So here’s one thing I’ve learned about myself so far: I don’t run well alone. I don’t run as far or as fast. Twice these two weeks of training I’ve tried to run alone, and both have been sad little runs. My internal running monologue is not nearly as effective as my internal rainbiking monologue or really any of my other I-don’t-like-this-but-I’ll-keep-doing-it-anyway monologues. And then I let myself cheat. So I’m going to try hard not to run alone.

Speaking of rainbiking, it’s time for Reason Two (again, in no particular order) that I am running this marathon: I hate running, and I’m always curious if I can stop hating the things I hate.

In my adult life I have warmed up to lots of things I once hated, and some of them I have even come to love: Ethiopian bread, cell phones, country-western music, Volvos, the Economist, oak trees. In addition to Things I Once Hated That Now I Love, I have two other hate-related lists: Things I Once Hated That I’m OK With Hating, and Things I Once Hated That I May Yet Come to Love. Right now running falls into this last list, keeping good company with curry and wheely suitcases. This marathon, then, will be the decision-maker: will I come to love running, or will it be relinquished to the middle pile, languishing for unexamined eternity with radio call-in shows and caraway seeds?