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Run. The. Rock.

Probably a little late to get in shape and properly train for Sunday's MetroPCS Dallas White Rock Marathon, but you can also "participate" by merely being a spectator. Organizers expect 7,000 marathon runners (22,000 overall) for this year's 26.2-mile course that will start/finish in Fair Park. But they also anticipate even more than that to line the course watching.

Bands. Food. Christmasy weather. And supreme athletic achievement.

Do it for yourself. Or, if nothing else, do it for the kids. The children at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, that is.

This year, I get my revenge:

Back then I was a 26-year-old flatbelly, just a couple years removed from competitive cross country and a full-speed dork who would precede Saturday morning flag football at The Village Country Club with a Friday night of partying at Starck Club. Running 26.2 miles? No biggie.

Or so I thought.

I trained by myself, running the streets of Duncanville with my ridiculously bulky Walkman blaring Guns 'n Roses' Appetite for Destruction and - can't believe I'm admitting this one - Wilson Phillips. At the time I was also in my second year covering the Dallas Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Made for an interesting mix.

In the '90s I ran two Dallas White Rock Marathons. I'll think I'll get out there and run a couple more.

Not because I want go retro like your Texas Rangers. But rather because I spent 30 minutes talking with Steve Damm. Didn't really take that long, honestly.

Dude's story will change your perspective in a second.

"I was always self-sufficient, a workaholic," Steve told me last week. "If I wanted something done right, I did it for myself. Now, I've learned to finally let people help me. My impatience is gone. I don't get road rage anymore. Life is too precious."

Steve was a healthy, happy, 39-year-old avid runner when last Thanksgiving he got headache that wouldn't quit. I mean, never quit.

Brain cancer.