Going the Distance

"Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood." - Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Rocky 1976

Pam Block, a member of TFK dating back to last year, organized an outing to Bryant Park in Manhattan for the last installment of the HBO / Citi Summer Concert Series. The film was "Rocky", the 1976 Academy Award Winner for Best Picture and Best Director. Sylvester Stallone was a double nominee for writing the original screenplay (see below for his inspiration), and for actor in a leading role (becoming only the third man in history to earn this distinction, Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles being the other two).

Pam and others had brought tons of great food, wine & other treats, which everyone enjoyed. The lawn opened at 5:00 and there was a mad rush apparently to stake out a claim to a piece of real estate, so she and our teammate Danika did a great job in securing us a great spot. I'm sure their running speed came in handy during the race. Hilary was also there early and brought some excellent spinach dip, which was a big hit.

I got to meet some new members of the team, some of whom even professed to be fans of this blog, which is nice. It's always good to know that there's somebody out there! Here is another blog I learned of while there, and Danika has links to two other TFK members' blogs as well:

http://danikaruns.blogspot.com

"Rocky" is a great film and was very inspirational to all of us. Unfortunately I had made plans for later that night (that's right, 10:00 p.m. on a Monday night, that's how I roll!) So I had to leave before Rocky started training and of course the fight itself, which are the best parts. There is a strong parallel between his story and ours. Rocky is slated to compete in an athletic event which is set for a date a couple of months away and he knows he has to train hard for it, otherwise he will be in a world of hurt when the day arrives. He knows he can't win it, but he knows just making it to the finish will be a tremendous accomplishment, so that is where he sets his sights. I've run marathons after training like Rocky did (last year with TFK), and after training like Apollo did (San Diego in 2001, longest training run 13 miles). Believe me I felt great at the end last year, and felt like I had gone 15 rounds when I stumbled across the finish line in San Diego 5 years ago.

We can all identify with the scene where Rocky goes through the city and tries to run up the stairs in downtown Philadelphia, only to become short of breath and have to walk. Later in the film, after having trained more and more, he is able to run up those same steps, and he bounds into the air with his arms outstretched when he reaches the top. He knows he is as ready as he is ever going to be, and it is time to face Creed. For those of you who are training for your first marathon, this is the feeling you will get upon successful completion of our 23 mile run in October.

Thanks to everybody that came out and brought food, especially Pam for organizing, and I'll see you at the next practice!


This is the true story that inspired Stallone to write "Rocky" (taken from Wikipedia.com):

On March 24, 1975, Muhammad Ali fought Chuck Wepner in Cleveland, a fight that was to inspire the Academy Award winning movie "Rocky". Ironically, however, it was Ali's opponent who provided the inspiration for history's most famous fictional pugilist. Wepner was a journeyman fighter who had been earning his living as a liquor salesman and security guard. Wepner had been dubbed "The Bayonne Bleeder" and, although he was ranked, he was considered hapless. Wepner, however, trained for two months and although he lost on a technical knock-out, he survived all 15 rounds and even managed to knock Ali down. Sylvester Stallone saw the match on television and the concept of Rocky Balboa -- an unknown club fighter who goes 15 rounds with the heavyweight champion -- was born.