In approximately 48 hours, I’ll be taking off on a venture unlike any other that I have experienced, save for last October when I ran the Chicago marathon for my first time.

I am nearing the end of what is known as “the taper”, a time when an athlete is giving their body some much needed rest prior to a competition.

It feels a little funny using the word “athlete”, but it fits. I realize that there are detractors who feel marathon runners aren’t “real athletes”, and I understand that there are many differences between running a marathon and a big game like basketball, football, or soccer. But trust me – a lot of very thoughtful preparation goes into getting ready for a marathon.

My training for this event began in January. There were long runs that started when the temperature was near or below zero. There were weekday runs that started at 4 AM. There were runs that took me through all kinds of weather, and had to happen no matter what my mood or body felt like that particular day.

And running is only part of the preparation for a marathon. There is careful attention to what is consumed, stretching, and cross training as well… an aspect of the training that I am still somewhat refining ;)

Considering everything that goes into getting ready for a marathon – some wonder why I even do it in the first place. In fact, I have had days when even I wonder why I am doing it.

For the record, I was never one of those people that said “I want to run a marathon someday”. In fact, I would have said the opposite, and actually tended to think that there was something not quite right about those folks who were obviously not world class athletes, and yet went out and seemingly punished themselves to complete the 26.2 mile challenge.

Well, I have only been through one marathon, but far from thinking that there’s something not quite right about marathoners, I have found them to all be amazing people. I don’t care if you are averaging a 6 minute pace or a 12 minute pace. I don’t care if you are a walker, or in a wheelchair. If you go out on marathon day and complete the 26.2 miles, you have my respect and admiration.

I am fortunate beyond measure in that I went out and found an awesome training group from the start. I train with the Wheaton Marathon Training Program through the Chicago Area Runners Association. I don’t know what other groups are like, but it is difficult to imagine a more supportive and passionate group of runners.

This group has been an awesome source of support and inspiration, but this alone is not enough. As it is with every runner, I suspect, there is something that drives each and every one of us. Something that may not lend itself to words or concrete expression. Whatever it is – it pushes us to go when everything else says stop. It makes us get up before the sun, or run out into the dark. It’s there when we’re tired to say “keep going”. And it’s there when we are bursting with energy to tell us to take it slow and steady. It gets us through the dark days of injuries with promises of future glory, and aids in the recovery from a hard race or training run.

I am tempted to put a name or a label to this thing that drives me, but to do so would be to constrain it and weigh it down. I prefer to let it be — to let it do its thing so that I can do mine.

In less than 48 hours now, I’ll hopefully be in Kenosha, Wisconsin, running alongside thousands of other runners. I say “hopefully” because nothing in life is certain. But I have done my part. I have trained well, and am uninjured. These were two of my main goals at the start of the year. So I am as ready as I can be.

When I cross that finish line, I will be depleted in ways that are impossible for me to describe. Based on my limited experience, it seems to me that running such distances takes something out of your body at a deep and profound level. An void is created. It is an extreme sense of emptiness that is for me simultaneously frightening and exhilirating all at once. At that point, I will have pushed my body to its limit, and crossed the finish line, and what I feel in the end is the spirit of a runner filling me up as I look around at the brave and beautiful souls that have joined me on such an amazing journey.

And after that, we eat :)