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personally, I embraced the "lonely life of the long distance runner," as the saying goes. Once the prospect of running the marathon began to take shape in my mind, I searched the Internet and found an incredible resource: www.marathontraining.com - the website diagrammed full 18 week Beginner and Advanced programs to prepare for the marathon. Because of the aforementioned knee surgery and some regular wear and tear over the years, my knees were my greatest concern as far as holding up to the rigors of training. So, having run sporadically over the past years, I decided I would jump into the Advanced, final 18 week program, if the knees and my body held up for the start of the longer training runs, I would sign up for the run. Although the training started slow, I stayed with it, not worrying about pace, just making sure I covered the requisite ground each day, and not concerning myself with whether I walked any portion of the distance.

The training contributed to my ability to run further: I quickly lost 10-15 pounds, while not being overly concerned with what and when I ate, other than eating healthy food whenever possible, another improvement over my previous lifestyle; my body firmed up and the weight loss did more to aid my otherwise aching knees than anything else; and, although Austin from October to February is the coldest time of year locally, the cooler temperatures, often ranging into the 40's and even 30's on occasion, made for the perfect weather to extend distances over time.

INJURIES AND RECOVERY: For the most part, I was very fortunate and remained very focused on avoiding injury throughout. During training, I went through three new pairs of Brooks Beast shoes - after a time, the sensation when the spring in the soles gave out felt like jumping off a cliff, I was fortunate to get my last pair just two weeks before the run, giving me time to break them in appropriately, including on a 10 mile run. My feet took the expected beating with occasional blisters and bruises, but nothing over-riding. I discovered the necessity of "Body Glide," a deodorant-like stick that must be applied to all areas susceptible to chafing or blistering as soon as you begin training. My only real injury scare was a near pulled muscle in my upper, inner quad about 6 weeks before the run. As it turned out, the pull was more of a strain, but focused my attention on staying in control at all times, especially on downhill runs where the injury had occurred. To rehabilitate from

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