There's an expression that marathon runners use called "the wall", to describe the feeling that you get somewhere between mile 21 and 24. It's supposed to be brutal, and requires every ounce of energy not left in your body to get through it.

I have yet to experience the wall, as the longest distance that I've run (so far!) is 14 miles. But I might have gotten a taste of it, on Thursday night's run.

Thursday was a brutally hot day, and training partner @spadachris and I set off for a short five mile run after work. Five miles is considered an easy run now, and on a typical night might even feel like you're "cheating." But this was no typical night. 87 degrees. Extreme, over the top humidity. We weren't running with fluids (like we probably should have.)

At mile 3.5, my body was telling me to stop. It felt like I had to stop, like I couldn't possibly continue running. I desperately wanted to stop and walk. Even if just for a little. I told myself that this is what it's going to feel like on mile 21, and that I won't be able to stop on race day. This is my practice wall.

We forged on, completed our 5 miles without walking, and I'm wondering if this was anything near what I'll feel on marathon day. I'm sure that on the day after marathon, I'll laugh at the thought that my dehydrated, super-humid run in June was anything near "the wall". But for now, I'm using it as practice...

Hotel rooms are selling out fast in NYC. November and December are notoriously difficult months to find a good hotel in NYC, and marathon weekend must only make it worse.

I checked a handful of my favorite (more reasonable) hotels, and most are already sporting sky high rates for the weekend of November 7th, but I was able to find something reasonable at the Paramount, in Times Square. I've stayed here before, and it's pretty cool and well designed.

I'm planning to stay two nights, the night before the race (buses to the starting line leave early), and the night of the race. Either I'll be a mess and unable to drive back home, or I'll feel great and want to eat loads of calories at places like the Donut Plant. Either way, an overnight stay the night of the race can't hurt.

My biggest concern: finding oatmeal. Diet is going to be extremely important leading up to marathon. I don't like running with a full belly, and have found over the last couple of years that oatmeal sits best as a breakfast before races and/or long runs. I'll need to leave pretty early in the morning to get to the starting line, and I'm not sure what's open in the neighborhood. (Despite what they say, the city really DOES sleep. Retailers and restaurants aren't open 24/7 in NYC)

The Standard Hotel was the only place with 24 hour room service, but I'm not willing to pay $445/night just to get oatmeal. I'll find oatmeal somewhere near the hotel, and/or find a way to make it in my room.

As always, you can help make my run possible by making a donation to the American Heart Association. They've provided my entry to the race, and I need to raise $3K before I can run my legs into bloody stumps.

Repeats:

Run once around a track (a quarter mile) in two minutes or less. Then walk halfway around the track. Repeat fifteen times.

When I first read about repeats in my training guide, I thought "that sounds like an easy day off." Last week my training partner @spadachris and I tried repeats for the first time. It was like 87 degrees with 98% humidity. The first one was easy. By the time that we got to the 12th lap, it seemed like it might be impossible to get to the sixteenth. But we did it.

Tonight we ran our second night of repeats. 72 degrees and a light breeze. Middle school kids setting up for a band concert at center field. It was Americana the beautiful on a high school running track. And soooo much easier.

I'll look forward to repeats next week. It's a good break from the same runs, the same routes and the same songs on my iPod.

Halfway through training week #1, and feeling pretty good.