Lance who?
The results are in from yesterday's New York City Marathon, and a city long-famous for such road racers' hazards as potholes, runaway taxicabs, and errant baseball tosses from Chuck Knoblauch delivered again. Our dear friend, Rob Semelroth of Des Moines, the Carrie Nation of 21st Century cigarette consumption, was the 92nd finisher (out of 37,954 participants) in an official time of 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 57 seconds. I had a chance to talk with Rob by mobile telephone this afternoon (from his tourist station at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, where you won't see many mobile telephones on display) and he expressed to me that the 2 hours were the hardest part, followed surprisingly by the 57 seconds, and lastly the 34 minutes. His finishing time is that much more remarkable when you consider that he detoured fifty blocks to midtown at one point to catch the final three production numbers of "Jersey Boys."Rob finished 80th among his gender (Male), and 38th in his age group (31 to Dead[?]). Finishing well off his pace was the so-called "World's Greatest Athlete," Lance Armstrong, who limped across the finish in 869th place, high on God knows what kind of performance stimulant, in a time just under 3 hours (2:59:36).
When asked to assess his marathon performance on Monday (and just what exactly is Rob running from anyway?) the notoriously self-flagellating Semelroth chose the single adjective "bad," immediately preceded by the single adverb "pretty." The Keystone, Iowa native's personal marathon best is 2:32:12 (if you can believe a word that comes out of his mouth), achieved earlier this year at Austin, Texas, where local boy Armstrong didn't have the nerve to even run, and where Semelroth finished just ahead of what he memorably dubbed "a pack of good-time Charlies" from Willie Nelson's tour bus.
Semelroth's next scheduled race is later this week, back to a lonely, underfurnished condominium in Des Moines littered with piles of sweaty exercise clothes.
posted by CM @ 1:18 PM
5 Comments:
Congrats to Rob. Although I'm not sure how he can describe his race as "pretty bad" when he finished within 2% of his best ever time. He also finished in the top 20 American men, so that shows there are not many hamburger eating, beer drinking individuals on this planet faster than Rob. At least not many that were in NYC on Sunday. Congrats again and I hope to see you at the upcoming TV Festival.
Rob and myself both lost the NYC Marathon. I didn't even run.
Dave, when I said pretty bad, I didn't mean overall. I am disappointed because I spent over 6 months training to finish in under 2:30 and pretty much held pace until the 23rd mile when I fell apart. I'm also a little upset that my streak of six consecutive personal bests was broken. The New York course is tough and I went after it. Here is a picture of me struggling during the last three miles. (if the link works)
Oh, I think I was actually the 23rd American male (26th overall, 3 American women beat me).
Thanks for the congrats. I look forward to seeing you at the TV festival. Let me know if you want a ride from Des Moines.
Ugh, I guess it didn't work. here is the addy you will have to C&P yourself. www.eliterunning.com/photos/index.php?g2_itemId=41883
2:34:57...Incredible man.
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