WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2008

I'll be racing my third Florence (Italy) Marathon a week from Sunday. After Sherry and I made a last minute decision two weeks ago to spend a week over Thanksgiving in Tuscany for what I think is our 10th year in a row, in a moment of weakness she said, "Are you going to run the marathon again?" After I ran upstairs to my computer and registered, I said, "Sure!" As I suspected would happen, the next day she said, "Are you really going to run the marathon? Afterwards you aren't a lot of fun to walk around town with..." Of course I replied, "I put my money down, honey, so I have to run it." (Last year she coaxed me to promise that I would not run the race again when we only have a week in town. But...)

Anyway, in Italy (and I think elsewhere in Europe) you need to show evidence that you have had a physical examination in the past 12 months before they will let you run. (Fellow Ironman Julia Jones who lives in Tuscany told me a few years ago this is handled as part of running club membership for most European runners.)

OK, so I go to my doc and he says, good to see you after two years (the last time I ran Florence) and how's the high blood pressure we were a bit concerned about and that sound in your heart that could be because you are a marathoner/Ironman but we ought to be sure about, and, oh yeah, I see by the added family history that you gave us that your grandfather died of a stroke? The upshot: I am now on an ace inhibitor blood pressure medication (lisinopril), which seems to be working with no side effects, and today I just had an EKG (cool pictures and sounds from the heart!) and a nuclear treadmill test. (No, the treadmill is not nuclear, what was injected into my boodstream was...)

According to the exercise physiologist who worked with me, only 7 people of any age have ever finished the full treadmill test protocol over the years when he has administered it. I got one and a half minutes from the end of the seventh – last – level, 19 minutes 30 seconds in with the treadmill at 22% grade and 6 mph, before I decided going to the end, while possible for me, was a nutty idea. I had an audience because I came so close…

It was not the speed that was tough, it was the grade. I really could have finished (yeah, it would have been pretty tough...), but I just decided, why? The exercise physiologist said I could have stopped long before and the test would have been fine...

To "signal" I might be an outlier, I wore my Boston shirt to the test and talked with the exercise physiologist in advance. Turns out he is a former marathoner, and the person who had "done the best" for him on the test was training for Boston, so he was prepared for me to at least come close. Most of people around me in the cardiology waiting room were not particularly fat, but I would guess some had heart problems and all or most did not work out. Yeah, most people who take the test are not like "us," which in terms of their health and fitness is too bad, because many could do what we do...

By the way, my doc signed the medical certificate and I am cleared to run Florence.

Competitive? Who, me? Wanna bet...?)