I - gladly, willingly - threw my neck on the line last November when I wrote a column about running in the 2009 Gazette Stockade-athon. As I said at the time, I could've run last year, but it would've been a superficial effort, a jog for jog's sake. After over 20 years covering this great race, but never actually running in it, I didn't want to do it that way.

Well, this year is different. The second Sunday in November is a long, long time away, but I'm already laying the groundwork. It's one thing to commit to a race, it's entirely another to put it in print a year in advance, and I've been gradually working my way into a level of fitness, and eventually speed, to do the Stockade-athon some level of justice.

I'm not saying I'm going to crush it out of the ballpark, but at least I believe I'm going to give myself the best possible chance to run a good race. That's what I was talking about when I wrote that column last year. It doesn't have anything to do with time or place, and everything to do with being in control of yourself from start to finish and feeling good at the end, a nebulous concept to anyone who has run a road race.

I've never raced longer than 10k, and I've done a training run longer than seven miles probably three or four times in my life. That has no bearing on my ability to run the 9.3-mile Stockade-athon. The distance isn't an issue, as far as I'm concerned. The biggest challenge for me will be to keep my fragile feet intact over the long haul, if it takes all the ibuprofen and duct tape and smoke and mirrors in the world.

Except for some occasional Achilles tendinitis that has forced me to take some days off that I really didn't want to, my feet have been a dream since last fall, so I've been forging ahead and loving life as a full-time runner, about 20 miles a week, with a day off every third or fourth day or so to stay fresh. It's exquisite, doing my usual warmup every day with barely a puff of breath, whereas three months ago it was a minor chore.

These are the signs that tell me I can run a good Stockade-athon, an experience that thousands of runners of all abilities have enjoyed for decades, while I've watched on the sidelines and recorded their great stuff. November is a long ways away, but I'm plugging away. I promise to update this blog about once a week until then as kind of a separate thread, or diary, if you will, from my otherwise sporadic postings. The motivation behind that is, to some degree, self-serving: any words of ecouragement/advice/criticism are welcome and will be taken to heart.

I'm sure I'll jump into some other races along the way, but the Stockade-athon is the one I want.