I wish that I could say that becoming an ultrarunner came with some poetic philosophical realization, and I'm sure there's a lesson to be found somewhere. But, I'm not going to dig for it. I'm just going to take a deep breath, and keep on putting one foot in front of the other.

And thats when it hit me, how brilliant this was. Most of us are content taking subways, buses, and jets to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. I was going to spend nearly four hours ending up in the exact same place as I started.

It's been awhile since i've written anything. It's not that I haven't had moments of inspiration, because I have. Dark, cold nights hoofing it aroun...

During the past eight months that I've been running, I've come up with a set of "rules." I thought I would share them.

How can words possibly describe how fantastic, how beautiful, and how majestic the marathon is? I don't think they can. However, I would like to share a few lessons that I learned while becoming a marathoner. They say that the marathon is a metaphor for life, and I couldn't agree more.

The 26.2 miles I will run on November 4 may be for my father and other stroke survivors, but this race has become about so much more. Since deciding to run the marathon, I have traveled over 900 miles by foot, and spent nearly 140 hours training.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I had recently come to the conclusion that I was a runner. Ironically, about three days later while running the Yonkers Half-Marathon, I managed to hurt myself and irritate what turned out to be a chronic ligament tear.

I've heard some people say that you're not a runner until you run your first race, or until you run 50 miles a week, or until you run your first marathon. Some people are even generous enough to say you simply have to take your first steps. I disagree with all of this.

If you want to be a runner, or you want to be faster, the solution is simple. Just get out there and run. It's summer, the trails and pavement are waiting to meet your feet. I'll be out there chasing another PR in my quest for the marathon.

Up until a month ago, my longest run had been somewhere around three miles. I ran for no reason but to exercise. I always had a point A and a point B that were close enough to just keep me in shape, but were never that much of a struggle.

With these as my "power songs" this month, I've been able to rack up 100.45 miles at an average speed of 7.0 mph with a total running time of 14 hours, 18 minutes, and 44 seconds.

It's official. I'm running my first marathon this year: the ING NYC Marathon 2012. Up until three weeks ago, I had never run more than a 5K. So how did I get here?