... maybe.
Okay, here's the deal ... after completing the 2006 NYC Marathon, I swore I would never do that ever again. That was Sunday. On Monday I was trying to imagine how I could improve my time, how to train with less stress on my life personal and professional life, and how soon to return. This while padding delicately around the Central Park Zoo.
Toni agreed 2011 would be a good year - five years between New York runs, if I were madly compelled I could run one somewhere else in the meanwhile. I have done two Halfers since, training for those was not difficult, time would still be an issue for a full 26.2 but I thought it won't be as grueling as the first.
I knew two things; you can only get turned down three times in the NYC lottery (as my time is nowhere near qualifying) then you get in automatically on the fourth. I also knew if you do get accepted, you can cancel any time before the last week of October and keep a place in the marathon the following year.
So I applied this year. If I didn't get in, no problem, and if I did, I could roll it over until 2011.
I didn't catch the fine print ... I can cancel today and apply for the race next year by paying the non-refundable entry fee all over again.
Yeah. Well. Oops. Duh.
My wife was not as pissed as I thought she'd be, seeing as how we are trying as hard as anyone not to throw cash in the street. I had no intention of suggesting I pay the fee over and over for three more years. To my relief, she has at least entertained to idea that I actually do it this year. This is something I had not intended ... but really, why not?
I ran 4:15 last time. I will, again all rational belief, shoot for four hours. Four hours at 40 - yes, I am turning forty this summer. I will train well. I will cross the city of Cleveland again - this time with food. And as God is my witness, I will run the 2008 New York City Marathon without headphones.
Maybe. If I go.
1978 Playlist
Heart of Glass (The Disco Song) - Blondie
D.I.Y. - Peter Gabriel
Shattered - The Rolling Stones
Thank You For Being A Friend - Andrew Gold
All Along The Watchtower - XTC
Digital - Joy Division
Masoko Tanga - The Police
Safe European Home - The Clash
Cooldown: It's Looking Good - The Rutles
11:59 - Blondie
Goodbye Girl - Squeeze
- (Last Year's 1978 Playlist)
The Robots - Kraftwerk
Spinning Top - XTC
Next To You - The Police
Birdland - Maynard Ferguson
Distance: 3.6 miles
Weight: 168 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Push-ups: 20
Temperature: 69º
Weather: cool (??!!)
5 comments:
You can do it, Duffy Moon!
You are so old.
Having said that, Ike Eisenmann has peopled my nightmares ever since "The Magical Mystery Trip Through Little Red's Head."
Did you know there was a movie called "The Blair Witch Mountain Project"?
I'll stop.
Why would you run without headphones?
Most premier racing events - say Boston, for example - ban them outright. Even Akron said they were prohibited, but I was there last year and they didn't actually prohibit anyone. New York recently added the words "strongly discourage" headphones ... which means, of course, you can wear them.
It's a bone of contention among runners. Many believe they make for clueless, inconsiderate, dangerous runners.
However, that is not why I won't be wearing them Nov. 2. Heeding the warning in Akron, I went without and broke a record. I did not wear them in Cleveland, and broke another.
Running alone with headphones keeps me from feeling bored. But I think shutting out the sounds of a race with hundreds, nay thousands of others with me now seems counter-productive.
Well, you're not even old... yet.
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