Marathon Week

I am runner number 26323 in the ING New York City Marathon.

The Time is Now.

After chronicling my odyssey all season, since I started distance running last December, it is time. I just returned from the World Series in Denver, where we put the 103rd Fall Classic to bed, where I spent so much time talking with Red Sox fans and writing their stories on MLB.com, and looking back I have to say that it was the best Major League Baseball season that I remember in my lifetime. I will put it up there with '41, '69 or any other season from the past that has inspired so many books and legends. No year ever could match this one for magical milestones (3000/500s/600/300 and important records (home run king), 3 no-hitters, unprecedented competitiveness involving seemingly everyone into September, and a fourth straight year of overall record attendance. It is simply the greatest time in baseball history. And that's saying something with this sport. This year had it all, and in the end it had the team with the best record winning the world championship. Congrats again to the Red Sox. I was there for both of their sweeps, at St. Louis and at Colorado, and this one was just as sweet for them. My favorite memory will be of being in Cleveland's visitor's clubhouse at about 2 a.m. on getaway night after Game 5, and Manny is sitting there wearing a ridiculous purple tie and black pants, and Big Papi gets up from the couch next to him, walks around the media and comes back and says to him: "Why don't you tell them where the funeral is." Just being around Manny is funny.

Now it is time for the other marathon. The New York City Marathon. I am ready for my first 26.2. I just watched a commercial for it on NBC here in Manhattan, and that just got me a little nervous. I have been visualizing it, mainly by using this youtube video. One of my Team for Kids teammates posted the link on our site, and I think it is a great example of how today's technology lets an athlete visualize better than ever.

My goal is to finish between 4:30 and 5:45. I drained myself with a bug on the final weekend in Denver and am spending this final week replenishing, constantly hydrating, eating right. Starting tomorrow, I will begin carbing up. The TFK coaches have been incredible, all of them veterans of this event. I am also VERY proud to say that I raised over $2700 for Team for Kids, well over my required fundraising amount to run this year's marathon. Next year I am already guaranteed entry, and I already know that I will want to help a cause in pursuit of that one as well even if it's not required. It is one of the best things about being a runner, to me. I love running, and now I have a big, scary, incredible race about to happen.

I have been cranking my favorite training tune loud -- Nelly's Heart of a Champion. That's my theme for this one. I have learned to overcome so many things. I am looking forward to putting the new beginning and ending on my 210-page manuscript "Trees and Numbers" after I finish this marathon, or at least after I recover from it. Never have I seen a greater example of Trees and Numbers than this booming sport, where the Half-Marathon is now so common in small towns everywhere. I know that I have timed this one perfectly, this boom and this book audience. I am so excited about that, and my next big goal will be a bestseller in the next 18 months. But enough talk. It's time to run. Thank you all for spending a marathon season with me. Baseball is over, and now it's my other big event.

I am runner 26323 in the ING New York City Marathon.