"Three pints?" said Arthur. "At lunchtime?"
The man next to Ford grinned and nodded happily. He said, "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Thank God for September.

I went out to Gahanna for the high school alumni band night this evening. The Lions were completely thrashed by DeSales Stallions, but I had a great time anyway. When I arrived, I found that the directors had brought my old trombone over from the middle school for me to play. It was my first instrument in 4th-8th grade, and I continued playing it in the marching band and jazz band until I graduated high school. I was very touched that they thought of me. The event felt a little different this year, with Jeff Shellhammer not there, but I was very impressed with the way Rob Cebriak has assumed the leadership role. Clearly, the quality of the program will progress as he and the rest of the staff continue to do great things. The new teacher they hired to fill the low brass spot is Jonathan Bradshaw, the husband of Rachel (DeVries) Bradshaw (class of ~2004). With Jonathan Bradshaw, Greg Miller (Chuck Miller's son, class of 1993), and Kevin Dengel (class of 2002) all teaching there now, it's great to see the traditions and legacy of the Gahanna instrumental music program continue to grow as one generation passes the reins to the next.

18 miles this morning. At this point, I could theoretically run the full marathon; while American training programs usually go up to about 20 miles, Europeans usually stop at 30k, or about 18.5 miles. I can't honestly say I feel ready for the whole distance, but I need to get my mind there in a hurry; I've only got a month and a half before my shoes will be on the streets of Chicago!

Speaking of people whose shoes will be on those streets:
Sammy Wanjiru - winner Chicago and London 2009; 2008 Olympic gold; US, UK, and olympic records
Tsegaye Kebede - winner London 2010 and Fukuoka 2009
Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot - winner Boston 2010; course record
Vincent Kipruto - winner Paris 2009; 3rd Chicago 2009

In what other sport do amateurs get to share the field with the professional athletes? I'm very excited for this event!

Well, that was an adventure. Last night, Penny tipped a glass of water over onto my computer. It's completely fried. However, the symphony replaced Katy's whole computer when its hard drive died a few months ago. So, we've had an extra laptop with very similar internal hardware laying around unused. After checking with Apple to make sure it would work, I put the good drive from my dead computer into her old machine, and everything works well. It was terrifying for about 12 hours, though. All's well that ends well!

Tonight, I ran 17 miles. It wasn't easy, of course, and I'll be a little stiff tomorrow. But, I'm very encouraged - my training peaks at 20 miles, and I'm only 3 miles away from that. To be honest, if I absolutely had to run 20 tonight, I probably could have. 26.2 still seems daunting, but I'm beginning to believe I might get there.