TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM...

Weight: 79 kilos
Time spent running since 15 November: 5 hours 55 minutes
Distance run since 15 November: 55.6 kilometers
Time left: 19 weeks

The other day, when I was doing the last of four laps in the park, I imagined it being the final kilometers of my first marathon. The vision of me running into the stadium (does the Rotterdam Marathon finsh in a stadium? Should look that up) was so vivid that I got all emotional when finishing. That's how conditioned we are by TV and Hollywood: when real life starts looking like what we see on the screen we Pavlov into the screen emotions. It was all Chariots of Fire, Fame (I'm gonna live forever!), and To Dream The Impossible Dream.

I had just finished a leisurely 7 kilometers.

Still, it made me think about what finishing the real thing will be like. My expectation is that for the greater part of the 42+ kilometers the struggle will be (well, feel...) enormous and heroic, but that when I reach the finish line there'll be little left. Maybe in my head a voice will sing, "Is that all there is, is that all there is..."

So what am I doing this for? Beats me, so I would love to hear your theories, dear audience!

This week started badly. I missed my Tuesday run because of a painful left ankle and postponed Wednesday's till Thursday. But today was good: 12 kilometers on the belt in 80 minutes, and surprisingly the second half was much easier than the first.

Oh yes, did I say where my training schedule comes from? I use the Asics running site where you can build your own programme and keep track of your progress. I use the Dutch site of Asics; in the past I found the American one to be bugged repeatedly.