The Changing Face of Marathons

Preparing for the marathon made me change my face. One aspect of preparing for a spring marathon is the need to do long runs in cold weather. The first time I saw a marathon in person was the old Jersey Shore Marathon in 1977 or 1978. It was held in January, in driving wind and light snow. In a word, conditions were brutal. I saw finishers with hair, beards and moustaches caked in snow and ice. My most graphic vision from that day was of a racer, wearing a black long-sleeved tee shirt. The thing that made him so striking looking was his lungs. Yes, I know I couldn't possibly have seen his lungs. What I could see was the shape of his lungs outlined in frost on his shirt. The added cooling of breathing let this part of his shirt freeze, while other parts of his body stayed above freezing, creating this weird and disturbing vision.

Remembering my moustachcicles of last year, I decided to modify my moustache a bit to help protect my face from cold. Prior to this winter, I kept a shaved stripe under my nose (see the Halloween picture with the Billy Bob teeth - if you're a fan, they're the Big Cletus model). In order to keep the space under my nose from chapping as readily, I let that space fill in. (See the crooked smile - I hope you don't have much trouble telling that the Billy Bobs are not installed in this shot). Since I did this, we've had an extraordinarily warm winter. I guess if you want to guarantee rain, wash your car!