I watched the OLN broadcast of the Boston Marathon on Monday. What an amazing race. Kenyan runners won both the men's and women's races. So, what else is new? Well, what else is new is the fact that eight of the top fifteen finishers were Americans--including third, fourth, fifth and seventh places. That is the best result in more than twenty years!
My friend Peter Pressman finished with a fine 4:13.32 and my cyber-friend Steve Walker soldiered on to a 5:33.41 finish despite serious stomache aches from almost the start. It was both great fun and tremendous inspiration following them in the race.
All this has come at just the right time for me. In just over a week I will be attempting to once again run the Country Music Marathon. Not that I'm really ready for this huge undertaking--at least, not physically. But, after all the great Boston hype, I am so excited to once again participate in something so remarkable.
I will never win a marathon. I will never even win my age group in a marathon. And no one will ever be impressed with my time. But, just to do this, just to compete, just to finish 26.2 miles, is more than enough for me.
This week I began my "taper." My training hasn't really been sufficient for a true taper. But, here I go. On Monday, I did a good ten-miler. On Tuesday, I did an easy six-miler. It was great. Today, I was going to do a long run, but thunderstorms have pushed it back to tomorrow. I am so looking forward to this challenge--and believe me: it is quite the challenge!
