At the end of October 2006 I went with some friends to New York for a long weekend. Chance and a small bit of planning brought a big group of us from all around the world to that city that weekend, and it’s one I will always remember.
We flew back on the Sunday night, and so arrived into Dublin Airport early on the Monday morning – with the bank holiday stretching out in front of us. One good friend didn’t make the trip – he was running his first marathon in Dublin this particular day, and I was determined to find him on the course and cheer him on.
It was before the days of smartphones, and you couldn’t follow the progress of runners online as you can now. But he had told me he hoped to run it in 3:45, and from that I could calculate his average time per mile, and hence try to estimate where he might be on the course at any given moment.
I shared a house in Clonskeagh at the time, and so headed home from the airport first and tried to spot him around there. I didn’t. I thought I might get him around the back of UCD then but missed him there too. Finally I headed for the Baggot St. area, determined to catch him on his penultimate mile.
But as one jaded and unfamiliar runner after the next passed by, I thought that either he had significantly surpassed his expectations or he had hit the famous wall somewhere out by the Phoenix Park. Finally he appeared, and I was so excited to see him that I ran the next mile by his side in my jeans and jumper.
The man in question is ex-Sligo goalkeeper James Curran from Tully, Strandhill. He was 25 at the time and musty have had a great internal clock, as he finished the course that day in 3:44:48.
I thought of him this week when I read that 29 is the age at which people are most likely to run their first marathon. The same book told me that people are more likely to run their first marathon at 49 that at any age between 45 and 54, and that ‘9-enders’ – ie people in their last year of a life decade - are generally over-represented among marathon runners by a huge 48 percent.
It’s indicative of a trend that also sees these 9-enders more likely to commit suicide or cheat on their partners. A preoccupation with aging and a desire to evaluate our lives at such ages is linked to a rise in behaviours that suggest a search for or crisis of meaning.
Looking for meaning isn’t a bad thing however, and shouldn’t have to lead to a crisis. Be like James and do it at 25, or 37, or 54. Run a marathon, travel to meet friends, find a new partner if that’s what you really want, but why wait until your age ends in 9?