An array of racing medals hangs from two small posts overlooking a stationary bike and treadmill in a small, compartmentalized, pepper-red room in Joshua Gordon's two-story apartment.
Gordon, a law student at Suffolk University, often runs upward of 18 miles at a time on this treadmill -- 95,040 feet to be precise.
Below the mirror leans a framed essay titled, "Why do I run?" by George Sheehan, one of Gordon's professed running heroes.
"I want to see how far my body can go and how fast I can ultimately run," Gordon said.
For the elite athlete or the novice runner, marathon running requires both physical and mental preparation along with good nutrition, adequate health, and a drive to push the human body beyond its physical limitations.
SOME TRENDS ARE NOT
FOR EVERYONE
"Running is a new social phenomenon in our country," said Jack Fultz, who won the 1976 Boston Marathon.
Fultz, who now works as an athletic consultant while teaching sports psychology at Tufts University, designs training programs for many first-time marathoners.
"There is a whole new breed of marathoner who wouldn't even have considered running something like a marathon," said Fultz, who also trains runners sponsored by the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. "In the past, people ran if they were exercise junkies. The marathon held the ultimate challenge for them."
Now, according the Fultz, people are running to raise money for nonprofit organizations or to recover from a recent loss or tragedy.
"A lot of these people are coming into marathoning from a different perspective and a different motive," Fultz said. "The notion of running a marathon and raising money can be a very empowering experience for them."
Yet, according to Arun Ramappa, an orthopedic surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, not everyone is cut out to run a marathon.
"There are different degrees to how well someone is anatomically designed to running," Ramappa said.
"Running taxes all of our muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones and cartilage," he added. "It is a great deal of impact that the body experiences when running such distances."
Ramappa said certain people have "biomechanical abnormalities" that greatly increase the risk of injury.
These abnormalities include knee or joint problems and other skeletal alignment issues.
"Our bodies are not necessarily designed to run such long distances," Ramappa said.
Training, Ramappa said, is the most important aspect of running a successful marathon.
"Marathon running is not something to be taken lightly," he said. "You have to train extremely well and prepare well. The people who prepare well for it are most likely to limit their risk."
Shin splints, iliotibial band syndrome, plantar fasciitis, patello-femoral syndrome and other repetitive stress injuries are some of the most common problems encountered by runners, Ramappa said.
Yet, more serious problems, including stress fractures or bone density depletion, can also result from running.
"If you can't run, you can't run," Ramappa said. "If you have poor mechanics, it will be revealed relatively quickly."
MARATHON BOOT CAMP
Clint Verran is a professional marathoner. He runs more than 160 miles a week.
Yesterday Verran finished 10th in the Boston Marathon. In 2002, he finished 17th. He also competed numerous other races, including the 2004 United States Olympic Trial Marathon and the 2005 International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships Marathon in Helsinki, Finland.
In his free time, Verran, the Lake Orion, Mich. native is a physical therapist and running coach, working with both novice and advanced runners.
According to Verran, there are varied approaches to marathon training, but the best preparation is simply to run.
"There is a saying that if running ain't enough, then you ain't running enough,"
Verran said.
"If the primary goal is to improve running, then they need to do nothing else then go out there and run more miles," Verran added.
Stretching, Verran said, is important to prevent injury, but the best way to improve running is to keep adding mileage.
"Someone who runs, say, three times a week and logs 10 miles a week, if they double that, they will see a major return on their investment," he said.
Verran said other programs incorporating cross training are "easier to sell" because they appear more enjoyable.
Fultz said cross training is an important part of marathon preparation.
"These first timers, we bring them along more slowly," Fultz said. "We encourage them to do alternative forms of training."
But Fultz, who has run approximately 40 marathons and now suffers from arthritis in his hips, said he regrets not incorporating more variety into his training regimens.
According to Noel Vigue, a strength and conditioning coach at Boston University, marathon training is about building a good foundation.
"We like to work from the inside out," Vigue said. "Stabilizing a person's spine, strengthening muscles around the spine, core musculature and supporting structures."
Identifying parts of the body that are not balanced, Vigue said, is important to make a person stronger and increase mobility.
"We don't have to make a person a gymnast or a body builder," he said. "We have to make sure everything is in balance and make sure their body is in a functional state."
During the first few months of training, Vigue stresses heavy cross training, including biking, swimming and walking.
"It is all about progression," Vigue said. "If you don't progress properly, the person might be miserable."
NO REST FOR ELITE RUNNERS
One week before the Boston Marathon, Verran and his teammate Brian Sell left their homes in Michigan and flew south to Florida for training.
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