A grid of lights, almost a perfect grid. In fact, in a way, its imperfections make it perfect. It ends abruptly on the east side, in a sea of darkness —or, shall I say, in a “lake” of darkness. A miniature cluster of ghostly-looking skyscrapers floats right at the edge of the grid, before the darkness begins. On the other side, the grid spreads out in all directions, without end.

From the last issue of “Smart Running”, Boston Running Center’s newsletter:

Marathon World Record goes under 2:04!

Last Sunday, Sept 28th, Ethiopian Haile Gebreselassie broke his own world record in the marathon with a 2:03:59 in the Berlin Marathon.

The lead group came through the half at 1:02:04, with Haile running a negative split for the second half - 1:01:55.

The break down….
Pace per mile:
4 minutes and 45 seconds

Which is equivalent to a:
5k time of 14:46 5k
a 10k time of 29:31 10k
and 71 second per 1/4 mile

Which is equivalent to:
insanity

It’s been five weeks since my last post, and it feels like it was a year ago. It was one of those periods full of stuff —mostly good stuff, I must say. Not a chance to get bored in the last five weeks. My stomach (and Olesya’s I guess) have been the parameter of our stress, excitement, readiness (and lack of it). Big exams, big interviews, big tasks, and big number of day-to-day responsibilities.

I haven’t said much with all these words, I guess, they’re too abstract. The bottom line is: It’s been five unusual, exciting, challenging weeks, and we made it, and we are better off —and tired; and trying to get back to normal.