Causing “royal pain.”

This Sunday at the Los Angeles Marathon I plan to yell something as I cross the 25-mile mark.

And no, it’s not “Dear God, kill me now.”

Well, probably not.

Like many other of the 25,000 runners, I’ll be uttering the marathoner’s tributary phrase… “God save the Queen.”

I remember the first time I uttered that phrase at the LA Marathon in 2009; the runner next to me asked why I did that. I would have explained it to them properly, but I was doing my best not to pass out at that particular moment so I could only manage to reply with a mumbled “You just do.” Thinking back, it may have come out as “Grrfgghkl.” I can’t really be sure; I was a little loopy at that point.

But now that I’m not in the midst of a 26.2-mile death march, I can give a slightly longer and less slurred explanation.

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