F. I. T. Cutting Edge text

Boxed Example 17.2 
Sean Dreams of Olympic Glory 
Sean is a club runner with big ambitions. He was a talented athlete at school but stopped 
running during his college years. Sean found it hard to motivate himself to train on the 
dark, cold winter evenings. The lethargy of the winter soon spilled over into the summer 
months and like many students, he drifted into some bad habits; late nights, fast food, too 
much alcohol, and precious little physical activity. Sean was interested in movies and it 
was while attending his university‟s film club that he saw Hugh Hudson‟s classic 
Chariots 
of Fire
for the first time. He loved the imagery in the movie as well as the inspiring 
soundtrack by Vangelis. In the summer of his graduation, Sean took a close look at 
himself, didn‟t like what he saw, and decided that it was time to re-initiate his training 
regimen. He hooked-up with his old coach and began to make dramatic improvements. In 
the fall, he felt his motivation waning a little but recalled the positive influence of the 
Chariots of Fire
theme while he was at college. Now, whenever Sean lacks the motivation 
to leave the house for training, he plays the theme on his hi-fi at full blast while he 
stretches his muscles and imagines himself representing his country in the 400 m at the 
Olympic Games. In 3-4 minutes he is primed and ready to go. 

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Boxed Example 17.3 
Haile impressed by Hermens 
It‟s no surprise that the world‟s most prolific distance runner Haile Gebrselassie makes 
frequent use of synchronous music during his record attempts given that his manager, Jos 
Hermens, was a pioneer in the use of music for running. Hermens was the best Dutch 
distance runner of his generation and was selected to represent his country in both the 
Munich and Montreal Olympics. In 1975 and 1976 he twice broke the world record for the 
distance covered in one hour on a 400 m track:
“For weeks leading up to the record attempts, I was working at home to get 
all the right music on a tape that was exactly an hour long. Obviously, the 
music was slowish and calming in the beginning, Joan Baez and Rod 
Stewart, for example. Further on, I had Pink Floyd, David Bowie and some 
harder punk. Of course, my record attempts concluded with Bruce 
Springsteen‟s 
Born To Run
! I‟m convinced that the compilation of the tape 
at home in the weeks leading up to the record attempts played a big role in 
enhancing my mental focus.” Jos Hermens (personal communication, 
January 2, 2009) 

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