Running in the Footsteps of Legends is the theme for the inaugural Eugene Marathon. As I count down the weeks and days (33 days to be exact) to the marathon, I often think to myself, "why am I doing this"? Do I really want to run in the "footsteps of legends"? That thought is especially at the forefront of my mind on Saturday mornings as I go for my "long run", with the group at the Eugene Running Company. It all starts on Friday night as I lay out the clothes that I will put on for the morning run, shorts or tights; jacket or no jacket; will I need sunglasses? When I roll out of bed at 0600 on Saturday (I think why am I doing this?) I remind myself that I must "fuel up my body", ordinarily I would not eat before I run, but on this day I decide to try something new, I eat a banana and a bagel before I go, I pop my pain preventative Motrin and I am out the door. This past Saturday I ran for just shy of 3 hours, about 18 miles. As I slog along I do wonder to myself why? As my Achilles tendon starts to ache, as my knees start to give out, I ask myself "am i too old to do this"? On this particular Saturday the woman who has become my running partner (Eileen) on these long runs is out of town. I am pretty good at talking and keeping whomever I am running withs mind off of the fact that we are running for an hour or more, but I knew that Eileen wasn't going to be around and though I could have paired up with someone else for company on the run, I decided to bring my MP3 player along instead, to keep me company. In the end I felt pretty good.