On Sunday, at midnight EDT the 232nd episode of Phedippidations will be available for download (from the servers at Liberated Syndication and Wizzard Media). Since there have been well over fifty one thousand downloads of the first three episodes of my Boston Marathon series, I’m guessing this fourth installment is going to be heard by a “whole buncha runners” (that’s a technical term meaning “more than the ten I ever expected to listen).
That being the case, I felt I should jot down some thoughts on the episode that you’ll hear, as I suspect you’ll find it to be (in a word) “different” and I’m not exactly sure what your reaction will be.
If it helps, having spent at least thirty hours on putting the show together (please thank my wife) I’ve uploaded the thing not quite sure, myself, of what to think of…well….of myself.
First: understand please that this is NOT the episode I intended to produce.
I have a very particular process and style when I’m putting together an episode of Phedippidations: it usually starts with research, segues into long hours of writing (my favorite thing to do in the process, but also the most time consuming) and then when I have a working script I record it in two parts.
The first part you hear when I’m running…this is a very loose script because I have to memorize everything I’m going to say and my written notes usually reflect that, for example if I’m going to talk about Johnny Kelley the elder, I’ll write in the script “discuss JKe on GLSB describe bot hill” which will be my cue, when memorizing the “script” to talk about Johnny on the goofy little speed bump (I never call it heartbreak, because that doesn’t apply to me) with special care to describe the bottom of the hill (so that runners can visualize what it looks like when they get there).
See what I mean? The script for the “running segment” of my show is more of a set of guide notes that I can easily memorize and when I get to the start of the run (outside of my squeaky door, or at the starting line of a race) I already have, in my head, a list of items that I have to record myself talking about. Sometimes I forget one or two items, which is fine because I always have a much longer list of guide notes than I’ll ever use.
For my running on the 114th Boston Marathon, I had a VERY long list of “guide notes” memorized, because I intended to describe to you what if felt, looked, and smelled like to run this race. I wasn’t going to talk about myself at all, I was going to be a good reporter and give you a much clearer sense of what it’s like to run the Boston Marathon than I’ve done in the past five years.
The second part of my script is the narration you hear in the show. It’s written in a verbose fashion (similar to what you’re reading now) and is intended to be read conversationally, with facts, figures and details gathered from research interspersed throughout. If you’re hearing my voice in your head as you read this, then you know exactly what I mean by “conversational tone”. (The name Phedippidations, came about because I wanted to have a “Conversation” while out on a long run).
So, I had written a script for this show that I was really proud of. I’m not often proud of my writing style or abilities, but this one was special…and because of the nature of this script it was unique to the 114th Boston Marathon and can’t really be used again.
See, this wasn’t the race I was planning on running, and my frustration was that by the time I got to mile four: I already knew I was in trouble.
You’ll note, as you listen to Fdip232 that when I’m in the early miles: I make little reference to my weakness and dehydration…this is a classic example of being in denial (I have a habit of doing that a lot). I didn’t want to admit to myself (or to you) what I knew to be true: I was going to be a complete mess by the time I started that climb out of Newton Lower Falls
By the time I got to Framingham , I met fellow runner Amee from Winchendon , MA Natick
Since I knew this was going to be a race of survival, I didn’t bother to record any of my speaking points: and just went on to describe my agony. That’s not fun to listen to, I understand: but hopefully you’ll learn something from my mistakes.
As for my original narrative script for this show, some of it can be reused next year (not much of it, but some) and I’d post it here on Intervals, except that it wouldn’t make any sense to you.
Do I consider this my best podcast episode? Most definitely not. This episode is different because it documents the complete breakdown of a human being, struggling to finish a task that is important only to himself. I’m not heroic, and this didn’t require courage: true heroism and courage are found with those who risk their lives so that runners like you and I can sleep comfortably at night, and wake up to run marathons without fear of repression and violence.
Also worth mentioning is that as I ran this race, I used Android technology (mobile smartphone system) to keep everyone up to date as to how I was doing. The technology worked well, but I had expected to be on the course for around five hours…and the constant GPS tracking, 3G transmitting, video, audio and tweet messaging gobbled up the juice in my Droid, forcing the OS to shut down the GPS tracking function in the final miles. For those of you who were wondering what happened to me as you tracked me on this website: my Droid wanted to ensure I had enough power to phone home at the end (Thank you R2D2).
So, there you have it: Fdip232 will be plugged into your head in just a few days. I hope you enjoy it, and would appreciate any and all feedback (I always do). You can email me directly: steve@steverunner.com or follow me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/phedippidations ) Twitter (http://twitter.com/steverunner ) or you can email me an MP3 file which I’ll post and respond to here on Intervals.
Thanks for all of your kind words and support; and I hope you like the episode.
Just make sure you’re well hydrated before you listen to it!
- Steve
