My First Marathon

I have begun to sleep long and deeply and I am grateful.  Aided by earplugs and an eye mask, you can imagine no one is more adorable than me. 

I was awakened at a tender hour for a Sunday by the sound of someone testing a sound system on Galway Harbour.  This is how I learned that today is the Galway City Marathon.  The Galway City Marathon website explains that 2010 is the 2500 anniversary of the “legend of the Marathon.”  Cool. 

In the amount of time it took me to eat a bowl of cereal, drink two cups of coffee, finish a good British mystery on TV and take a shower, some half marathoners crossed the finish line.  When I left for church I saw happy finishers walking around with medals around their necks and I thought, “Well now, that looks like fun.”  After church I saw some of the full marathoners pushing on with looks of pain on their faces.  That looked significantly less fun. 

Back in my apartment, I am finding great pleasure in listening to the announcer over the sound system as people finish up.  Here is a sample of the kinds of things I am hearing:

Here’s a happy man finishing the marathon right now.  Well done sir.  Congratulations to you.  There’s a HAPPY man. 

Number 32 going through now is Karen Rushton.  Karen is from Great Britain. 

Number 34 is Mary Cord from U S of A.  Hello Mary, good to have you with us today.

            Well done girls.  Well done.   I hope you’re on the news tonight.  Six

o’clock it is. 

            All this running is making me hungry.  Time for lunch!

Look to the right and you might see people who just finished the marathon.