Running a marathon could be likened to surviving a semester at vet school... 13 miles of downhill fun, 9 miles of sweat, and 4 miles of hell. Sophomore year of vet school was the time I decided to run the marathon that I had always assumed I would run someday. It didn't seem that my future was going to become any more accommodating to the required training schedule. My intentions were to run just one marathon so that I would know that I could do it.