Personal best for Channel 4 News ‘chariot of fire’
Reporter Keme Nzerem achieved a personal best when he ran in an 800 metres for members of the media at the World Athletics Championships. Just don’t ask him how long he took.
I ran an 800m season best today. In fact it was a lifetime best.
Now to be frank, it wasn’t that surprising because I’ve never run 800m before. Or at least I haven’t run 800m since attempting it at school, wearing a scratchy cotton rugby jersey while a PE teacher threatened cold showers to whoever came last.
I wasn’t very good at the 800 then, and I wasn’t very good at it today either. I wheezed round in the Daegu media race in 2 minutes 41.61 seconds, behind a gangly Cuban who laughed and skipped all the way, and an Irish chap who said been out all night on the juice and hadn’t slept a wink (I considered dobbing him in for an alcohol test but decided it wouldn’t look good to advertise the fact that I’d lost to a drunk bloke).
To put my effort in context, it’s a full minute behind the world record holder, David Rudisha, who can get round the half mile in 1.41.01. Rudisha is a professional athlete who runs for a living – indeed one of the sensations of these world championships – so I don’t feel too bad.
Channel 4 News sports producer Simon Stanleigh gets “in the zone”
But then I heard about James Fradley, from Staffordshire. And Markhim Lonsdale, from Gateshead. And Thomas Kendrick, from Tonbridge. They are all schoolboys. They are all under 13. And this year they have all run 800m in 2 minutes 10 or thereabouts. That’s half a full minute faster than me.
When athletes like Mo Farah run the 10k they’ll get through each lap far faster than I managed in my first 400. And if I could manage the full 10k at the same pace that I ran the 800 today (which, at 80 seconds a circuit, is, I know, a ludicrous proposition, but just go with it for a moment), it would take me over 33 minutes. The 10k world record is just over 26 minutes.
The point being, it’s impossible to truly understand how fast these people can run until you try it yourself. And it really ain’t easy.
