It may be difficult for people to believe now, but there was a time that Sports Illustrated would regularly feature track and field on its cover. One of the indelible headliners was a 1971 issue that featured the mile race between two of the greats of all time, Marty Liquori and Jim Ryun. Under the picture of the two on the final straightaway was the simple description “Liquori grins and wins”.
That cover became topical recently in my house when my daughter had the word “grimace” as one of her high school vocabulary words. I explained grimace as what she used to describe as my “monster face” when I would finish races. Of course, “Liquori grimaces and wins” is not as catchy as the rhyming phrase but I wonder how many non-runners actually thought that he was grinning?
It is very possible to grin at the end of a race but it is more out of satisfaction that the race has been finished or a goal was met. I have repeated the well-worn thought countless times that running is not fun but satisfying. There are many aspects of running that are very enjoyable and if we did not have fun doing it we would not be out there very long but it is the satisfaction of creating something new that continues to keep me motivated. The fact that it promotes a healthy lifestyle is also important, too but you could get many of the fitness benefits from other activities.
This is a somewhat far-fetched example of the numerous ways our hobby is so misunderstood by the non-running public.
It shouldn’t be too difficult for any of us to think of numerous examples of how misunderstood running is... How many times have you told someone you finished a marathon and they ask “How far was the marathon?” I’m guessing that confusion comes from some shorter races billing themselves as mini marathons.
There are so many others that could fill this blog but in keeping this story brief, I refer to one more of my favorites, especially true when I speak to formerly athletic men who have totally let themselves go. Whatever pace I just ran for my most recent races, they will always have some story about how in the past they ran six minute pace for four or five miles in non running sneakers.
To that one I grimace and know they can’t be truthful but since they think I’m grinning we have a good laugh and move on.
