This blog started in 2008 with a dream -- that a gray-haired, not particularly athletic 47-year-old from Arkansas could somehow whip his old body into shape, finish a marathon in less than four hours, then maybe, just maybe, manage to qualify for the Holy Grail of marathoning: Boston.
Today, December 5, 2009, I can report, with considerably more justification than a certain grandstanding politician had on an aircraft carrier one day, "Mission accomplished." Spiderpig is going to Boston in 2011.
It wasn't easy. Nothing athletic for me ever has been. In this case, my left hamstring and right gastroc locked up simultaneously at mile 23.5, and for a few seconds, while I was hopping around, I thought this chance was out the window too. But it eased up enough to resume running at a decent pace. Not fast enough to qualify as a 49-year-old for 2010 in a race that's already full, but fast enough for 2011 as a 50-year-old. Finished 269th overall, 226th among men, 40th in AG.
Thanks to Sasha for providing this place to blog, and for some well-timed encouragement last year that made me think maybe I could get to Hopkinton after all. And I've had plenty of other encouragement, from my training partners in Little Rock, my online friends here and on Facebook and runnersworld.com, but mainly from the long-suffering woman who married me in 1984 and has put up with my ill temper, my mistakes, my multiple bouts of unemployment and lately, a two-year obsession with qualifying for a 26-mile race in eastern Massachusetts.
What am I gonna obsess over now? Dunno. I'll find something, I always do. But it won't be getting that BQ. I got that one checked off my list. | 