Tonight is the big race. Most prognosticators aren't mentioning yours truly, but I think we all know that the Showdown in the Downtown between myself and Ryan Hall will be the talk of the running world tomorrow. Beating Ryan will be tough, but I have a distinct advantage that I know the course better than he does (the straight shot down Nicollet Mall is really confusing, and Ryan is likely to end up in Fargo). To demonstrate how evenly matched we are, here is a comparison of what we each bring to the table:
Ryan Hall: Holds the American Record in half marathon.
Me: Holds the World Record for participating in the largest single-day flu shot distribution.
RH: Born in California, a place fraught with natural disasters and an overabundance of Toyota Prii.
Me: Born in Michigan, the Land Shaped Like a Hand (and you've got a map of it!).
RH: Placed 10th in the marathon at the Beijing Olympics.
Me: Won first place at the 2008 engineering olympics as part of the MechE Team by duct-taping someone to a wall.
RH: Won the State of California Cross Country Championship twice.
Me: Won the St. Thomas Lutheran School Geography Bee three times (5th, 7th, and 8th grades).
RH: Ran the fastest ever marathon for an American (not an official record, though).
Me: Won the "Most Beautiful Baby" contest at our local Kmart (official record).
RH: Has run the Boston Marathon 3 times.
Me: Has run around Boston Common once.
RH: Has never run the Twin Cities Marathon.
Me: Has run the Twin Cities Marathon twice.
As you can tell, you can't find two people more evenly matched for this race than Ryan Hall and I. If I win, I plan to be very humble and gracious (and I may ask him to autograph my shoe).
Race details: TONIGHT on Nicollet Mall. First wave starts at 6:50pm, my wave at 7:39pm, Women's Championship at 7:53pm, and Men's Championship at 8:03pm.
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