I meant to mention something related to what I just said.

I went to meetings of AA both last night and the night before.

Today, I faced terrible temptation. I wasn't aware that my new employer had approved vacation for me today. It seemed from our last conversation that I had given it up. But I discovered to the contrary that I was on my own today. I had no supervisor or wife or kids to watch me.

So, I decided that since I'm signed up for the TCM, or Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon - "the most beautiful marathon in America" - I should see if I could actually finish one.

Short answer: No. I hit a hill at the 8.5 mile mark that brought me to a standstill. That showed me clearly that my training has not yet brought me where I need to be to even finish the thing yet. Now, I was worried at that point about the condition of my feet - they were starting to complain, but they should be well conditioned by the end of September - and the fact that I didn't know where I was going to refill my water-bottle, which was just about empty - a problem that I don't expect to encounter at the TCM.

On the other hand, a guy ought to be able to run that distance at a leisurely pace under his own power and preparations if he has any expectations of completing the course in the maximum allowed time. Now I forget what that time is, but I considered it ridiculously generous. I could certainly ignore my foot pain under the pressure of competition. It's just stupid to do so, however, during the process of training. You can't have an infection knock you out of the race after all!

I have no intention of winning, and I have no percentage of the participants in mind to beat, but I would like to finish in under 4 hours... If I could approach 3 hours, that would kick butt, but I'm not going to compromise the goal of "just finishing" for the sake of some kind of record that means nothing to anybody but me. The public at large only cares about two criteria: "Did you win?" or "Did you finish?"

In other games, the latter might be understood as, "Did you try your hardest?" or "Did you play fair?"

I intend to do all of the above.

What? Win? Sure. And an NHL contract while I'm at it.