As I did ten years ago, on Monday I will be at the starting line of the Boston Marathon as a spectator. It’s an event I used to participate in, until one of my ankles decided that 10k was the longest distance it felt like running.
These are the posts I put online April 15, 2013, shortly after hearing about the explosions at the finish line.
In 2008 I ran the Boston Marathon, which technically is the Boston Athletic Association Marathon. You don’t get one of these medals unless you cross the finish line. 🙂
In 2009 I was in the middle of a training run when a tendon in my right ankle decided it didn’t want to participate in the marathon. So when I was at the starting line, instead of being a participant I was merely a spectator. The elite women took their mark, and seeing Kara Goucher I suddenly didn’t mind being a spectator.
Kara finished third in the race, but that isn’t important to this post. On February 8th, Kara posted this distressing news on Facebook.
For the past year I have been quietly battling for my health. After a fall in December 2020, I had a hard time staying on my feet while out running. It felt like I was slipping and it was scary, I’d throw my arms out for balance.
She went on to say …
…a neurological movement specialist… diagnosed me with focal dystonia, for me runners dystonia. I started a Parkinsons medication and slowly improved. I could walk normally and run on gravel surfaces or my treadmill. But running on a road or a sidewalk would cause me to be pulled to the left and slip.
I had never heard of Runner’s Dystonia until reading Kara’s Facebook post. On YouTube, an M.D. specializing in M.S. commented on Kara’s condition.
Beaber didn’t pick up on what stood out immediately to me. Parkinson’s medication helped Kara. She doesn’t say which P.D. med, but the fact she was able to walk after taking it is very telling.
I’m obviously not a physician, but I have a lot of experience with someone who has Parkinson’s Disease. I know for a fact that specialists can misdiagnose Parkinson’s or a related case, especially in women. Rather than having a moment of Sherlock Holmes insight, they diagnose by process of elimination and still get it wrong.
…losing running in the way I love it, is something I’m struggling to accept. People have said I’m addicted to running and they are right. I loved running before I knew I was good at it. It made me feel alive, to push, to feel my lungs expand.
This is heartbreaking. I’ve never been more than an average running, but I know the feeling. I’ve never understood the idea that being forced to run is a form of punishment. My first memory of enjoying running just for the sake of it goes back to age six.
Since retiring, I’ve averaged 4,000 miles/year driving. In my running heyday I averaged 2,000 miles/year on foot. Having been forced by my ankle to greatly reduce my running distances, my very sympathetic thoughts are with Kara, along with the hope she that isn’t suffering from a progressive and irreversible condition.
Marathon Monday is going to be hot! One year when I ran Boston the sun was brutal and the temperature was hovering around 90 and, believe me, in that heat you take almost every water stop! At the 24-mile mark is Coolidge Corner, and tomorrow, one day before 25,000 pairs of running shoes go by that spot, Morgan Spurlock will be at the Coolidge Corner Theatre for the premiere of his new documentary, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope.
Friday morning, Spurlock was on PRI’s The Takeaway, talking about comic books and the San Diego convention.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/takeaway/takeaway041312j.mp3|titles=The Takeaway: Morgan Spurlock on ‘A Fan’s Hope’]Spurlock says that without the involvement of Stan Lee and Joss Whedon he probably wouldn’t have gotten permission from the convention to make the movie, but Morgan is a known name and his reputation precedes him — in a good way, I think. He’s a friend to fanboys and a kindred spirit. Speaking of somebody with a reputation, here’s a picture of me with Smilin’ Stan “The Man” Lee at a show in NYC a couple of weeks ago.
When I was down in New York I stopped at the table of the Jack Kirby Museum. I donated some money and chatted with the guys representing the organization. We talked about the Kirby family’s ongoing litigation with Disney-Marvel, and we agreed it’s a shame how the company took the path it did, rather than offering an out-of-court settlement.
There’s a vocal contingent of Jack supporters who are out to make Stan the bad guy for stealing credit that rightfully should be shared with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. But the well was poisoned long before the so-called Marvel Universe came into being in the 1960’s. As the late Joe Simon said on page 114 of My Life in Comics, “Jack always thought Stan had told his uncle that we were working for DC. He never gave up on that idea, and hated him for the rest of his life — to the day he died.” The hard-line Jack supporters have taken Kirby’s hatred to heart, and I think their zeal has caused them to lose their perspective. As I told the Kirby Museum reps, I will not support Jack by hating Stan.
Here I am, plodding across the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I’ll probably buy a copy of this photo. If I do I’ll post it again without the watermark.
