorite in an event is probably going to medal. At the very least the favorite will always finish the race. Not so in marathoning.

The heavy favorite in the women's marathon this year was Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain, the world record holder. Radcliffe's WR is over 3 MINUTES faster than the best time of the second fastest woman. Forget these sports where best times are within hundreths of a second; this is a true contest. When Joan Benoit won the first Olympic women's marathon in 1984, she finished 15 minutes ahead of her next closest competitor.

So everyone thought Radcliffe would win. After all, she'd never lost a marathon she'd been in. But then she'd also never run a marathon in 100-degree heat with nasty hills. Unlike most marathons where the course designers try to make the flattest, fastest course possible, this marathon followed the "original" course run by the messenger during the battle of Marathon. At is was not designed for world records.

So what happened? Pretty early on in the race ten women broke out ahead and ran together for ten miles or so. The American favorite, Deena Kastor, dropped down to 18th and was over two minutes behind. Radcliffe was right out in front where she always is. But she has a really ugly stride that causes her to waste ridiculous amounts of energy. And she's BIG for a marathoner. Most female marathoners are very compact-- often under five feet. The upside to a small frame is that you have less weight to haul around for 26.2 miles.

Anyway, long story short, the Japanese favorite, Mizuki Naguchi, eventually pulled out in front of the pack and never looked back. She finished first in 2:26 (the world record is 2:15). Catherine Ndereba of Kenya managed to keep her in sight through the whole race and finished second. After Radcliffe fell to fourth (a position she'd NEVER been in in a marathon) she broke down and couldn't even finish the race.

And plucky Deena Kastor just kept running her race. One by one she passed the women who'd gone out too strong, and in the last mile she pulled into third and easily won bronze. And she had a freaking kick at the end, looking totally comfortable. Kastor became the first American woman to medal in the marathon since Benoit. You know why? She's a machine. She does three practice sessions every day-- running in the morning, weights in the afternoon, and running again in the evening, and she trains at altitude with sweats on to simulate the heat. I love any race where preparation makes that huge of a difference. Yes, these women have natural talent that I don't, but they also work their tails off.

And they're old! Kastor is 31. One of the other American women (who finished about 10 minutes back) is 40 years old! There's still time for me! The gold medalist is exactly one day older than I am, so I've got till tomorrow to win the gold :)