If you've ever ran a marathon, you know all the anxiety, fear, and trepidation that precedes the actual morning of the event. When the only thing that is racing is your mind, thinking of all the variables and your task ahead, you need something to calm your nerves.
In comes the 'Saturday Shake-Out run', something that is supposed to lubricate the legs a bit, but mostly, relax your mind and ease your spirit.
Ah, but the Saturday shake-out run can be dark and full of terrors. You risk running too fast, taking advantage of your trained and tapered body, and ending up paying for it on Sunday at mile 22 when your muscles get shredded and eaten alive.
Yes, the Saturday Shake Out run can be a dangerous thing, and this is the premise of the novel On the Lips of Children.
If you are running the San Diego marathon, this especially means you, for the book is based on a dark, 4 am run I took along Ocean Beach trail in San Diego. (with some creative license thrown in). The marathon route runs right over this trail. Just before the 10 mile mark, look down, and you are likely to see a family there. One woman, one man, two twin children, who make their home in a Tijuana to SD drug smuggling tunnel. Please wave to them and say hi for me. It's been awhile.
Check the book out. Read it on the plane. Read it in your hotel on Saturday. Do it. Do it. Before you go out on that Shake-out run and become fodder. Experience the pain and joy and human triumph during your run, not on Saturday trapped in a cave becoming fodder for some hungry twin kids.
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| ON THE LIPS OF CHILDREN $2.99 on Amazon |
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