For those of you who have decided to undertake the "challenge of a lifetime", please allow me to offer you a hearty "WELCOME" to an entirely new way of life!

Amongst yourselves, there are perhaps 3 categories of people. Some of you are brand new to running, perhaps even establishing a regular exercise regimen for the first times in your lives. GREAT! A second group will be those who have exercised in the past, but had not given any serious thought to running. Some of you might be tennis players, bikers, golfers, or even weight lifters. Yet, you seek a new challenge, and this is it.

A third group will be those who are already runners, and they can be broken into two categories: the casual jogger, and the serious runner who has run a number of road races of various distances, but has not yet gone for "the whole enchilada".

Now, all of you are going for what is often called the "Derby Distance". While horses run a mile or so, you will be striving to show that you can run 26.2 miles. When your friends and colleagues at work hear about this, some of them might give you a funny "look" as if to ask, "Are you nuts?" After all, in the minds of most people, what supposedly sane person really wants to run 26.2 miles???

When we consider that less than 3% of all Americans are capable of running 3 miles, non-stop, what you are going to accomplish will certainly set you apart from the crowd. After a little while, your friends will start to notice that some changes are taking place. They will ask "Are you losing weight?" or "What sort of diet are YOU on?" Please, take all of that in stride (no pun intended).

At the outset, I said something about a "new way of life". As you make progress towards your goal, you may find that other things are being set aside. Your buddies might want you to go for a few beers (yuck!), but you have an 8 mile run planned that evening. A few beers might be a horrible idea just before going for an 8 mile run, so you politely beg off. Or, perhaps it's Saturday night, and your friends want to "party" all night long. Yet, you know that Sunday morning is your Long Run of the week, perhaps a 20 miler! You know that if you "party", your goose will be cooked the next day. You know that you have to rest before the Long Run, so you decide to not party, or party for just a short while before heading home. Or, there might be an office picnic of some sort, complete with hot-dogs, hamburgers, and other such foods that you have given up while in training. So, you wind up begging off from that one, too.

Sooner or later, people will notice the changes. There will be an added spring in your step when you arrive at work each day, as your energy level increases to new heights.

Another thing will be your weekends, especially when you start to build your endurance through your weekly long run (what we call LSD or Long Slow Distance).

In the end, the payoff comes in October, when you toe the starting line of the Marine Corps Marathon. There will be about 16,000 other runners that day, all with one thought on mind: cross the Finish Line! Yes, there will be a few who will dare to think about being the first runner crossing the line. Good for them. When YOU cross that same Finish Line, YOU will also be winners. Anyone who sets a goal, and sets it high, and achieves it, is a winner at every stage.

Many people fail to achieve because they fail to plan their tasks. Ask any Air Force or Marine Pilot, and they will tell you what they go through before they take their planes up on a mission. There is extensive training before they become pilots. They go through an entire pre-flight routine, checking out their aircraft, their supply of ammunition, and also how much fuel they have in the tank, among other things.

By the time you reach the starting line, you will have gone through just about the same process of preparation. Everything that you can reasonably expect to meet during the Marathon will have been covered during training. You will learn how to train properly. You will also learn a new vocabulary. Phrases such as "repeat quarters" or "Quarter-mile repeats" will become standard words for you. Carbo-loading, and even mini-carbo loading will be covered. Hydration will become second nature to you, and you may be carrying a water bottle with you most of the time.

Perhaps I've thrown a lot at you for this article, so we'll cut it here. The main thing for you to know is that you WILL be properly coached by people who have been there before, and have done it. In the end, you will be Winners, and the biggest winners of all will be the Big Brothers Big Sisters program of the National Capital Area.

If anyone has any individual questions, please feel free to conatct me at Don's Mail Bag.

I'll be pleased to help in whatever way I can. Please understand that, since I live in New Hampshire, I'm not likely to be going out on any of your training runs with you. (flying to DC every week is a bit beyond my means) However, I am planning to be at the MCM this year, and look forward to running that day with all of you. I could not do that last year because a knee injury just kept me from training. Now, it seems to be responding favorably (FINALLY!), and I'm hopeful that it will continue to do so. For now, good luck to all of you, and good running!