Book Review: Iron War Dave Scott, Mark Allan & The Greatest Race Ever Run….by Matt Fitzgerald

Running a marathon was considered the ultimate test of endurance by many. The advent of the Ironman in 1978 changed that forever.

Adding a 26 mile run to the end of a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike was a game changer. No longer would swimmers, cyclists and runners argue about who was the better athlete….because now the answer was simple. The Ironman Triathlon became the ultimate test for the endurance athlete.

This book tells the story of the epic battle between Mark Allan and Dave Scott at the Kona Ironman in 1989.

For the endurance athlete, this story presents a contrast of two very different people and training regimes:

Dave Scott was the maniac child who chose to race his school bus on his bike and kept at it until he could beat that bus. He trained hard and then trained harder. There was no “taking it easy” to build endurance for a grown up Dave Scott. His confidence reigned supreme. He knew that he could beat anyone and it didn’t matter that they were better athletes. Dave Scott willed his way to victory.

Mark Allan was a supremely talented swimmer who was as weak mentally as Dave Scott was strong. Lesser swimmers knew they could beat him because as soon as someone got so much as half a stroke on him, he collapsed. He was a quitter.

The buildup to the big day is gripping. Mark Allan had won the Ironman distance (and even beaten Dave Scott) but never at Kona. Dave Scott was a six time champion at Kona. A flat tire, an untimely injury or wilting in the face of Dave Scott’s surge would always deny Mark Allan the victory at Kona. He even got to the point where he though ancient Hawaiian deities had placed a curse upon him.

On this day they went mano a mano and recorded the two fastest times ever. The winner would have beaten the other man on his best day….as it should be. They came out of the swim together and came off the bike together. Through 23 miles of the marathon there was no daylight between them. Despite the fact that the narrative takes us through 8 hours, it is thrilling.

(Those who don’t want to know who won should avoid the video I’m posting here.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVGVMiwPSA

I found the leadup to the race very interesting and informative. Distance runners are used to hearing contradictory advice (stretch vs don’t stretch, Epsom salt baths are great vs they’re useless). These two men had very different approaches and training methods. There is much to be said for both and a lot of the science is explored.

After the conclusion of the race, the book goes on for a while into their post Iron War lives. I found most of it somewhat anti-climactic and wondered why he didn’t end the story shortly after the race. But then I found a great quote which runners will appreciate: (page 286)

“Human beings are the creatures that try harder and never stop trying. We try when it’s hopeless. We try when it doesn’t make any sense. And when we succeed in trying harder than we have ever tried before, we try harder still. We are Cindarella, and Rocky, and the Little Engine that Could. We are beautiful in this way. Heartbreakingly beautiful.”

The author observes that endurance athletes strive for a sense of community…but it is a community of pain and suffering. We endure together and suffer together. The joy that we feel at the end of a race comes FROM the suffering. We recount stories of how we suffered and feel good about it. We suffer longer and feel more joy about it when we are in the company of others doing the same thing.

This sounds bizarre and leads to questions about our sanity, but there is a beauty to every race and every struggle. Some will understand that….pity the others.

This book is highly recommended for distance runners and other endurance athletes. Others might simply wonder why some friends of Allan and Scott didn’t stage an intervention.

Thumbs up on the book and I want to sign up for a triathlon!

Race Report - Toronto Goodlife Marathon May 6, 2012

In terms of personal achievement, this was not a great race for me. I fell flat and my time ranks 6th best out of 7 races done and breaks a streak of 6 straight faster times.

That kind of intro usually leads into a list of complaints about the race, but not this time.

The truth is that it was a very well organized race on a picture perfect day.

The Toronto Goodlife Marathon (formerly the Toronto International Marathon) is one of two marathons run in Toronto. They are rival organizations and do try to outdo each other. As a consumer I say good!!

Let's start with the expo. The expo was in a large convention centre. It was roomy and reasonably well organized. Our race packs included our race shirts as well as a vintage shirt from a prior year. I thought that was a nice touch. Early arrivals got a copy of the book "26.2 Marathon Stories" by Katherine Switzer and Roger Robinson. That was a pretty nice freebee to begin with. Actually having Ms Switzer and Mr Robinson on had to sign the books and pose for pictures was a real bonus. They were so nice and personalized their message in my book and really took some time. Of the Canadian marathons i've done, this was the best expo i've seen.

The start at Mel Lastman square was well run. The only problem that i saw was one barrier that had fallen over and we had to dodge it. I hope nobody tripped over it. Accidents happen and so i don't hold that against the race organizers.

The early route was on a closed street that went mainly downhill and through some of Toronto's nice neighbourhoods before heading down the lush Rosedale valley road which was a nice long gradual downhill.

The second part of the race was less nice. First we went through the concrete canyons of the financial district before emerging hear the lake to run along the lakefront. The lakefront run is more scenic of course but this part of the course was on a path in the park and hence was not closed. I heard a few stories about people on bikes or children playing and getting in the way. You would think the guy on the bike might clue in when he sees a bunch of people with bibs running by. You'd think parents wouldn't want their kids to get too close to a herd of people trying to run as fast as they can. The fact that part of the course wasn't closed was unfortunate. Maybe as the marathon has grown in size that is something they can look at for next year.

Several aid stations near the end ran out of cups and were offering runners water from jugs....great if you are carrying bottles but not much if you are not. This wasn't so good but again i hope it's fixed for next year.

Toronto's fall marathon had a disastrous bag check last year and some heads rolled as some runners waited up to 2 hours to get their dry clothes on a very cold day. A lot of people were very upset. It would appear that the rival goodlife decided to have the best bag check ever. I walked over near the bag check and stopped to talk to a friend. I asked her where i go to get my bad and she pointed to her left where a young man had read my bib and had already retrieved it without being asked. That was awesome!!!

Overall i really liked this race despite those few foibles.

I can't give Goodlife top marks when some of the course is not closed. That is important. However i will give them just one notch below top marks.

I've now run all three Toronto area marathons in the past 12 months and i rank them 1) Toronto Goodlife, 2) Mississauga 3) Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon.

None comes close to my favourite race of my 7 and that would be the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach, California. That was the best organized race with the best expo and the best samples....not to mention my best time :-)

Gay Marriage/Straight Marriage Absurdity

Today President Obama declared in an interview that he supports gay marriage. Good for him for being honest. I suspect that this was his belief all along but he didn't want to offend some southern voters and was deliberately vague as a result. In practical terms his declaration will probably not change any laws. That would require Congress to act and that doesn't seem likely.

What Obama's declaration does do is shine a not so bright light on the issue of same sex marriage.

Various jurisdictions give different levels of recognition to same sex marriage but their traditional definition of marriage as applied in the traditional sense is remarkably consistent.....and remarkably weird to have written into law.

In the Province of Ontario a marriage can be "annulled" under certain conditions. When it is annulled, it is deemed to have been legally invalid and to have never existed. This is different from a divorce which merely dissolves a valid marriage from the date of the divorce.

Looking at some of the grounds for annulment gives a clear view of what makes a marriage valid and what makes a marriage invalid.

Ontariodivorces.com details the state of the law regarding annulment under the grounds of non-consummation.

The premise of annulment due to non-consummation is that the marriage is not legally complete until it has been consummated with sexual relations at least once. Yes you read that right.....the law says that a marriage is not legally complete until you have had sex.

Can you imagine if this ended up as a matter of dispute in court?

Man: "Your honour, ah did not have sexual relations with that woman. Our marriage is void."
Woman: "Your honour we did have sex and i can prove we had sex."
Man: "That was before we got married your honour. It has no legal significance. We didn't have sex after marriage even once so the marriage is not valid."

The judge would be faced with the requirement to make a ruling based on the evidence as to whether they had sex before but not after walking down the aisle.....or whether they did indeed continue to have sex after the marriage ceremony....AT LEAST ONCE!!!

I find it bizarre that such a medieval way of thinking is actually enshrined in our laws. In my opinion all marriage laws should be repealed and replaced with a new section of contract law under which economic resources are combined and separated. Children? Well children can and do come into the world without a marriage of any sort between the parents and there are laws governing their welfare.

Rights of survivorship and other employment benefits can be negotiated separately. Churches can continue to define marriage as they see fit. Their definitions don't always square with the legal definition anyways...ie the Catholic church does not recognize divorces as valid and as such divorcees cannot be married under their definition.

So I guess bottom line is that I am opposed to same sex marriage being enshrined in law but equality advocates need not fear....i oppose heterosexual marriages being enshrined in law as well. Conservatives should be very happy with this approach as it gets the Government out of the business of regulating something they have no business regulating. Equality advocates should be happy that there is equal treatment.

Personally i'm of the view that if you want to call someone a spouse go crazy. Many unmarried people do it anyways...who cares if some gay men/women do the same?