An unexpected encounter with a young, super-fast runner during a trip to Barbados for the Run Barbados Marathon Weekend. The author reflects on the experience and his own average running abilities.
Picture the scene; the finish line in sight, crowds either side cheer and applaud. Calves, hips, ankles, soles, knees and lower back no longer ache, while that cheese-grater of a freebie technical t-shirt rubbing against your nipples turns to velvet, as the fire in your burning lungs is put out by the encouragement of strangers. And then… the real reason for the whoops from the sidelines. You see, it isn’t me they are willing towards the finish line.
Out of nowhere, a little girl, who can’t be more than 12 years of age, sprints past on my right and gobbles up the ground to the tape. If this was a cartoon, I’d be choking on the smoke in her wake. I’m Wile E. Coyote, outsmarted once again by the Roadrunner, just waiting for the anvil to fall on my head. As I cross the line, she has vanished. What a shame. Come the Olympics in eight or 12 years’ time, when a Barbadian runner lands a podium finish in the 5,000m, I’ll never know if she was the young girl that overtook me at the death in Barclays Park on the east coast of this beautiful Caribbean island. But I’ll claim an assist, regardless, in this future champion’s development into a world-class athlete. There are no Olympic or Diamond League performances on my horizon. But I’ll settle for a few more finisher’s medals in 2025, as I continue my side-gig to this writing business as an average runner, running average times over average distances. I’ll tell you one thing, though, when it comes to an experience, it won’t get much better than last month’s trip to Barbados. The pitch: Fly to the Caribbean for six nights; all you have to do in return is a bit of running. And so we landed on this tropical paradise, ready to take part in the Run Barbados Marathon Weekend. Three days, five distances and plenty of rum and sea water paddling to speed up recover
TRAVEL HUMOR Running Marathon Barbados Caribbean Young Athlete
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