Manitoba Marathon: Manic Thoughts as the Clock Ticks Down.

Friday 10:30 AM


I'm taking a personal day from work to prepare myself and rest for the marathon on Sunday.  Last night I had a nightmare... it was race morning, I'm behind schedule, can't find my running shorts, find an old bathing suit from the 70's, strap that on, it's SO tight, heart palpitating...  I woke up feeling anxious and tired.  I now have all my running gear neatly arranged on my desk.  Whew, hope I sleep better tonight!


Friday 11:00 AM
Went for race day hair cut.  Consider dying my hair.  Smack my head with open palm.  Instead decide on the same-old-same-old hair cut... #4 buzz, thin the brows.  Feeling smart.


Bought a new ultra-white Saucony technical tee-shirt.  It's very light weight, almost see-through.  I'm anticipating high humidity on race day.


Headed down Route 90 to attend the Marathon trade show at the U of M.  After crawling along for 20 minutes I decide to ditch that idea and go for lunch.  Where the heck did all this traffic come from?

Went to the new long anticipated Boon Cafe in my neighbourhood.  The menu looks simply amazing.  At last!  A vegetarian restaurant in Winnipeg with an interesting menu.  It's the only restaurant that I know that has a drive through window for bicycles! Unfortunately it was closed because, as the sign read, "... after yesterday's hugely successful opening we have to restock our supplies...".  They promise to reopen on Saturday. Opening day glitches.  I will return!


1:00 PM:
Returned home for lunch... a big bowl of cold pasta with fete, baby tomatoes, two slices of bread with a little jam.  Followed up with a big bowl of fresh strawberries.  Yum... time for a nap.


1:30 to 2:15
zzzz


2:15 

Continued reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  What an amazing book.  It's a must read for any runner.  Chapter 28 is my favourite.  The first sentence reads... "Twenty years earlier, in a tiny basement lab, a young scientist stared into a corpse and saw his destiny staring back".   Now that's literature!  The study discovered that starting at age 19 runners get faster every year until about age 27.  After age 27 they start to decline.  The question posed is "how old are you when you're back to running the same speed you did at 19?".  I won't tell you the answer, but I promise you will be surprised!  




5:00 PM
Had a light supper (more of a snack):  trail mix and a PC brand Ultra Shake.  Watched the news.  Read some more.


7:00 PM
Sipping a glass of perky Chilean red.  At my computer writing this summary thinking "does anyone even read this?".  Think I'll stop for supper # 2.  My son's downstairs with his buddies watching Shakespeare.  Jennifer's off to some retirement party.  It's just me and Born To Run tonight!


It's a good day to be alive and all that stuff.


Do come back.


Mike