To finish will leave you feeling like a champion and positively change your life.

The most important force inside you for feeling better all the time is the will to get more fit.

I spent the first twenty years of my running career trying to run as many miles as I could as fast as I could. Then I spent the next twenty years trying to figure out how to run the least amount of miles needed to finish a marathon. And I've come to the conclusion the second way is much more enjoyable.

There's an old adage that for every second too fast per mile in the first half of the race, you'll run at least 2 seconds slower at the end.

The marathon is a competition between your will and your possibilities

Think chest/hips/ push, or CHP, when it's time for uphill running. Chest up, hips forward, push strongly off each foot.

The label of 'marathoner' has, from the beginning, been awarded to those who went the distance under their own power, whether they ran, walked, crawled or tiptoed. When you cross that finish line, you've entered an elite group. About one-tenth of one percent of the population has done it. Don't let anyone take that great achievement away from you.