Pre Home PRE The following story appeared in Runner's World in May, 1991. I suppose this could be almost any road race. The morning is overcast but pleasant. Hundreds of runners of all ages, shapes and sizes are warming up, pinning on numbers or nervously shaking hamstrings and doing half-hearted stretches.
Officials scurry back and forth making last-minute system checks.
As the starting time approaches, I finish my warmup and sit to put on my racing flats. I had hoped to be more ready for this, to have come here with the appropriate sense of athletic mission. Perhaps, even, to win. But a virus has interrupted my training, and its vestiges still rumble vaguely in my lungs. This excuse, though, the very fact of excuse in this race, makes me ashamed.