I will run a marathon

Technically that is not correct. Inevitably I will walk part of the course.

The way I envisioned my first marathon (a lifetime ago), I would put in several 20-plus-milers before the race, so my body would be inured to the effort and I would conceive of the marathon as I approach now 10 or 13 miles – doable on any given day. The way I envisioned it, I would run my first marathon with sprezzatura

That was before the setbacks of the last months, minor as they were. I have not done a big run without walking breaks since the half-marathon race in January, Arizona.

That was before I moved the date of the marathon from “sometime in fall, whenever I am ready” to “before summer.”

What matters is to finish, I know. One day perhaps I will run a marathon for real – run it, run it through, without breaks. Maybe in autumn. Maybe at sea level.

But before then, inappropriate as the term may be, I will run a marathon any way I can. For as long as it takes. At 5,000 feet altitude. I will run through the desert. Tomorrow.