100 Metres Dash
How many truly remarkable things have you done in your life? If the answer is not many, or even none, then maybe it’s time to run a marathon (Andrew Hamilton) My marathon challenge was to weave a hundred metre long braid. I devised and followed a Personal Training Programme, based on an athlete’s, to help me meet targets and released regular bulletins and progress reports, as though I really were an athlete training to compete in the 100 metres dash. The braid took a year and a day to complete.
Marilyn Rathbone
Worthing, England
100 Metres Dash, in progress, Marilyn RathboneThe braid was hand worked using six threads in the colours of the Olympic symbol. Five of the threads are working threads and the sixth weaves back and forth along the length of the braid to form the dash.
100 Metres Dash, Marilyn RathboneComo silk, wooden reel, black card, paper
100 Metres Dash, Book Cover, Marilyn RathboneThe legacy is the Dash itself, together with a 54 page book that tracks the event from conception to conclusion. If you would like to read more about my marathon challenge, there’s an e-copy of the book in my video section.
100 Metres Dash, Page 9, Marilyn RathboneDuring the trials, I had begun to think of the braiding process as “training” and to refer to an individual black dash as a “stride”. The average number of strides it takes a female athlete to complete the 100 metres dash is 50. Therefore, I’d refer to all but the last 50 “strides” of my braid as “training” and the last 50 as the “final”, itself.
100 Metres Dash, Page 26, Marilyn RathboneI planned to get the bulk of the training done in the first four phases to leave the fifth phase for the “final” and the sixth for recovery and legacy.