Nothing left to do...

But go to sleep, wake up and run 26.2 miles.

I am nearly overwhelmed by an odd, unreal feeling right now on the eve of running my third Chicago Marathon. I've taken good care of myself this week, and topped it off with a fantastic deep-tissue massage this afternoon and then a nice dinner. As you can see, I've got all my gear laid out for the morning, down to pinning my number to my shirt and lacing the timing chip into my shoes.

My transportation situation has just improved greatly. MizBubs, girl genius, is going to drop me off and pick me up from the race. I had planned on doing that myself, but after reading the second weather advisory emailed to me by the race organizers, she's decided to make sure I make it home safely by doing it herself. What a sweetie. She's going to take advantage of the 5 hours of free time that my lumbering pace allows by visiting the Field Museum. She's really looking forward to not having a big goof with a short attention span rushing her through the exhibits.

I occupied myself last night by compiling two disks worth of music to work myself up for the race. What that really looked like was me sitting at the computer, glass of bourbon in hand, just plucking whatever songs I could remember and putting them into a playlist. Here it is, alphabetically (I shuffled the tunes before burning):

A Little Less Conversation—Elvis Presley

Ace of Spades—Link Wray

Black Math—The White Stripes

Blister in the Sun—The Violent Femmes

Blitzkrieg Bop—The Ramones

Chills and Fever—Tom Jones

Clampdown—The Clash

Cornfed Dames—The Cramps

Crackity Jones—The Pixies

Everybody’s Happy Nowadays—The Buzzcocks

Funtime—Iggy Pop

Get Rhythm—Johnny Cash

Gone Daddy Gone—The Violent Femmes

Going Out West--Tom Waits

Here Comes Your Man—The Pixies

Heroes—David Bowie

Hey Porter—Johnny Cash

Hoist That Rag—Tom Waits

How Far Can Too Far Go?--The Cramps

I'm So Free—Lou Reed

I Can't Stand It—The Velvet Underground

I Fought The Law—The Clash

I Found That Essence Rare—Gang Of Four

I Wanna Be Sedated—The Ramones

Jack The Ripper—Link Wray

James Bond Theme—Monty Norman Orchestra

Laywers, Guns and Money—Warren Zevon

Little Acorns—The White Stripes

Lust for Life—Iggy Pop

Mystery Train—Elvis Presley

Not Responsible—Tom Jones

Peter Gunn Theme—Henry Mancini

Play It Safe—Iggy Pop

Pump it Up—Elvis Costello

Radio Radio—Elvis Costello

Run Run Run—The Velvet Underground

Seven Nation Army—The White Stripes

Shake Rattle and Roll—Elvis Presley

Sister Ray—The Velvet Underground

Smells Like Teen Spirit—Nirvana

Success—Iggy Pop

Sweet Jane—The Velvet Underground

The Crusher—The Cramps

The Hardest Button To Button—The White Stripes

The Passenger—Iggy Pop

The Sickbed of Cuchulainn—The Pogues

Thunderball—Tom Jones

We Love You—The Psychedelic Furs

Walking on the Sun—Smashmouth

What Goes On—The Velvet Underground

Wild Cats of Kilkenny—The Pogues

You're Pretty Good Looking—The White Stripes