Big Five Anyone????

Clem's dethronement must have bugged him more than he and I realized, so on October 8th, I got an e-mail from the supercoach, stating that this was no time for Gil to retire. I guess Clem felt that he needed another chance to get the trophy back.
Then, a few days later... another e-mail from Clem! I could have guessed it. With New York, Chicago and Berlin out of the way for Dora, Gil, himself and me, he pointed out that we now only needed to run Boston and London to complete the Big 5. Did he forget that I had just announced my retirement?
But the damage was done.... and I started to feel that I had to redeem myself by running a spring marathon. Oh yes, that made a lot of sense. Do badly in a flat marathon and try to get back on track with the Boston marathon. That sounds for a recipe for more heartbreak! And I don't JUST mean running up heartbreak hill. Anyway, I thought about it for a couple of days, and just as I stopped obsessing about it, I get a call from Dora. Out of the blue!!!! No knowledge of Clem's correspondence!
"What did I think of running Boston? With only 2 to go, she thought it would be neat to finish the Big Five!" What is it with these Europeans? Did SLG create this monster called Dora?
I thought I would bring her down to earth by telling her there is a qualifying time for Boston. Of course I had already checked my time. I "qualified" through NYC marathon 2007, so did Clem. Of course I had to go check out Gil's qualifying time. He qualified by his result in Berlin. What is this. A conspiracy???
So I still thought I could dissuade Dora and continue my retirement. But guess what. She found a website that guarantees her an entry. Go figure.
Admittedly, as I said in a prior blog entry, other great women have come out of retirement as well. So I broached the subject with the King. "Absolutely not, he was done running marathons....did he qualify?....mmm, it would be neat, running all five.... but what about the trophy? .... Clem wants to do this so he can get the trophy back after 6 months"
So, I mulled it over with the founding fathers (back me up here Mark and Stefan). As Clem had said in November 2007, the first rule of SLG and the CMIYC trophy, is that the rules can always be changed. So here is the deal. If we do get crazy enough to run Boston, there will be NO eligibilith for the CMIYC trophy. The reign of the sitting King or Queen lasts for a whole year, and for this purpose, a year is defined as a minimum of 300 days. Does that put your mind at ease, Gil?? BIG FIVE ANYONE?????