Running and Baseball

This column was originally written in October 2004.

And on the sixth day I slept. and slept and slept some more. Thankfully the series ended because I couldn’t take much more. It was like running five marathons in five days but my legs weren’t sore just my eyes. Because of a rainout Friday night the Yankees and Red Sox played five straight days of riveting baseball games that ran the whole gamut of emotions. I won’t reveal which side I was rooting for but like most of the Eastern Seaboard I was entranced by what transpired in the best rivalry in sports. There is no second best. There is nothing even close that approaches the history, the different cultures of the two cities and the huge chasm between the unparalleled success on one side and the unmatched anguish and heartbreak on the other. And if New York and Boston aren’t big enough rivals just consider this; Their marathons occur approximately a week after baseball ends in the fall and a week after baseball resumes in the spring. The Yankees and Boston even fought it out last spring during the Boston Marathon in the annual Patriot’s Day game.

So why is this in a running blog?

Well for starters, there are probably no two activities different than going out for a run and following a baseball game. Running is relentless, inexorably moving forward, usually with a finite goal of either time or distance. Baseball, on the other hand, takes its sweet time delivering its story uncaring whether you need to be somewhere, or whether you should be asleep or whether things should be getting done. And for me the game isn’t enough. I have to hear the commentary and the fan reaction and see if I’m thinking the same way the experts are. And at work, everybody has an opinion and people take sides.
Some take it more seriously than others. Some don’t realize their lives won’t change no matter who wins. I’m happy to see that I finally have that awareness although it took a long time.

So why is this in a running blog?

Well for starters, the weather for most of the series was pretty awful for spectators sitting in those ancient open air stadiums-cool and clammy in the high 40’s to low 50’s . You saw them huddled in their winter clothes hoping they would eventually remember what their hands felt like.Beer and soda were disdained. Hot chocolate and coffee were hoarded just for hand warmers. By the end of a game a spectator could have spent enough money keeping warm and well fed to afford a pair of good running shoes. And all I kept thinking was could I please get weather like this for all my races especially my marathons.

Great! But why is this in a running blog?

When I figure that out, I’ll let you know but right now I’m too drained and going through withdrawal. It’s going to be five long months before the Yankees and Red Sox play again. Thankfully I’ll have running to sustain me through the baseball free winter.