Since man has had things to look forward to, he’s had a hankering to mark the time in between “Now” and “Significant Future Event”. Scratches on prison walls, big honking slabs of Basalt at Stonehenge, puppy dog wall calendars, Blackberrys–they’ve all played some bit part in satisying humanity’s hunger to organize units of time, draw us closer to The Big Day, whatever and whenever that day may be.

While I am fond of puppy dogs and I do own a Blackberry, I’ve my own way of savoring the passing of the days til Marathon Monday: the Fireball Countdown.

Is that jar one-third full, or is it two-thirds empty? My "Fireball Countdown"

 At the beginning of this little experiment called “Can Christine Run the Boston Marathon?”, this jar was full of Atomic Fireballs (a fave of mine, mostly because a) my friend Heidi got me addicted when we worked at NetScout together and she had them in her cube and b) my girls hate them and therefore they don’t disappear from the house–same goes for Tootsie Rolls.) Since the start of this little 26.2 mile quest of mine, this jar has held one fireball for each day between “now” and the Boston Marathon. I mark the end of the day’s training by plucking one out of the jar. As the cinnamon stings my tongue, I  contemplate whether I’m as close to Marathon-ready as I am to the bottom of the jar.

As of today I’ve 59 fireballs to go.

If you’re wondering, the sneakers keeping my fireballs company in this pic are Pair C of my Saucony Guide 3s. One of the many marathoning books I’ve read told me to find a shoe that worked for me, then buy three pairs. Pairs A and B are deployed for training purposes, alternating with every workout. Pair C is the Race Pair. It gets put into rotation three weeks prior to The Big Day.

Pair A has 211 miles on them.  Pair B is a bit behind, at 154 (To answer your questions: yes, I keep track, down to the tenth of a mile even. And Pair B is lagging because I didn’t know about the A-B-C thing for a few weeks into training, so B was purchased later and ergo won’t ever “catch up”). 

In a little more than a month, Pair C’s rubber will meet the road.  Or to put it in my own terms, Pair C is a mere 38 fireballs away from hitting the ground running.

Enjoy your training, folks–whether you’re training to run Boston or simply to stay sane. Do whatever it takes to power yourself through both the training and the days; I highly recommend kid-unfriendly candy 🙂

– Christine