WHATEVER IT TAKES - Heart of a Champion

Game 2 of the ALCS was a 5:27 thriller in Florida, and I worked all night in our MLB.com offices in Manhattan. I was planning to run the Staten Island Half Marathon in the morning, making it 5-of-5 in running each borough of the year-long New York Road Runners Half-Marathon Grand Prix series. I had my stuff laid out and set the alarm for 6:30 with plans to get to the Staten Island Ferry and same-day registration. Alas, at 6:30 I got up, fell asleep standing up after 2 hours sleep, and decided to listen to my body and not be tough guy. I went back to sleep, woke up at 11 and ran my own Half Marathon at Central Park, relaxed pace in about 2:27. I did the bottom 5 loop, then the full 6-mile loop including Harlem Hill, and then I tacked on the lower (1.7 mile) loop. Throw in the short run from my place, and it's 13.1 miles, a makeup Half.

Now it's time to taper. No more heavy fuel belts for me. No injuries, 100-percent healthy and strong. Inside of three weeks until participation in a real, major sporting event. A great baseball postseason, and an in-progress, MLBAM-record consecutive streak of nightly big-picture articles for the MLB.com homepage. The World's Greatest Marathon, with an untouchable 2 million spectators and 100 bands ready to be part of the show. Reading "Double Cross" by James Patterson, unputdownable. A great MLBlogging community that's growing like crazy. My own book up my sleeve. A certain someone. Things are pretty cool.