Readers of PEI will no doubt be familiar with the muscular and confident writing of my colleague, editorial director Philip Borel.
These fans should know, however, that following October 31, 2010, Borel’s prose is likely to atrophy and develop a stutter. This is because he will be reeling from having suffered a staggering loss to a man who as of this writing is his athletic inferior – me.
You see, notwithstanding my current lethargy, I plan to defeat Philip Borel in the upcoming Marathon of Marathons, an invitation-only race that will retrace the steps of Pheidippides from the ancient battlefield of Marathon to Athens. (Interested in joining the race? Read more here).
The casual observer would assume that Borel has several key advantages over me, like being in shape. Or
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| David Snow |
This fire is inextinguishable, even when I fill my belly with, say, a heaping pastrami sandwich from Eisenberg’s on Fifth Avenue. I am sure this fire will propel me through the grueling training that lies ahead and all the way to the finish line in Athens (ahead of Borel).
According to the Robert Browning poem, when Pheidippides reached the end of his run he shouted: “Rejoice, we conquer!” I’m going to shout this in the original Attic Greek on October 31 (but I’m going to change it to “I conquer” – must consult a linguist about this).
Somewhat troublingly, Browning also notes that “like wine through clay, joy in his blood burst his heart”. I’d like to avoid this finale if at all possible.
My victory will be all the sweeter because it will be witnessed by some 250 members of the private equity and infrastructure communities who will have come to Greece for jogging glory and to raise €2.5 million for UNICEF and other children’s charities.
Whichever side you take (mine, please), there can be no denying that the Marathon of Marathons is shaping up to be among the greatest private equity-editor vs private equity-editor sports challenges of any era – ancient, pre-modern or whatever.
Mr. Borel – the oxys lies before you (that’s Greek for gauntlet).
David Snow is editor in chief of all PEI Media publications
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