Monday, March 30, 2009

Hello Unicorn

Note: The following is a guest post by the mysterious Hello Kitty Mystery Runner who is currently training for the upcoming 2009 Boston Marathon. Please welcome this guest poster in an appropriate F.M.S. manner - by leaving deriding comments for him.














The Unicorn is the logo for the Boston Marathon and the Boston Athletic Association.
Pictured: Not the HKR...or me. though more animal bondage just like the last post.

However, lately, it has been feeling more like a monkey on my back.

I kinda feel an obligation to treat this race in a way that is respectful of it's history. The race is the most prestigious yearly road race in the world. Ryan Hall put it this way, "What is done in Boston lives on for all time."

I have turned my bib number into a virtual prison inmate number. I have turned my hobby into a job. Wake up early, go for a run, obsess about time and hills and food intake and weather and pre race logistics, then repeat tomorrow. Not a fun life for me and even a worse life for my family.

But thankfully that is starting to change. I realized early enough (just last week) that I have been treating an opportunity that countless runners, and non runners, can only dream of as an obligation. I hope to have fun with this race as the wig guy apparently had at the Tokyo Marathon earlier this month.


In 21 days I have an opportunity of a lifetime. For about three hours and ten minutes, I will run in front of 499,999 cheering spectators who for one day will fall in love with the Hello Kitty Runner. And one spectator (Mrs. Hello Kitty Runner) who will be glad to have her husband back after 8 months of 20 mile runs on Saturday mornings.

That monkey is coming off my back, being replaced with a Kitty and a Steers LDP logo and I am starting to treat this race as the reward that it is. I will do my best to run fast and to beat a few friends in a head to head battle. However, as I race the race, at the same time I hope to soak up the experience and enjoy the opportunity to be a Boston Marathoner.

If you watch the race live in Boston, watch for the Hello Kitty Runner and if you happen to be running in the race, remember that there is no shame in getting beat in the race by a 40 year old dude with a big Hello Kitty picture drawn on the back of his shirt.

Next Monday look for the fashion report. I stashed a black 30 gallon garbage bag into my pre-packing bag and have taken most of the pictures needed for the report.

Updates: Before my 20 mile run on Saturday, I dropped down to a weight that I am very satisfied with, then after burning 3500-4000 calories that day and eating only around 2000 calories, the next morning my weight ballooned 5 pounds. That one little extra teaspoon of butter catapulted my weight close to Nitmos-land. Not a happy place to be. Perhaps I should just chalk it up to more muscle to propel myself with.

Until then...Hello.

4 comments:

Mike said...

There is no passport office in Nitmos-land.

Spike said...

it is too late to pack on the pounds and qualify for the Clydesdale division? and good luck in a few weeks.

Aileen said...

That's a really cool way to look at it. Qualifying for Boston, that is.

We need this fashion report!

sRod said...

That's a great way to approach any marathon!