Introduction

Old dogs, new tricks

Days before the Marathon I collected my bib number at the Marathon Expo and amongst all the fit athletes there I felt like a fraud. I’d done almost no training and knew, no doubt about it, I could not run the whole event. My longest training run was a half-marathon distance which I could just barely manage. Yet, I had faith that I would get to the finish line. I trusted in my many years of experience running marathons and knew that the excitement of the event can work wonders. Sunday, November 5, 2006, I headed out to the start line.

I wore a t-shirt I had made that honors Schatzi, my sister Celia’s aged Dachshund out in California. I recently learned that, sadly, Schatzi has turned blind and for some reason I wanted to take Schatzi out for a run (figuratively speaking). At 25 pounds over my former marathoning weight and way out of shape I expected to struggle through the second half of the marathon, yet I also felt remarkably calm, relaxed and happy. I looked forward to having some fun.
—Timothy McCarthy

1. The staging area
2. The start
3. The race
4. The finish