Hurley cites a number of popular books by Barry Sears, including Entering the Zone and Mastering the Zone, which encourage runners to "treat their bodies like machines."

According to these books, the body needs certain percentages of fat, protein and carbohydrates to meet "the level of performance that the body wants," she says.

In some ways, training properly is difficult for Harvard students with little time on their hands for such preparation.

"I'd do it again, but being in school it's hard to train," Bowman says.

Training can also affect students' everyday habits in a number of ways. Ben G. Steinberg '97 gave up caffeine and alcohol and avoided secondhand smoke during the last week before the marathon.

Giving up coffee, he notes, made for a "tough couple of days."

Still, training isn't all about selfdenial.

Hurley says that most athletes don't have enough fat and protein in their diet and thus should eat more than usual in preparation for a marathon.

"If anything, I felt less guilty about eating," Thomas says.

And Bowman says that sleeping and eating more has made her a lot more healthy than she had been.

"It's given me a lot of perspective about my body," she says. "That something's that's not going to go away."

Mind Games

Running in a marathon is not just a strain on your body: in some ways, runners say, it's a mental nightmare.

"It's such a mind game out there," Hurley says.

Although runners have the constant desire to stop and walk, Hurley says they know "stopping isn't really an option."