Um, first off...ouch!!!

I was hoping the blisters on my right foot had healed enough to do a long run today, but the irritation became streamingly constant after about 90 minutes. The back of my quad tightened on my left leg, which I knew would happen and I got one of the most amazing headaches plastered across the front of my forehead.

Yes, if you have headaches regularly, or if you hate them as much as I do, please do not run a marathon. By the time I finished my run, I couldn't feel my right leg, my right hand was clenched, my left leg was completely restricted from being so tight, strained and stiff, and my left hand felt the way my right hand usually does.

My back and neck were beyond aching from wearing my Camelbak for the entire run. Once I took it off, I couldn't even hold it in my left hand without being in pain. The only way for my neck to feel better was to straighten it upright, but the effort it took to lift my head upright strained the entire backside of my body, so I remained slouched and carried my Camelbak in reverse around my stomach.

By the time I got home, I limped downstairs to soak in a tub. After getting out of the tub, I wound up laying on the ground due to being lightheaded, slowly working my way upstairs to my bed where it took me 10 minutes to get the eneregy up to cover up my body. Once I was covered, I fell asleep before I knew it.

Luckily, I convinced my dad to go out and get me a couple Powerades. I felt much better after the insta-nap and drinking hydrating fluids other than water.

It's been so long since I had been trying to do long runs consistently due to that IT band injury last year, I had forgotten what a toll it takes on your body. My only hope is that pushing myself so far beyond my limit to get home will magnify my strength and endurance. Also, here's hoping that the adrenaline rush at Boston will carry me 15 or 16 miles. I know I can gut out 10 miles on my own steam, I've timed that!

Honestly, I want nothing more than to reach my goal. As painful as my incomplete training has been this year, weather and physical limitations are just facts of life, but I'm not going to let anything stop me. See, I know I have the ability to run a 3:30 marathon, but I don't want to know that I have it. I want to prove it. No hypotheticals. I want the 8-minute average mile to be a reality. I don't want it to be a dream that I think about. I want it to be a memory that I, and everyone else, can remember.

That is worth all the pain of today. As much as I hurt coming into my house, it's temporary. If the adrenaline wears off on April 19th, my mind won't be fazed. My body can handle it because as soon as I cross the finish line, the last 26.2 miles evaporates before I will even take my next step. All that will remain is my accomplishment, and if I'm lucky enough, it'll be something worth remembering and acknowledging me by.

So, it looks like all the time I have spent searching for and emailing news contacts is going to pay off.

Yesterday, I found as many email addresses and contacts as I could on the Baltimore and Washington, DC affiliates for NBC, FOX, ABC and CBS.  It hasn't even been a day and 3 stations are already pitching the story to their producers.  Wow...patience and diligence can actually pay off =)

And if that isn't cool enough, I had a sports reporter from the Washington Post come out to my house on Monday. He wanted to go through my workout routine and see me run. Yes, he ran with me...and don't worry, I took it easy on him!

Speaking of taking it easy, I have decided that instead of trying to run my 5.25 mile course four consecutive times and suffering from a horrible headache as a result of running the same course I have been running since 2007, that I'm just going to go out and run for 4 hours. If I can run for 4 hours, I'll be able to run a marathon in 3:30, I know it. Besides, it's much more fun to go wherever my legs decide to carry me instead of restricting myself to a course I have run into the ground for 3 years.

Maybe I'll end up in Germantown, or I could decide to run down into Rockville, or maybe I'll try to run up to Westminster...who knows? All I do know is that I'm ready. I'm ready to tackle a marathon on April 19th. Whether that opens me up to a career, again, who knows? People are paying attention though. Without support, it's tough to get yourself anywhere. Knowing that I have a truly inspirational story, it's amazing. Each news story done on me about my marathon quest self-validates everything I'm trying to do and gives me credentials that other people will pay attention to.

Without these stories, which will hopefully be done, I'm just another guy running another marathon. My marathon's more than just a run. After hearing back from the reporters yesterday, I'm feeling so much more confident that I am going to do something magical along the streets of Boston just over 2 weeks from now.

So I went out for my 21-mile run on Sunday. I was feeling great, but the shoes trouble continued!!!

My first pair of shoes were too flimsy. My second pair cut my right ankle to the point of bleeding. The third pair should be just right, right? ...far from it.  The shoes were too insulated, and sure enough, my feet didn't sit well enough inside and I felt the worst blister building on my right foot. My left foot was starting to get sore too, but if I can feel a blister on my nerve-damaged right foot we know something is wrong!

I stopped.  I didn't want to risk serious damage to my skin with the marathon being less than a month away now. It's a good thing I stopped because when I looked at my right foot, I had two blisters on neighboring toes that had formed along the whole side of each toe and had been broken by rubbing against each other.  OUCHIE!!!

Physically, I was feeling great. Honestly, I don't care if I get a long run in. I have run enough marathons to know I can withstand the race day pain. Getting a long run in this week will be reassuring, but if it doesn't happen, that doesn't mean I'm not going to run my 3:30.  I've lived through brain surgery...running for 3 hours and 30 minutes is a cake walk. 

Ooh, speaking of cake, my birthday is Friday! Instead of asking for another pair of running shoes, I'm cutting the ankle on my second pair of shoes. They are my favorite ones to run in, and they'd be perfect if the right shoe didn't cut open my ankle. I cut the ankle down with a little saw and taped around it.

Maybe now that I got the shoe issue figured out, I will get that long run in before my birthday on Friday, That would be the best present I could ask for, but I won't complain if anyone wants to send me anything =)

Shoes are good. Blisters are healing. Here's hoping for a nice long run finally on Wednesday. My toes are already feeling better. In fact, I went out running with a Washington Post reporter, who wanted to run with me, the next day on Monday. More to come on that story and all the work I have been putting in today to get press coverage in the DC-Baltimore area...It's all looking successful though. I'm just keeping my head high. As long as you stay positive, everything stays bright, and I'm letting nothing but positivity fuel me between now and Boston.

More to come later today. For now...Stretching, round 2. (Yes, I know...I'm late. Gve me a break.)

As if things couldn't get any harder.

On top of everything that I have already written about, I switched shoes a week or two back because the soles on the running shoes I was using were just too thin and the shoe itself didn't have enough support that I need for running.

So I switch shoes. Easy enough, right? One would think...except for the fact that now the part of my shoe outside of the tongue was bearing into my ankle. Not even 3 miles into my run today, I looked down and saw that my shoe was already digging into my ankle. There was no way I was going to run for almost 3 hours if I was already bleeding 20 minutes into a run.

My mom bought me new shoes recently. In fact, they came in the mail a few days ago. I really don't want to be bleeding on my run, but my other pair of shoes I have been running in will be killing my feet by the time I am 10 miles in. I guess my only option is to break in the pair of shoes that my mom just bought me with a 21-mile run.

Eh...there's no other way to do it, right?

I would love an extra month of training to ensure that I'm prepared. However, I was ready more than a month before race day last time I ran Boston and waiting around was torture because I knew I was ready and I just wanted to run it and get the race over with. I don't have that comfort room with training time this year...but that is exactly how I wanted it two years ago.

I guess I never expected everything else to happen as it has this year. I would say that I wish it wasn't this hard, but the only reason this marathon run is worth doing is for that exact reason-- it's hard! No one expects me to be able to do this. Even my dad is telling me he doesn't think I can run a 3:30.

With all that said, doesn't it make sense that I might be breaking in the pair of shoes I may be running my marathon in with a 21 mile run? There is no trial window anymore. It's tomorrow or bust. If I absolutely have to run next weekend, I will, but this coming Friday is my birthday...and honestly, as a presnt to myself, I'd like to only have to run 5 miles the day after instead of 21.

I'm heading to bed soon for a full nights sleep. It's all going down tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

Stay tuned...