You will do it Andy

[El Gordo]

I've f***ed up, but everyone seems to think I'm joking again.....

There is an outside chance I'll do the marathon, though it's likely I won't. The reality is a choice between not doing it at all, or running 10-14 miles and walking the rest. Do I really want to do that? The simple answer is no. I may still do it, on the basis that I want another medal, and after a while people (including me) will probably forget the circumstances.

But you have to understand that I'm about 20 pounds heavier than I had planned to be, and haven't run a decent long run since Good Friday, and that was only 10 miles.

Anyway, thanks for the messages. I'm just distracted at the moment. Running seems like an irrelevance just now. Life has just become a bit skewed recently, I'm certainly not asking for sympathy, and I don't deserve any. I had a mail recently from Rick Neal, who I first met near Chicago, in Hal Higdon's sitting room. Rick was telling me about his 9 year old daughter who's undergoing major surgery on her legs at the moment. Major as in "cutting through both femurs, turning the legs to the correct position and reattaching them with metal plates" sort of major.

Rick also told me about a family he's befriended whose 8 year old son has just died from leukemia. I read their web-log, and it made me howl. It reminded me that my troubles are utterly insignificant. I'm grateful to him for pointing it out, and I'm just annoyed with myself for needing it pointing out.

Honest, this isn't that big a deal in the great scheme of things, but I neverless thank everyone for their messages, including the several I've had by email.

I'm leaving in about an hour for Sheffield, and will be spending the best part of 48 hours with 10,000 other QPR fans. Beer, curries and late nights to come. The kind of preparation that I've become accustomed to over the past 6 weeks, and the sort of thing I shouldn't be doing 7 or 8 days before a marathon.

You have to understand that I'm a stupid person who's spent his life pretending to be the opposite, and largely getting away with it. But I've discovered that the marathon god is one of the least bullshittable enemies I've ever come across.

"It's alright Ma, it's life and life only."

Have a great weekend all. And please please, let me have a good one in Sheffield. If I do, who knows?

Crikey, perhaps Nigel's right. He's right about most things. Taper madness, eh? I hadn't thought of that.

I've had a sore throat all week too.

Cheers

Andy