Too busy to blog

Three days until the marathon, and things have been too crazy to enter new posts. So as I say goodbye, I can share the quote that adorns the May page of my Runner's World calendar: "any day that I'm too busy to run is a day that I'm too busy."

Good luck to all the runners on Saturday, thank you to the hundreds of volunteers helping with this event. And thanks for reading.

Days are counting down

Those of us working to put on the NC Marathon don't exactly appreciate that counter that ticks off time every time you open the Web page, ncmarathon.org. We're less than two weeks from the race, and it feels like we've got too much still to pull together in too little time. Somehow, though, these things always seem to gel in the last bit of time, after the panic.

We are up to close to 850 marathoners and half-marathoners and some 600 in the family 5k. Happily, volunteer registrations are starting to roll in, too -- it takes a lot of people to help runners comfortably start, finish, and celebrate an event like this.

Joanie's coming!!

For weeks I've been bursting with this news, but we had to nail down some details. Joan Benoit Samuelson, the first women's Olympic marathon gold medalist and one of the best long-distance women runners ever, will speak at the carbo-load dinner Friday night before the NC Marathon, half-marathon, and 5K. And I feel like a kid about it -- how many times do you get to meet one of your all-time heroes? 

My awe for Joan goes back three decades. I was a New Englander then, like her. She won her first Boston Marathon in 1979 as a senior at Bowdoin College. She wore a Bowdoin singlet and a Boston Red Sox hat backwards, nothing high-tech about her, yet she set a course record that year. She won Boston again in 1983, setting a world record of 2:22:43. Her Chicago victory of 2:21:21 stood as the world record for 17 years

Among her many victories, the one that best illustrates Samuelson's grit is winning the Olympic marathon trials just three weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery. The story that best captures her character? After winning the gold medal in 1984, in a decisive victory over Grete Waitz, she told reporters she was excited to get back home to Maine -- because it was blueberry season and she wanted to get picking.

These days, as I face the realities of middle age, what I love about Joan is that she's still at it, which is remarkable for anyone, male or female, at the elite level of the sport. Last year, at age 50, she ran in the Olympic marathon trials and beat her personal goal of 2:50, setting an American record for women 50-54.

Be sure to join us at the pasta dinner May 1. Visit ncmarathon.org for dinner tickets and other ways to see Joan during race week. Hope I don't elbow you out of the way too badly.

Stalling

You know mapmyrun.com, right? Jan knows it -- she's course chairman for the NC Marathon, and she has spent many hours plotting that little green arrow to come up with the marathon, half-marathon, and 5k courses. They look great, though, and should be posted on ncmarathon.org soon.

The site is a great tool, especially if you find yourself in a new city and want to figure out mileage for a nice loop. 

So I'm home, not traveling, just sitting here playing on the site. My M-W-F running partner's been out west skiing, and I'm trying to get myself out the door. As a stalling tactic, I decided to confirm the mileage of one of my neighborhood loops. Nope, hasn't changed since last time I checked three months ago. Guess it's time to get out there...