Did I tell you about d’Artagnan yet? And other loose ends. (Now with cartoons!)

The countdown clock on the National’s web site reads 8 days, 11 hours, 24 minutes and 59 seconds as I begin to type today’s update and I am focusing on everything that I haven’t gotten to.

But first and foremost:  THANKS AGAIN!  Words of encouragement and donations continue to come in at an increasing rate.  Maybe we can put a dent into this crappy disease by helping UMCCC in dealing with it.

Secondly our taper continues and we’re all becoming more thoughtful about what we do and wear during the day.  Today’s Frazz cartoon truly doesn’t seem too extreme to us:

And after this we’re signing waivers, checking the route to D.C., beginning to pack, developing an itinerary that involves not moving around much before the race and probably not wanting to move around at all after the race, where to eat and where and when we’re going to meet up with d’Artagnan.  Who?  More on this guy in a paragraph or two.  Jim’s daughter Kate lives in Arlington and has been kind enough to have us to dinner the night before.  She’s very brave to have three to four marathoners over the night before the race.  Hopefully we’ll provide enough interesting conversation between stuffing our faces with pasta and drinking enough fluids.

Did I mention that there’s a fourth to our marathoning crew?  Mike Freestone is a friend that owns a business similar to mine in Holland, MI.  We’ve known of each for years but don’t cross paths all that much because of geography.  I am “blaming” Mike and Haney for this current marathon because they jumped on running the National while I was still muttering about it.  The National will be Mike’s first marathon and we’ve been comparing notes as he trains on Michigan's west side while we pound out the miles here in Dearborn. 

If Haney, Jim and I our the Three Musketeers then Mike is d’Artagnan and I couldn’t ask to be among better company. 

Now the countdown clock reads 8 days, 10 hours, 59 minutes and 21 seconds.