Gainesville Five Points (Half-)Marathon Tomorrow

Since I'm not going to run in the Five Points Half-Marathon tomorrow after all, you might wonder why I still maintain an interest in it. Well, here are a couple of "points" about Five Points...

First, I haven't abandoned the idea of resuming running in 13.1-mile half-marathon races (or even the 26.2-mile marathon) at some time in the future after medical conditions have been reconciled. To immediately and deliberately ignore a local event that I had planned to be a part of sounds an awful lot like sour grapes to me. I still hope this race is a resounding success tomorrow and for years to come, regardless of my participation level. Second, I sit around at home all the time watching sports like baseball, basketball, and football without any personal interest in engaging in these sports (especially baseball). Somehow, though, I've convinced myself that they are important. But look, I still run: today I ran 6 miles. So instead, I should be enthusiastic about the sport with which I have been personally involved. Now if my local newspaper The Gainesville Sun will only share my enthusiasm enough to cover this race in an adequate, professional manner...

In today's (Saturday) edition, there was a long article about tomorrow morning's marathon portion of the event with a map of the course. The half-marathon was virtually ignored, though. And forget about today's 5K race! Still, at least they give the overall event some coverage. Saturday.

I don't expect anything about Five Points in the Sunday paper, but on Monday they should publish the results of all three races (at least the top finishers) and feature an article describing how this important local sporting event went. Also, there is an interesting angle to the race concerning weather conditions. I remember how bitterly cold it was two years ago when I ran in it (28 degrees at the start). Tomorrow morning's local weather presents its own problems: the temperature at race's start will be 63 (not bad in itself: I ran a full marathon last year when it was 62) but with a high chance of rain and even possible thunderstorms. Uh-oh...