Insectember

[El Gordo]

Waking up to the realisation that my week's holiday is over, isn't pleasant. But a quick glance here over breakfast has greatly lightened my mood. This was the race report we have all waited a very long time to read.

A lot of the things mentioned I think we can all identify with -- but particularly the tendency for this distance to promise one thing for the first 60% or 70% of the race, but deliver something quite different in that final, painful third.

Ah, the pacing groups. Yep, getting fed up with them and leaving them behind, only to have them get their triumphant revenge when you least appreciate it. Stomach problems - check; the long tedious stretches - check; the positive partner you chance upon, the uplifting crowds, the good-natured medal moments. Those phrases we have all used: "...For the moment however I felt great....", followed sometime later with the inevitable: "....this was where the wheels started to fall off for me...". And of course, that final thought of: 'Hmm, perhaps I should have a crack at X next April...'

Truly, this is marvellous stuff. What a great achievement. As always, it's not the gold medal winners who make the biggest impression on us (admirable though they are), but the ordinary guy who chases a dream, and never lets it out of his sight until he can finally reach out and grasp it.

Be proud of your medal and your rather fetching teeshirt. But also, be proud that at various points across Europe and North America today, an exclusive bunch of full-figured, middle-aged athletes are feeling an extra glow of satisfaction, an extra centimetre or so of grin and an extra little bounce in their step. And if the earlier comments are anything to go by, you might just have pushed some of us into reaching for the calendar and wondering if we too might just have a crack at X next April. Keep that thought high up on your list of achievements.

Well done, marathoner. And yeah -- MLCMM. I like that.