As I cross the most famous finish line in the world, they say my name. I make sure to look up at the cameras. I need to get my medal before I collapse. I am about to turn off Boylston Street, asking for directions to the Westin, where my team was meeting. Boom. I turn around and see a plume of smoke.

Having run two marathons in the past, I know firsthand the dedication and inner fortitude it requires to train for and complete a marathon. What marathon runners know about suffering can help us all learn how to cope with this tragedy and rise above it.

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.

It has been such a great privilege these last two weeks to visit old friends and make new ones. One question that inevitably continues to come up as I visit more people is what I will do after the run.

By Linda Melone, C.S.C.S. for Shape.com You may have no problem pounding pavement for 26.2 miles, but what happens when you're faced with real-life...

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.

When I line up for the New York Marathon in a few weeks, I want to feel completely ready to race. For that to happen, I need to take care of that Achilles.

Fall is marathon season -- big time -- and if watching all the runners lace up around you has you inspired to try out your first 26.2-miler, you're pr...

By Hailey Eber for Blisstree.com In Erica Jong’s 1973 read-it-in-a-gender-studies-class novel "Fear of Flying," the protagonist is forever in pur...

With the fall season rapidly approaching, marathon training is currently in full force. And for runners trying to build up to 26 mile runs, so are the...

By Hailey Eber for Blisstree.com It’s so boring doing all this running,” the fiancé exclaimed the other night to a friend on the phone. The st...

By Hailey Eber for Blisstree.com It’s always something. The cliché rings true with marathon training. If there’s not a twisted ankle or a shin...

By Hailey Eber for Blisstree.com I sometimes wish they made “It Gets Better” videos for people other than gay teens. It’s not that LGBT youth...