Two days 'til Chicago (said in a Rainman-like voice). Two days 'til Chicago.

Yes, 48 hours from now, I should be stumbling towards the finish line. If all goes well, I'll be crossing it at 11:15am (CST). In order to qualify for Boston, I need to finish it in 3 hours, 15 minutes, and 59 seconds. I intend to use every bit of that. Let's run the numbers so that you can see how obsessed I am.

That's three hours, fifteen minutes, and fifty-nine seconds. That's just a scooch under 196 minutes. That's 11,759 seconds. When I put it that way, it doesn't seem as bad. Maybe when I run, I'll just count to 11,759. One Mississippi...

I take about 172 steps per minute, so I'll be covering just under 4.1 feet per step. That'll be hard to measure, so I'll just have to trust.

I need to run at a pace of just under 7 minutes and 29 seconds per mile. That's easier to measure. I'll run the first 10, maybe 15 miles, at an easy pace, perhaps a hair slower than my target pace of 7:29. Then, with all the energy that I'll obviously have during the second half of the marathon, I'll pick it up and cruise across the finish line just under the wire. That's the idea anyways. I read it in a magazine.

This is why I got very little sleep last night. Wish me luck, cold and anonymous Internet. May the speed of your TCP/IP packets inspire me.