Chris Thompson hasn't slept this week but still had time to dream.
The Barrow boy dreamt of what it would mean to meet the standards required to be selected for a second Olympic Games at the age of 40.
And that he did, defying the rules of nature in the bowels of botanical discovery to win the British Athletics Marathon Trials at Kew Gardens. The magic number, 2:10.52, was a lifetime best.
Waiting for him, there is a freezer full of pre-cooked meals in anticipation of a breathless week and a blissfully unaware baby named Theo, born at 2:23am on Monday morning.
"I've never felt a set of emotions like that in my entire running career," said Thompson, who made his Great Britain debut in 2006 and competed in the 5,000m at London 2012.
"I needed everything today, I needed the time, I needed the position, I needed to go and to execute, to get myself over the line in one piece. It just had everything.
"At my previous Olympics, it was a different scenario of making the team. This is the first time I've experienced everything being on the line on the day and so much else going on.
"I couldn't have had more distractions these last few weeks. I'm on cloud nine and I'm struggling to comprehend that we've done it and it was me on my own on the home straight.
"I'm just exhausted."
Thompson broke down in finish-line interviews and then again on a Zoom call with athletics journalists. He wasn't the only one in tears.
It is 11 years since his first and only international medal, European 10,000m silver behind Mo Farah. He has done what he needs to do to secure selection for Tokyo 2020.
Wife Gemma Steel, an 800m athlete and five-time European cross-country champion, coached Chris through a week like no other.
"I did ask if Theo could come in the afternoon, just to help us out," Thompson said.
"We knew it would be tough with the due date and race date, so we tried to pre-cook everything in the freezer, get everything in order, just emotionally try and box everything the best.
"Anyone who's had kids knows that you don't sleep; from the moment I saw him, I've not let myself go because of what I needed to do today.
"As athletes, you're good at controlling your emotion and you park it up. All this week, I've had to really suppress things because it's so easy to get carried away and let yourself go away with the fairies.
"Gemma has been really good at saying, look, let me deal with him. She gets it, she really understands."
In the same race, Ben Connor got the top-two place he needed to fulfil automatic Olympic selection criteria.
The 28-year-old's 2:11.20 at the 2020 London Marathon ticked his time box.
Callum Hawkins has been pre-selected by British Athletics for the marathon and was on pace-making duties at Kew.
Elsewhere, Steph Davis completed a stunning rise from student fun-runner to Olympian in a few short years by winning the women's marathon.
The Glaswegian cut the tape in 2:27.16, meaning she has fulfilled the criteria to make her GB debut at the highest level, the Olympic Games.
Davis juggles training with working at an asset management company and this was only her fourth marathon.
20km race walkers also had the chance to meet Olympic selection criteria and Tom Bosworth, having already hit the qualifying time, finished second in 1:26.24.
Callum Wilkinson finished first but outside the qualifying time, with Heather Lewis and Bethan Davies now set to go in search of the necessary mark to be eligible for Tokyo.
Sportsbeat 2021