From Rio to Reykjavik

Yesterday marked the second longest run of my training for Rio, and I can say with confidence that I'm getting excited for the race which is now just under four weeks away. I can also say that I'm beginning to think that Rio is going to be my slowest marathon yet. I suppose this is okay as I am trying to put less time pressure on myself and also because I am supposed to be treating Rio as just another training run for... Reykjavik. Yes, I have officially registered for the Reykjavik marathon which will take place eight weeks after Rio on August 18. Dave and I have to be in Europe the week before for a family reunion so I decided to add in a week in Iceland for myself as I have always wanted to go. I hope to take in the sights, go for a relaxing bath in the Blue Lagoon, and then finish off my week with the marathon. This way I will be able to check Europe off the list and be on track to finish all seven continents by March of 2009.

I was recently alerted to the fact that there is a girl called Erin Sprague who is currently working towards becoming the youngest woman to have run a marathon on all seven continents. She has even started a non-profit, In the Running , to raise funding for and awareness about one grassroots, non-profit organization on each continent. I don't know how old she is, but seeing as she graduated college (Harvard) in 2005, I am going to assume that she is two years younger than I am. If that is the case, she will likely be 24 or 25 when she runs her last race, which, according to her schedule, will be in July of 2008 in Australia. The cool thing about that is that the race she is planning to run, the Gold Coast marathon, is one that I am planning to run next year as well, so I might be in the same race as she is when she completes all seven. While I am not sure about this, I believe the current record for youngest woman to have run a marathon on all continents is at age 27 (overall the record is age 26, I know this for sure, but that might be held by a male).

If all goes according to schedule for me, I will be 28 when I run my last continent, which is fine by me. Right now, I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing run alongside the many beautiful beaches of Rio, followed a few weeks later by a much cooler, but no less striking run in the world's most northern national capital.