Take your mark

The name marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek soldier, who was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. It is said that he ran the entire distance without stopping and burst into the senate with the words "Masters! Victory is ours!" before collapsing and dying due to exhaustion. (Wikipedia)
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Nothing--and I mean nothing--makes me want to run a marathon more than the story of its origin. In fact I am certain that Pheidippides is out there somewhere in the great beyond swelling with pride at all the tens of thousands of people who have decided by their own free will to repeat the run that CAUSED HIM TO DIE.

Come December 31, 2008--the day I turn 26.2--I hope to have joined the ranks of those very morons. I should note that I don't believe I could even run *3* miles right now unless I was being chased.

But now I've got this blog, so that even on the days when I feel horribly, aggressively, adamantly against running, I can still be motivated by the fact that if I go, I will at least have something to blog about. Because, yes, I am addicted. OOOHH! And I can get an inexpensive, light, little, teensy digital camera and take photos during training runs and POST it on my marathon training blog! And it shall be like art and creative non-fiction and fitness melded into one.

And now you have a place to be all encouraging-like and say "Yes! You can do it! Eye on the prize, my dear! Eye on the prize!" *Queue Rocky music*