It all started with the purchase of a book.

“We used to run cross country in high school and the two of us have talked about running a marathon for what seems like forever,” Graham Barton, junior art history major, said. “But it really started when we bought the book about how to prepare yourself for a marathon in 16 weeks. That was the first time we really committed to the idea.”

Barton, with her roommate and good friend, junior advertising and CCPA major Hays Brandon, ran in the annual Chicago marathon over fall break after more than four months of planning and training.

“We signed up for the run online in June while we were at home in Nashville for the Chicago marathon, because it was the only one during a university holiday. By July 1, we were training four times a week, running anywhere from three to 18 miles at a time,” Brandon said.

The pair, who finished the 26-mile, 385-yard run in four hours and 45 minutes, agree the best thing they gained from training for the run was, as Barton put it, “knowing we could set our mind to a goal and then obtain it.”

However, both also admit it was also a nice way to spend time with each other.

“I love to run, because it can be a great way to be social if you don’t put your iPod in during the first steps, which we never do; although, I do have to say that, since we are roommates, we eventually ran out of things to talk about,” Brandon said.

Brandon, who said she probably would have thought about quitting at the 14-mile mark if she had not bee running with Barton, said that she is not sure if she wants to run a marathon again.

“I would not say no or yes yet, since it has only been a week and a half. But when I crossed the finish line at first, I told myself I would never do that to myself again,” she said.

Barton also is not sure she would want to repeat the experience; however, she is glad to have completed the race.

“It is just one of those things you check off of a list of things to do before you die. Now that I am done with it, I might like to try skydiving,” she said. “But it was definitely a blast. I loved everything about it. Well, everything but the soreness. But it was worth it.”