D-Day Minus One!

Tomorrow is the big day: the marathon! We’re both very excited!

Michelle's Seafood Pasta

My delicious meal!

Last night, we had a very nice meal at Restaurant Reykjavík, where we had some delicious fish. I got to try out my Icelandic “I am allergic to gluten” card, which worked out great.

Today started with a breakfast buffet at the hotel. It looks like Icelanders really like their yogurt, because there’s always a lot of it being offered!

After breakfast, we met up with Michelle Simonin (the team trainer) and Fred De Fina (Director of Team Diabetes) for a short 3K run. The temperature was great (cool, but not cold) and the sun even greeted us for a while (it has mostly been cloudy and raining so far).

Our guide explains the religious history of Iceland

We followed the run with a light lunch from a grocery/convenience store (Chicken tikka Masala) and a free walking tour of Reykjavik (delivered by the same guy who also runs the Haunted Walk of Reykjavik). Our guide told us that tips are included in all prices in Iceland, except one…

The official poster of the marathon includes a photo of a Team Diabetes participant!

In the afternoon, Michelle and I decided to go spend some time in a cafe (there’s lots of them and the coffee is delicious!). When we arrived there, we saw someone with a jacket for the marathon. We were curious about that, because we had been told that there wasn’t much of an expo (Team Diabetes picked up our race kits for us) and that there weren’t any souvenirs to buy. Well, it turns out that they had a few things to offer, so we got into a taxi and headed to the expo!

It’s true that the expo wasn’t very big (there were only 4 or 5 booths), we did manage to buy some very nice Reykjavik Marathon jackets as souvenirs. We love them! (photos to come!).

The pre-race dinner (there's also some pasta at the other end!)

We finished off the evening with the pre-race pasta dinner (potato dinner for me) with the whole “Team D” group. Our group has raised close to half a million dollars for Diabetes research. What a feat!

We were saddened to hear that one of our friends lost her grandmother yesterday. Our thoughts are with her and her family.

We are now headed to bed. It’s 9:15 PM here and Michelle is already in bed trying to sleep. She’s wearing ear plugs as a precaution against the rambunctious Icelanders. We’re wondering if people will be partying extra hard tonight due to their win at the Olympics (they’re going to the finals in handball, where the Icelandic team could win the first-ever gold medal for Iceland!).

Tomorrow's Schedule

We’re getting up at 5 AM tomorrow (1 AM Eastern Time!) and our marathon starts at 8:40. We hope to do it in 4:30-4:45, but our main goal is to have fun! Wish us luck!

Luc-Rock & Michelle

P.S. A big thanks to everyone who has posted comments and sent us messages of encouragement. It means a lot to us!