Let the countdown begin

Well, the wheels are now officially rolling on the last stretch of my marathon road. Right about now the Pittsburgh contingent of the marathon Crew is loading up a car and leaving to join me here in DC. We’ll probably grab an early dinner at one of the great local Italian joints down the street, watch a movie and get a good nights rest before leaving tomorrow morning for Virginia Beach. Work is next to impossible today but that is to be expected.

Last night I spoke to my father for a little bit as yesterday was his birthday. He and I have very similar feelings about our birthdays in that neither of us really care to celebrate them and we will almost never tell anyone about them. So, in that fashion my father spent his day up in Piscataway, NJ in meetings for work. My father is a runner and has been as long as I can remember in that he has logged thousands of miles over the course of his running “career”. When I was younger he would enter road races on a regular basis and he ran the Peachtree Classic in Georgia for a number of years. This got my sister and I out running the Peachtree Jr. for a few of those years as well and I will never forget seeing them cheering me on while I tried to be tough and not smile.

Last night while we talked there was very little mention of the race aside from the good luck wishes and typical pre-race encouragement. One thing he said though that kind of got me thinking was “don’t forget to finish”. Not that this was the first time I thought about it but really just a couple of days ago WAS the first time I realized that there is a chance I could not be able to complete this run.

I don’t think I have anything to worry about in regards to my fitness, but there is always a chance that my body won’t be able to take the strain. I’ve read stories of marathon favorites having to drop out because of one type of body failure or another. While I know it is unlikely but it is still a possibility and it is lingering in my mind. Hopefully once the rest of the crew arrives it will be blocked back out of my mind and I’ll forget about it until after the race when we are sitting around drinking cold Yuenglings and eating big bowls of Irish stew.