I did it. I ran a marathon and I finished up like a champ. I fully believe the marathon to be the most demanding activity I have ever participated in; both physically or mentally. The feeling I got as I came around the final turn and began to stride toward the finish cannot be described. I felt like I was running on air. After crossing the line, I was jumping up and down and shouting about running a few more miles. It is one of the greatest accomplishments of my life.

...It also may be a new addiction. The "runners high" is the real deal. I spent this afternoon looking for a new marathon to run as soon as possible. It will probably either be the Myrtle Beach Marathon on February 22 or the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach on March 15. God have mercy on my body.

This is it...
I will have attempted my first marathon less than 48 hours from this moment. Its going to be a struggle, but I think I am up for the challenge. I am used to the struggle and I firmly believe that my hard-work will be rewarded when I cross the finish line 26.2 miles later. Running mile after mile with the temperature well above 100 degrees has taught me about pushing my body to the limits. My 20 mile run on Thanksgiving morning in the frigid 28 degree air helped me realize the meaning of not quitting. I'm ready, and I'm going to run until I drop. Seriously, I will have to fall to the ground and be unable to move before I quit on Saturday morning.

...If I don't run across the finish line, it will be because I was laying in an emergency room.

Two Weeks to Go:
With two weeks to go, we finally stepped up our long run. Rick and I made a huge 5 mile jump from 15 to 20 miles. Yup, that's right. We churned out 20 really cold and painful miles yesterday morning. After completing this run, I'm finally confident of our chances to finish the marathon. Derek, on the other hand, worries me a little bit. His inability to set a sane pace for the first 10 miles is going to hurt him. We'll see how it goes.

Four Weeks to Go:
Well, we have four weeks to go and our blogging has slacked considerably...

Derek's output on this Blog is very similar to his training. As far as Rick and I know, the guy trains very little. It will be quite interesting to see if the guy can finish without walking...or even finish at all. I won't sell Derek short though, as the guy has heart. I think "heart" is his strongest attribute and he should be OK. On race day, the word "quit" won't be in his vocabulary.

Rick's work has slowed his preparation, but he has gotten much much better. The guy has gone from sucking to being a solid runner. He has run two 15 milers with me and done far more than just keep up. I swear there were a few occasions where I had to pick up the pace just to keep up. Without him, I would never do any longruns and my performance would be suffering.

Me, well I'm up and down. A bad case of tendonitus(sp) has thrown a huge dent in my training. As of late, I've had to put a couple of days between each of my training runs. In spite of that, I feel as though I'm a better runner than I was in last year at this time. Training for a marathon is like a rollar coaster. There are days when I feel like a champion and other days when I feel like I don't have a chance at even finishing the 26.2 miles. I think I'm becoming more mentally tough....and that's a good thing.

Nobody updates this. Ever.

Anyway, running will coming to a stop for me for a while. I've got a horrible pain in my knee and it has become painful to even walk around during the day. Not good at all, I say.

Rick and Derek did a 15 mile run a few weeks ago, so now we're all even again. Actually Derek and I will never be even, but you know what I mean.

I busted out of laziness with a 15 mile run through the hills of Virginia on Saturday morning, while Derek simply busted out with laziness. The course was one of the more challenging ones that I've ever seen in my life, though I handled it with little difficulty. I don't want to say that the run was easy, but I honestly felt like I could have run 5 more. I refrained from taking in any fluids during the run and not even that retarded move slowed me down. Saturday's run has to go down as one of the most postive running experiences for me ever.

Derek, aka The Slug, has thrown a massive challenge upon me. I am going to visit him this weekend for the USC vs UVA football game and we plan on doing a little bit of running while I am up there. He said, "Ken, I challenge you to a 15 mile dual this Saturday morning at high noon." Those weren't his exact words, but we have no readers on this Blog except for Lopes. Me telling a fib on here is like a tree falling in the woods; did it really happen if nobody hears it? Anyway, I quickly agreed but I am wicked dreading it. It is gonna be tough but The Able turns down no challenges.

The three of us ean 13 miles! Although, since I'm certain only the three of us read this, that's probably not news.

Here's some news: I have two massive blisters and ran four miles on them today.

It's like a great movie quote:

"Ever wonder what Custer felt like?"

"Sir, Custer was a pussy. You aint."

Actually it's nothing like that quote. I just love it.

Rick and I ran through a bloody monsoon on Thursday. I have never ran through a storm like that in all of my life. Visability was about 20 feet and we ended up running through ankle deep water for the last couple of miles. It was insane...and we are real men.

I figured it would happen, but not this soon...
Rick emailed me yesterday and dropped the "I just ran over 10 miles" bomb. I then found out this morning that Derek also ran over 10 miles. Yep, that's right, I am now in 3rd place in our little running contest. I figured they would catch me, but I thought I'd be able to at least hold the lead until mid-October. August just started and I'm down to 3rd place. Granted I am still running faster than them , but they have surpassed me in the all-important distance catagory. Plus, if it only took a month and a half to catch me in distance, God knows speed can't be far behind. Somebody needs to do a bloodtest on these guys, as I've never seen anybody go from sucking that bad to rolling over 10 miles with ease. You heard it here first: those guys are blood-doping or taking sterioids...or maybe I just suck.