Serenity

If serenity is the absence of brain waves, I'm there.

Time, as it has a tendency to do, went by, until finally all my hand wringing and pavement pounding had to give way to the actual marathon, which I ran yesterday. I wasn't fast, but then, I didn't expect to be (finished in 5:25:22).

The subject on which I didn't have clear expectations was my chance of surviving intact. I'm happy to report, to report serenely, that I did survive, with no apparent lasting effects other than an annoying blister under the ball of my right big toe. I think if that hadn't popped up around mile 22 I would have finished faster, but I'm probably just making excuses. Anyway--the day was cool and clear, the course was lovely (multiply all those trees in the photo above by about a million if you're trying to picture the Avenue of the Giants), and the people were all friendly and earnest and, well, great.

Z and I went to the spaghetti feed Saturday night at the volunteer fire dept. in Weott, and we sat by some very nice folks from Minnesota. I saw them on the course the next day and felt as if I'd encountered some old friends. For more, go to Best Day of the Year to meet Sunshine. She's something else.

One more bit of praise for the course: I loved that the first half and the second half of the race were separate, adjoining out-and-backs, dividing the whole thing neatly into quarters. Not only did it allow me to take on only one piece at a time, it also afforded me the chance to see Z at the halfway mark. That lightened my steps long enough for me to shave a couple of minutes off my total time.

Not much more to say, really, other than that I'm so very happy I decided to go for the full marathon. It really came home to me that I can't go on doing this forever when many, many spectators cheered me loudly as I ran by. I realized they were noticing me because of my advanced age (a condition that keeps slipping my mind). I had a wry realization that they were thinking, "Wow! Way to go! You'r older than dirt and you're not only not dead yet but you're doing a marathon!" One young woman, whom I actually passes as we ran, informed me that I was "an inspiration." Geez, I must look older than I thought. But I remember being in my early forties and working in a Berkeley bagel shop with a woman who had recently turned 50. She rode her bike to work every day! She swam and walked all the time! And she was so old. (Wow, how cool would it be now to find myself only 50.)

The obvious question at this point is, What next? Today I really can't tell you. I already had my morning nap, so I guess what's next is lunch. After that, we'll see.