Cleveland Marathon, or My Personal Mistake by the Lake

This afternoon, Sue and I went to the pre-marathon expo at the convention center to pick up my race packet, grab some freebies, and see if there were any deals to be had among the vendors. As we walked around the expo, we met up with other SERC runners, including: Steve and Mark G., Steve H, Marc A., Barb B., Jeff U., and Wayne V. I think we have a total of 22 from our club running on Sunday.

We checked out the deals the vendors were offering. I saw Jodi at the Fleet Feet booth, and he gave me a nice deal on some Body Glide, and threw in a Brooks reflective vest for free. I also found a deal on 2.3 pound can of Endurox R4.

Sooooooo....I came to the pace group booth, and was confronted with the decision that I have been avoiding since I signed up to run Cleveland. Last Sunday, Steve H. asked me if I would run with him in the 3:10 pace group. Hahahahahahaha. Steve was actually serious, but it was a ridiculous thing to ask. Just three weeks ago, I ran my fastest marathon at 3:16:55. There is no way to trim 7 minutes off fastest marathon I have run, doing it on less than a month's recovery, on a gimpy right knee, and a strained, sore left Achilles. I told Steve he was delusional, and I would be very lucky just to come close to my Boston time. Well...ummm...no...I didn't say that. I actually said, "Sure'. Then I said, 'Let's do it'. Then I smiled. I smiled like the idiot that I am.

Sooooo...back to the pace group booth. I stood there, knowing I had put myself in a situation with no way out. The guy working the booth asked, 'What's your target time?' Without hesitation, knowing I had made a commitment to Steve and I had to honor it, I looked him in the eye and said, 'Is there a 3:15 group?...no wait, there is no 3:15 group, is there? OK, wait. So it's either 3:20 or 3:10, huh? Gimme a minute. Alright, ummm...threeeeeee.......ten. Yeah, 3:10."

Done. Nothing left but to run the race. See you back here at this blog on Sunday evening, by which time my Cleveland Marathon will have given new meaning to the old Cleveland moniker, 'Mistake by the Lake'.