The night before…

So, in the morning the plan is to run 13.1 miles in the San Francisco half-marathon.  Now I’ve done a half before, and I’ve done adventure races that were much more difficult, but this is the first time I will be running by myself.  Ok, there are probably over 5,000 people running, too, but this is the first time I’m doing a race without any of my friends.  I trained by myself (which sucked), and didn’t train nearly enough.  But tomorrow I’m going through with it.  I’m counting on the race-day high to get me through the first 5 miles of uphill-in-the-dark running, the thrill of running over (and back over) the Golden Gate Bridge to get me from mile 5-10, a slight downhill trot to get me through 11-12, and the thought of the race being over to get me all the way to 13.1.  The ultimate goal is to do all that in under 2 hours…which is probably quite ambitious.  But really, if I finish, without puking, pooping myself (ever see that picture of that marathon guy?) or dying, I consider it a good day.  Then I’ll drive myself back to my hotel room where my wife and boys will probably still be sleeping.

BTW.  San Francisco is fun for a day.  But the whole place seems so lonely, even while so many people smash into you on the sidewalks.  We walked around today, and it was fun.  The boys had a blast, and we rode the cable cars.  I really enjoy the diversity in culture, style, language, etc.  That part really excites me.  But I feel like people are dying to have something real happen to their souls, all the time chasing the allure of the city.  I don’t know…I do think Jesus would like it here.  He’d probably laugh is face of at the all silver guys who really can’t dance and guilt people into giving them money.

Ok enough.  Bed time.  Maybe more tomorrow, if I can type after having crawled to the finish line on my hands and knees.