12:30

'Twas the night before the big race... and I sat in my hotel room loading up on chicken parm with spaghetti and meatball stromboli from Pete's Famous Pizza!

I'll write more about my Philly experience in later posts, but thought I'd share some fun health-related stories.  My health has been fairly good this year on the whole.  Except for the fact that I’m down one tooth since August (fractured, then extracted), my body appears pretty intact. 

I visited my doctor last month for a physical— it’s actually been a few years and I thought it was time to tell him that I run, albeit terribly.

"You do LSD," he remarked with a grin.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Long, Slow, Distance running- it’s what we call it in our profession," he quickly clarified. 

I like my doctor.

The other funny story from the same doctor's appointment is that I learned I am down about a half inch from last time I was measured a few years back. Figures that I am old enough to start shrinking! Let me just tell you that once I get my wish-listed Teeter inversion table, I'll be reversing that trend!

What makes this particularly amusing to me is that one Monday morning, several weeks before the appointment, I came into work and asked a couple colleagues do I look taller?  Of course I did not, but I explained to them that the previous day during my long run I had a strange sensation, one I'd never had before or since that time.  For about a mile or so out of the run, I distinctly felt that I was running taller than usual.  As if my posture was completely upright and I was viewing the trail from a slightly higher perspective. Now I understand that perhaps I was having a memory of times from a taller past.

Soon I will get some sleep before waking at 5:00 to get dressed and walk to the starting area for the 7:00 race start.  With the excitement, I don't always sleep well the night before these races! But it is true to say that finishing another marathon will be a great gift tomorrow. A nice wrap-up to a long summer and fall.

12:51

The marathon is this coming Sunday, and it's expected to be the coldest race I’ve run so far, in the 30s. I made my final training run in similar conditions yesterday and fine tuned my gear.

The catalog of gear is a veritable who's who of athletic brands -- someone call John Glaser!

• Nike running shorts
• Some race tee (it won’t be the Gulf Beach Half shirt pictured here)
• Brooks long-sleeve pullover
• Celersport tabbed athletic socks
• Nakuwa utility belt
• Apple Watch
• Adidas/Sennheiser sport earbuds
• Champion beanie
• Under Armor gloves
• (Not pictured) Brooks Ghost 10 shoes

I’m pretty excited about the utility belt, which is a last minute acquisition. It easily holds my phone, ID, a few medical supplies and some energy packs (gels). I only need to be careful about the friction of the metal zipper tab on the inside of the belt.

The Apple Watch is also new this year, and I hope to write more about that before the year is out.

Originally, I had planned to post on this topic around Election Day, because I wanted my vast readership to vote on the only real choice of the year: which tee shirt I should wear on race day!  Here are the finalists:

I had fervently hoped the Patriots would pull off another upset in the Super Bowl earlier this year, because I did originally plan to wear the Patriots tee, and I estimate it would be an over/under of 2 miles before some lunatic Eagles fan would come rushing in from my blind side to tackle me. But, since we lost the game, I’ll put that over/under at 5 miles.

Next I thought that the Bacon tee would be a blast, and it hits pretty close to the truth of what inspires me to run, especially when it's piled on a burger! The message will be highly visible to the audience and should generate many cheers.  Plus, I put the over/under of some Colin Kaepernick fan interpreting my shirt to mean that I’m running for the police and rushing in from my blind side to tackle me at about 8 miles.

Then there’s the Socialism tee. A fantastic quote, but it would probably not be readable for most of the audience, unless I’m walking slowly along the side of the course. (This will happen for most of the race, come to think of it.) I’ll put the over/under at 13.1 miles before some Bernie fan comes rushing in from my blind side to tackle me.

The Mordor tee is geeky and hilarious, and I probably don’t have to worry about being tackled unless there are any Orcs in the audience!

The final decision on tees… it will be none of the above.  I’ll be keeping warm and wearing a non-descript technical tee under the long-sleeve pullover in the picture above. Terribly disappointing, I'm aware.

Speaking of tough decisions, I’ll be making the ultimate choice on Monday, the day after the race: Pat’s vs. Geno’s! During the last few weeks I’ve been  practicing for this fateful decision by sampling some of the very best competition to the Philly cheesesteak from around the country.

I started with the Burger King Philly Cheese King (bottom left). Unsurprisingly, the marketing photos are way better than what I purchased! Next I sprang for the Subway Chipotle Cheesesteak (bottom right). I went with the limited Sunflower Crunch bread, which was the highlight of the sandwich. All in all, pretty good.  And finally, I stopped in at one of the best area steak sub vendors: Carl's Steak Subs in Waltham. I went with the Carl's Special sub with a side of onion rings and cheese fries. Up here in New England we don't typically use cheese whiz on steak subs, so that's at least one difference.  But this was a mighty tasty sub!

Folks, let me be clear, I would much rather be hugged than tackled during the marathon!  Free Hugs Guy, if you’re reading this, and if you still visit races, I’ll treat you to a cheesesteak on Monday for a hug during the race on Sunday! Lol