The marathon — what other event lauds the guy who died at the end?

Having crossed the finish line, the runners go into shock, shivering in a way that rocks a small car on its wheels and begin personal comparison: did they do better than they did last year, or last month in this city or on another continent?

YOU stuff them with pasta the night before and, when they’re done, you wrap them in tinfoil. The pasta is to ensure they’re fully loaded with carbohydrates as stored fuel, and it should not have a rich creamy sauce on it, lest it upset their enviably flat stomachs. Pasta has more carbohydrates per square spoonful than rice or potatoes and stays in your stomach longer than either.

More than 10,000 pasta-stuffed persons will run today’s Dublin Marathon. I know this because Tracy has come all the way from the US — undeterred by a death in the recent Chicago Marathon — to run in Dublin. I took her to the RDS on Saturday to pick up her pack. She created quite a stir. All the other runners were in sloppy tracksuits. Because she was on her way to the theatre, she looked like Audrey Hepburn, all pearls and French-pleated blonde hair. Which may explain the kiss.