nyc marathon inspired.

sunday was a very quiet day, i  had quite a lot of work to catch up.

It was such a nice crisp autumn morning with a clear sky as i headed out for my run. it felt so good to actually be running a single figure distance (only if you look at it in miles, as it was a solid 15k anyway). only, i forgot how windy it gets up here! In some parts i felt i was running against a wall, while in some other it was impossible to keep on a straight line. 

These pictures are not from my run as i don't carry my iphone with me, but it was this kind of day.

after baking a ginger cake with Claudia for bonfire night, i started doing some work for the research proposal we have to submit by mid november. i like research and i don't mind reading and appraising scientific papers (heresy right) but i really can't stand the databases...medline can get on my nerves incredibly quickly. not to mention embase.
to brighten up my afternoon i started watching the 2013 NYC Marathon (thanks livestream). i never watched the full elite race before, only the final recap, and it was truly inspiring. for the first time in weeks i did not feel scared of running on sunday, just very very happy to run what all those miles that half-frozen runners were munching on the other side of the ocean.

i want just to spare a few thoughts on the women race. first of all i found it quite sad that they have the elite women set off before the anthem and all the inspirational speeches. fair enough for the time split but can't they sing before they set off? oh well...

on a totally different note, i found that Buzunesh Deba ran an amazing race, in spite of her losing first place to Priscah Jeptoo. Deba dived straight into the marathon, without a watch (her training buddy was right behind her and commentator said she was giving out splits), without looking at what the main pack-where Jeptoo was- was doing. just ran and ran with her heart. they say that the first 13 miles of a marathon are to be ran with your mind, the second 13 with your heart, but i really think she ran it all with her heart. she just went to try and make the 2013 NYC marathon her race, with the utter confidence of going ahead of the group and giving them a chase. and, in spite of the ill wishes of the comment, which i found stomaching, she had a steady, consequential race: she didn't break, she lost to a superior competitor, who was the favourite and at mile 20 decided she was going for it.

i was impressed by the steel of Tatyana MacFadden, the winner of the women wheelchair race and the first in history of completing the great slam of marathons, i.e. winning Boston, Chicago, London and New York in a single year. She was born with spina bifida but wasn't discouraged by that and there she was, yesterday, on that finish line. I found that truly amazing.

so what? I guess in 5 days it's my turn to (hopefully) join the marathon runner tribe. got my bib number today (5888) and my flatmates are starting my motivation prep (aside from an amazing early start to carboloading with Colin's cookies) by watching "Run Fatboy Run" all together tonight.
so far, my favourite scene is when mr G. gives him the new shoes and tells him:"Run and become a better man."

good night all of you, and will see all those who want to be better people out running tomorrow!