Parker Stinson’s performance at the USATF Marathon Championships was heroic.
Simply just looking at the results of a race or any sport for that matter, doesn’t really tell the complete story. It attempts to tell the ending, but thats about it. The person digesting the results then creates their own false narrative in an attempt to piece together an explanation as to why the results look the way they do. An attempt however, that is based off of absolutely zero scientific knowledge and one hundred percent preconceived notions.
Theres no other part of society where we accept just jumping to the end, when you get on to a roller coaster, you’re not getting on it just to get off, you’re getting on it for the experience, for the adrenaline pump. When you turn on Netflix and put on Stranger Things or Breaking Bad, you don’t jump to the last episode right away. It’s like if you went to a restaurant, sat down, skipped the part where you order anything, skipped the part where you eat, and just got a check, paid for it, and then left.
The beginning and middle are what drives the story.
There’s a lot of missing pieces to the story when you’re just staring at numbers with names next to them. Theres no justice.
Years from now, people will look back at the 2017 USATF Marathon Championships , they’ll go through the results and they’ll see a stat line that looks like this, “30th place. Parker Stinson. 2:18:07"
But what that stat line doesn’t say, is that Parker led the race for 22 miles. That he not only led the race for 22 miles, but he was so far in front, you would need binoculars if you wanted to see 2nd place. He was absolutely dominating. In a sport where we are so used to watching conservative tactical races, races where people take little to no risk. It was incredibly refreshing.
It was inspiring. Just last year we saw Jim Walmsley try the same strategy at the Western States 100. Walmsley was crushing the race. Like Parker, Walmsley was also in a debut race. In debut races, it’s very easy to just sit in the middle, or sit behind somebody, with the mindset of “it’s just my first race, I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. We’ll just see what happens, and if I feel good towards the end, I’ll go for it”
Parker and Walmsley put their middle fingers up to that strategy, they put their middle fingers up to rolling with the status quo.
And yeah, in the end, neither of them were able to pull it off and finish with the victory.
But neither of them flat out died either.
Walmsley was nearly an hour ahead of the entire pack at mile 93 of the Western States 100 by the time he was alerted that he had gone off course, he was already miles away from the trail. Finding out that he had gone off course was like getting hit with a brick, it shut his adrenaline and motivation down mentally. But he didn’t give up. He crossed the finish line, not with the time or place that he set out for. But he still finished 20th overall in one of the most prestigious Ultras in the world at the age of 26.
Parker on the other hand, missed the fluid station at mile 20.
Would this have changed the outcome? Maybe. There’s no way of knowing.
But there are a few things that we do know, 26.2 miles is a very long way. The body can’t make it that far going at sub 5:00 pace without taking in some sort of energy fuel. It could be the difference in a cramp and smooth race. However, this will remain speculation. We’ll never know exactly whether that specific cramp has any correlation with the missed fuel station or not.
All that we know is that he was running smooth, missed a fuel station, and then all of a sudden he seemed to have just hit the wall. His muscles began cramping up, he had to start walking several times to try and stretch out. His once sub 5 pace for 22 miles, on track for a 2:09 marathon started depleting.
Parkers split through 20 miles was 1:39:36. That’s 4:59 pace.
When Galen Rupp finished first to win the U.S. Olympic Trails Marathon, his 20 mile split was 1:40:40
When Parker reached mile 21, his pace began to slow, he finished mile 21 with a 5:10 mile. His overall time was, 1:44:46. When Galen Reached mile 21 of his debut marathon, his time was 1:45:34.
Something else that must be noted, during Galens debut he was 30 years old. Parker is 24.
After mile 21, with just 5.1 miles left, at just 24 years of age, Parker was in an area that very very few American marathoners have ever been. Less than 20 Americans have ever finished the race under 2:10.
Mile 22 is where Parker met his kryptonite, a side ache, a side stitch, whatever you want to call it. The unbearable pain that hits you in the side of your stomach, a pain that makes you feel like your entire stomach might just burst. A pain that has effected every runner at some point.
He completely stopped the pain was so bad. But he didn’t give up, he began running again. Only to be revisited in mile 23. Parker began walking once more, trying to shake off the pain, trying to regain focus, trying to regain motivation to continue the race as his competitors, that were once minutes behind him, started passing him, one by one.
Through 21 miles Parkers split was 1:44:46. Thats a 4:59 pace.
The last 5.1 miles took him 33:21. That’s 6:32 pace.
And yeah, as Parker pointed out in an Instagram post, theres no medals for leading 90% of the race. Theres no prize money either. Timothy Ritchie, the man that won the race, walked away with a check for $20,000, and I doubt he has any plans of donating 90% of it to Parker.
But even without the victory, this race was incredibly encouraging. He ran a 2:18 marathon, while stopping to either stretch or walk several times.
Thats only 2 minutes away from Jared Wards marathon debut of 2:16. And Jared Ward is an olympian.
A few minor tweaks and Parker has the potential to be one of the great American marathoners, not only of this generation, but ever.
And not to take anything away from Timothy Ritchie. He ran a great race, he ran a smart, conservative, strategic race.
But he’s not the reason the running community was captivated for two hours, constantly refreshing their feeds for updates on the race, looking at the photos in disbelief. Astonished at what was taking place.
Ever since the running community lost Steve Prefontaine, distance running has been search of its spunk. Somebody with flare, a little bit of cockiness, somebody thats not afraid to go balls to the wall. Middle-Distance running has plenty of those guys, Matt Centrowitz, Nick Symmonds, Boris Berian. But as the distance increases, the spunk has been a bit lack luster the past few decades.
But that drought might be over.
