Super Bowl Invasion

Even as I turned the volume up on my mileage log to 11 on Saturday, my training is being hijacked by the excitement of Super Bowl XL coming to Detroit. I think this brief diversion will be a good thing. I was starting to become obsessed with running and everything that potentially could help my training. So much so that I found myself strangely interested in a recent televised marathon. I can't think of more boring event to televise than a bunch of bean poles running for two hours, but I was dialed in like it was actually Super Bowl Sunday. This of coarse is an entire week away, but that isn't stopping A-list celebrities, wanna-be-celebs, meekish lap-top hauling journalists, and jobless football fans from ascending on this often-over looked town. I've conceded the fact that others will be renting my training space for this week. I'm hoping for plenty of interesting stories to tell.

The first of which occurred on Sunday afternoon. My training partner and I were running up along our usual route on the river when we passed the large glass-encassed entrance to General Motor's world head quarters (locally known as the Ren Cen). I was immediately blinded by lights. Curious, we headed inside to catch the massive crew of ESPN setting up their broadcast of NFL Countdown. Chris Berman, Steve Young, Michael Irvin and Tom Jackson (all celebrities to ESPN junkies)were getting groomed and made-up while an army of cameramen and technicians were doing their thing. It struck me at this point that this game, this event, this production, known as the Super Bowl is going to be huge beyond my expectations. Keep your eyes on your television sets this week for a guy running past cameramen on the streets. From the number of them I saw on Sunday, getting on television shouldn't be much of a challenge.