There we were. Two middle-aged men in a Firebird on a summer night. The top was down, the V8 was rumbling. We were just driving around, minding our own business.And there he was. A 20-something young man in a four-cylinder sports saloon with loud
occurred for me in the middle of a marathon relay. My mother, my son and I were a team. Being the real runner, I completed the first 13.9-mile leg. My son, blessed with youth and enthusiasm, had the 9.3 miles in the middle, and my mother, claiming
was oblivious to the other runners around him. There was no competition no one to fear, no one to chase, no one to beat. There was only the distance between the start and finish lines. Somewhere in between those two lines lay his destiny.Standing in the crowd
was oblivious to the other runners around him. There was no competition – no one to fear, no one to chase, no one to beat. There was only the distance between the start and finish lines. Somewhere in between those two lines lay his destiny.Standing in the crowd
After university I decided to get back in shape – about once every 10 years, that is. In my early 20s I took up tennis. In my early 30s I played squash. And, of course, in my early 40s I discovered running. I got a lot of exercise playing tennis
. At the Marine Corps Marathon one year, I almost finished in the top 15,000 runners. I would have, but I went out too fast!As I enter my 10th year as a runner, I have to admit that I’m no longer the new kid on the block. I’ve had some wonderful races and some
initially unfolded according to plan. I hit the halfway point at 2:27:32, right on target. At mile 15, I was still there. By mile 17, I was three seconds off the pace, but still hopeful, even though I was beginning to feel the signs of impending disaster
in the shadow of a 10,000-year-old glacier. You’ve just imagined the 2001 Antarctica Marathon, aka ‘the Last Marathon’.To me, it seemed like the perfect idea – the Penguin running with the penguins. But just reaching the Last Marathon was a marathon in itself: a
