The Boston Marathon

The marathons I like are the ones where the winner runs across
the finish line looking like he or she isn’t even breathing
hard.

Of course, it’s more exciting when there’s more than one person
at the end and they have to sprint. Yesterday’s women’s race had
the first and second place runners separated by a second, and
the second place woman collapsed and had to be taken to the
hospital immediately afterwards. The TV announcer said, “She
gave it everything she had,” like that was a good thing. But in
my opinion, the point of sports is to produce a healthy mind in a
healthy body, and it can’t possibly be healthy to abuse your
body like that.

The only runner I’ve known personally who finished the Boston Marathon spent the
next few weeks on crutches — he’d sprained his ankle at
about mile 15 and finished anyway. I don’t think this is
healthy either.