Closing Ceremonies, here I come!

August 29--Closing Ceremonies, here I come!

My kingdom for a nap! It's been a long two days since the race on Friday. I'm very pleased with how it went (I'm not sure I mentioned that in my last posting) and I'm also very glad that the race is over. Going into the race, I wasn't sure that my body would hold up under the rigors of 50km of racing. Even on the best day 50km is a grueling event and with the conditions in Athens we knew it would be tough. My knee held up better than I could have hoped and my conservative race plan worked out perfectly. I was able to walk each 10km as fast or faster than the previous one, accelerating bit by bit over the course of the race. It would have been nice to be fitter than I was for race day, but considering all the troubles I've had in the past four months, I'm elated.

Tonight is the Closing Ceremonies when we all walk in together, one big happy world family and we sing and dance and trade pins and hugs and smile and nod at each other a lot if we don't speak the same language. If it's anything like Sydney, it will be a lot of fun. After that, I'm going to take a little vacation and tour around Greece some. I got to see the Acropolis and Parthenon last night at sunset, spectacular! Today I slept in as long as I could and ate and read my book and ate some more. Tonight will be long but I'm looking forward to it.

I don't know if I'll be able to make another posting after tonight, so like the Olympic flame, this journal may be coming to an end shortly. Thank you to everyone who has shared in my adventures and enjoyed my insights. It's been good for me, too! Peace.

For a good article from the race, check out the Pioneer Press.