Someone Ought'a Write A Letter

Someone did write a letter and here it is; this is Vivian's letter to the good folks at the California International Marathon (you might want to read the previous blog to pick up the thread of this story). A response is pending... stay healthy, stay tuned. M

Hi there, I am a 52 year old Canadian woman registered to run CIM in two weeks and am I ever excited! My running story probably isn't a typical one. After 11 years of just my 2 kids and me, at the ripe old age of 49 I met the love of my life, David, father of 3, engineer, mountaineer, runner. I was a gym "addict" (I started doing aerobics "with" Jane Fonda in the 80's) but was never a runner. Falling in love with David was a reason to fall in love with running. So here we are, a couple of love struck "kids" at 52 and 55, getting ready to run CIM together in 2 weeks time. CIM will be my first marathon and David's 27th - his 26th X 26 (we call it his "champagne" marathon) was Boston, April 2008. For months David and I have trained together (at my pace not his!), run hills together, and talked about this experience. Through those 22 milers I try to distract myself by visualizing our finish, hand in hand. For weeks I have eaten my healthy lunch at my lawyer desk (all the better to leave the office early to get in my training runs). A few days ago while eating lunch I was surfing your website and read the following: As you round the corner at 8th and Capitol Mall, you will be directed to one of two finish lines. • Men finish on the right (south) side of Capitol Mall. • Women finish on the left (north) side of Capitol Mall. Wow! Does this mean what I think it means? That after this very long journey, we can't cross the finish line together? That the photographer won't get that finish line shot of the two of us that we will treasure? Any information that you could provide on these finish line arrangements would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much! Vivian