When I learned Manhattan had a perimeter of roughly 30 miles, I knew I had to run it. So after wrapping up my little finance internship (which implies after 10 weeks stuck in a cubicle having done not a single iota of cardio), I planned out the route.

Having learned the hard way from my first marathon that nutrition is not negotiable, I pre-planned gas stations, bodegas, and delis at which I could refuel (and also bought some electrolyte tablets to mix with water from fountains along the way).

After locking down all the details, I took a brief nap and hit the road at about 4:30 AM. Running north up along the East River at dawn had some really pretty views.

I kept running north and timed it so that the sun would rise before going through East Harlem (which did not have nice views, only an extraordinarily loud overhead train).

I stopped at about mile 13 to get some calories in then ran across the northern end of the island and back down south along the Hudson River.

At mile 20, I was hit with acute ITBS (IT band syndrome) on my right knee; essentially, the band of tissue on the outside of my right knee became inflamed and irritated due to the repeated stress and flexion. I'd been gritting my teeth through it for a long while, but at mile 20 it suddenly became excruciating——my knee folded, and I just doubled over on the ground in pain. At this point, I thought the run was finished; I tried taking a few steps walking, and pain just flared through my leg. But a few minutes later, it became somewhat bearable if I walked with that leg kept straight and angled outward.

So I limped the remaining 13 miles: