My October schedule was so nutty that I missed the group runs on Oct 6, 13 and 20.

The weekend of Oct 6&7 - my whole family went up to visit my sister in Syracuse, NY. We had very dramatic weather. It rained Saturday morning, was beautiful on Saturday afternoon and snowed on Sunday. We went apple picking and hiking and ate wonderful food. I ran 8 miles on Monday evening by myself.

Oct 13 - 5k - The Race for The Cure in Baltimore. We ran the 5K in 28 minutes and about 30 seconds. That's a 9min25sec mile! And we were holding back because I don't want to get hurt 2 weeks before the Marine Corps Marathon.

After the MCM, I plan to run 5Ks and 10Ks until I can maintain an 8 min mile. That will be fun.

Oct 20 - I missed my weekend run. I was the photographer at ECOnference 2001 and walked so much that it didn't seem smart to run.

5:30 am - alarm goes off

6:30 am - 40°F - I board the metro to head for Rossyln where one of my AIDS Marathon Pace Group members lives across from the Iwo Jima memorial and starting line. I am wearing socks on my hands, a sweat shirt sleeve on my head and an extra T-shirt to stay warm. All will be discarded after the start. The Marines rake up all the discarded clothing and give it to a DC homeless shelter.

7:30 am - Several of us gather at Amy's apartment and wander about chattering nervously, fretting about our clothing, visiting the bathroom and looking for some missing group members.

8:15 am - We line up in the last corral. All the runners registered with a charity group are in the back, group K. AIDS Marathoners and members of Leukemia Team in Training find friends, huddle together to stay warm and wonder how long it will take us to get across the starting line. We are all wearing chips on our shoes that will measure the time between crossing the start and finish lines. There is often a delay of 30 minutes or more before the back of the pack crosses the starting line. At mile 22.25, runners cross the 14th Street Bridge. That bridge closes to runners at 2 pm. The AIDS Marathon staff calculated that if we cross the starting line at 8:45, runners need to maintain at least a 14:30 min/mile pace in order to make the bridge. The MCM has promised a revised, more orderly start than in past years but many runners are worried that a late start might prevent them from even finishing. Even members of my group which run at a 12:30 min/mile pace are freaked out about the bridge.

8:30 am - After singing the National Anthem, THE STARTING GUN GOES OFF! No one in corral K moves.

8:47 am - Runners in corral K start moving forward.

8:53 am - We finally cross the starting line! --- see results ---

The MCM was great! The first 20 miles were darn fun!! After that, it was more of a struggle but I still felt pretty good.

The Marines were awesome. It seemed like there were thousands of them along the course: pouring water, sweeping up empty cups, directing traffic and runners, passing out Vaseline, marking the route, . . . but mostly cheering us on. Some of them would spot a struggling runner and run a few hundred yards with them – cheering the whole way. I totally recommend the MCM for the first time marathoner. Even the cops got into the act and cheered runners at their assigned intersections.

I set out with plan to run the first 10 miles slower than goal pace and the last 8 faster than goal pace. I stuck to my plan pretty well and totally ran "within myself" – as Mr. Jeff Galloway puts it. Other survivors spoke of being delirious, not remembering parts of the course, seeing spots or vision blacking out – ick. I was just tired.

I was surprised that my cheek muscles were’t more tired on Monday. I wore the same silly grin the whole way.

After mile 20, the struggle was all mental. I was tired and my brain kept saying "stop and rest." I did three things to fight my brain:

1.) I chanted. I refused to think about anything but my mantra during the running portions. I chanted "I was born to run." Over and over until the watch beeped and I could walk again.

2.) I reminded myself to "just follow the watch". The watch beeped to mark 1 minute (walk) and 4 minute (run) intervals. I just told myself to run for 4 more minutes and follow the instructions of the watch.

And 3.) I didn’t let Mary loose me. Our pace group broke up gradually over the first 16 miles as people settled into their most natural pace for the day. Another AIDS marathon runner, Mary, and I discovered over the last 6 months that our natural paces are well matched. By mile 18, the two of us were on our own. After we crossed the bridge, I decided I couldn’t let her loose me. During the last couple of miles, she’d get about 20-25 feet ahead and then I would concentrate on catching up. I knew that if I were running alone, it would be much harder to keep going.

For the last couple of months, I have been sprinting the last 2 blocks of my mid-week runs to practice finishing strong. I was pleased that it paid off and I was able to pick up speed when I saw the end.

Bottom line: I will do it again.