Watch Greg Run began as an online journal of my effort to run a marathon each month during 2009. With the marathon a month challenge successfully behind me, I'm still running and still posting with notes on training runs, travel and other thoughts.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

One Week to NYC!!!

Ironically, I promised to update the blog every day heading in to the November 1 New York City Marathon.

So much for promises as my Saturday travel, seven mile run and attending the Auburn/LSU football game left no time to provide new and exciting information via watchgregrun.

But, I'm back today with all kinds of stuff for your reading enjoyment.

U.S. News and World Report combined next week's Marathon with thoughts on the H1N1 virus (as if there wasn't enough to think about over 26.2 miles now I can contemplate swine flu).

"On Sunday, November 1, some 42,000 runners will share the experience of running the ING New York City Marathon. But marathon organizers are taking special measures to make sure they won’t also be sharing the flu—specifically, the H1N1 virus, aka swine flu.
For the first time, marathoners’ goody bags...will include small hand sanitizer sprays printed with the logo of the New York Road Runners, the organization that puts on the race."

You can read the full article here: http://health.usnews.com/blogs/on-fitness/2009/10/23/in-sign-of-the-times-new-york-city-marathon-takes-h1n1-precautions.html

If you thought bad news was limited to catching H1N1 while running through a water stop at mile 12, wait until you read the next article. The headline is, "Are Marathons Safe?" The link is below...but if you start, make sure you read the entire article...and keep in mind I've finished 36 marathons (so far).

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/are-marathons-safe/

If you've ever wondered what it's like the night prior to the marathon, well, I don't usually sleep well (which means the two nights prior to marathon eve are key sleep nights for me). Another New York Times article provides some insight in to the sleep realities of marathoners.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/nightmares-and-marathons/

Personally, I've had the dream (it's not really a nightmare) about not making it to the start line on time and I set four different alarms on my phone, plus the alarm clock and request a wake up call just to make certain I don't oversleep. As a result, I now sleep well except for the frequent trips to the rest room due to hydrating the day prior to the race.

And I'll leave you with this paragraph on kindness from a blog entitled "williwannago," which you can find for yourself at http://williwannago.blogspot.com/ "Willi" is my younger brother who resides in Hawaii with his wife, Julie, and has many great pictures on his blog!

"When I biked into Honolulu for work I would pass this one lady who is very angry about the military and she would stand outside the Pearl Harbor gate yelling at the cars going into the base, so as I passed I would yell at her. Then as I aged, I decided to maybe try a soft answer, and started being very kind to her, I would say "good morning sunshine, great to see you today." After about a year of doing that she quit yelling at me and the other day as I passed she replied "Be safe on the roads" I was amazed and smiled all day, well I smile all day anyway but that was precious."

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