A Wonderful Evening

Immersion therapy! I find that when I run a goal race, when possible, immersing myself in a running environment as thoroughly as possible tends to help me keep my head right for the race. I'd seen some information about an event that was to be taking place at Niketown Boston. When meandering down Newbury St. with my wife and son, we stumbled upon Niketown, and the event was this evening. My son wanted to go because he's a big Meb fan, and Meb was one of the featured athletes. The "lightweights" (by my son's yardstick) included Alan Culpeppper, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Jelena Prokopcuka. My son got cards autographed by Keflezighi and Culpepper and we took his picture with them. (When I told him they were the two best American male marathoners, he suddenly seemed quite impressed.)

After a brief informational pitch by the Nike people, each of the athletes spoke and it was followed by a question and answer period. My favorite question came from a young woman, who is a college student and runs about 25 miles per week. She asked how to qualify for Boston, and Joan was asked to respond. He answer was clear and simple, volume, with quality. My favorite response also came from Benoit, when asked about viewing courses ahead, she indicated that the time involved in driving a course can sometimes be intimidating and that sometimes, by not knowing, she was willing to make a bold move and reap a great result because sometimes "ignorance is bliss."

This morning, the Boston Globe had a special marathon section. It was primarily a look at the resurgence in American marathoning. It profiled the Hanson's program out of Michingan (which Brooks sponsors) and both Meb and Culpepper. When riding the train into Boston this morning, there was a copy of the globe on one of the nearby seats, so I'd picked up the special section. When it came out that Alan Culpepper hadn't seen it, I gave it to him (and he, passed it to someone else, I think it turned out to be Meb's brother). There were quite a few other "big dogs" of the running world there. It was a wonderful event.

When I was around the finish line this afternoon, the bridge had aready been erected, though it had yet to be dressed in its banners. At the start last night, there were reviewing stands or something similar already up. Tomorrow, I'll go to the expo and pick up my bib. I also have plans for a few beers with some running friends. I'm feeling good.