It‘s strange to be here awaiting the boat trip to the Catalina Island. It is the day prior to a marathon that I will not be running. It is very strange, to be in a position as a runner who has run marathons and to head over to Catalina Island with the intention NOT run the marathon. I watch as the people hang out, with the pre-race hydration going strong, and other pre-race antics. I wonder if I am ever watched in the same way that I watch these people.
People are stretching, talking about their training preparation, and just whatever. It is the pre-marathon nervousness, excitement, or apprehension. I’ve been there, but not today. And I wonder should I be in their shoes? Should I run a marathon instead of the planned 10K? I almost feel guilty, or less than, for doing the shorter race. They go about their way. There is even a man who is blind that has run this marathon for many years past. He rides over to the island on the boat with us. The marathon runners do the pre-race run, the stretch, the carbo-load. I just sit here feeling a strangeness of being in the position of “the spectator”.