By Chanel Nardone

This is the second of a three part series chronicling two students’ preparations to run the Boston Marathon.

Twelve days.

That is all that stands between Lauren Skeffington, Jim Rice and the Boston Marathon.

The two have been training for months and have run previous marathons, but as the race nears their training schedules have proven more difficult than usual.

No dropping out now

The finish line on Boylston Street has become harder to cross than Skeffington had originally planned.

The middler biochemistry major encountered what every person training for the race dreads – an injury.

Skeffington said she has very high arches in her feet and, despite her Nike sneakers made with high arched soles, they are not high enough to support the bottoms of her feet.

Skeffington has been running without this arch support for over a year and it has strained the ligaments in her right foot so much that now they are inflamed, causing shooting pains up her leg and into her knee. However, she does not want to let this setback stop her.

“I’m doing everything possible to keep this down and heal it in the next [few weeks.] I’ll do anything to run this. I have a qualifying number for the first time and I’ve trained so hard,” Skeffington said.

Rice said he had some difficulty of his own and had to alter his training schedule to accommodate.

His “peak week,” in which he runs almost 65 miles, had to be pushed back because he turned his ankle while running the weekend before. He tried to run on it, but it was too bothersome.

“It wasn’t major, but it was good that I took some time off. The plan now is that this week is my peak week,” Rice said.

Final preparations

Three hours and 10 minutes.

That is Rice’s goal for this year.

He said he set that time as his goal in order to qualify for the race next year, but he will not be upset if he can’t keep up the demanding pace.

To help Rice keep track of his time, he will wear an electronic wristband to calculate the time they should be taking for each mile. Rice said using the wristband is easier than doing the math computation in his head.

One of the most important things to remember, Rice said, is for runners to pace themselves because, if all of their energy is used up in the first few miles, it will be nearly impossible to finish.

“I try to find a pace I feel good at and I try to keep with my goal pace,” Rice said. “Sometimes a little faster than that because you know that up the hill you’re going to have to slow down.”

Skeffington is also trying to set a game plan for the marathon. She said before her injury she was nervous about being in shape for the race, but now she can no longer train as hard because of her injury.

Her doctors and trainers told her to be careful not to make her injury permanent, but she does not want to give up.

“Everyone’s like, ‘there’s always next year, you want to be a lifetime runner.’ And I definitely do and I understand that it’s not worth it to really hurt myself, but at the same time I’ve worked harder for this than anything else,” she said.

When she sleeps between eight and nine hours, Skeffington said she runs her best, but the possibility of resting that long is unlikely.

“Last year I couldn’t fall asleep. It’s like when you’re a little kid the night before Christmas. I went to bed at 2 a.m. and got up at 6 a.m. but I had so much adrenaline for it that it really didn’t matter,” she said.

The morning of the race, Skeffington does 20 minutes of crunches to loosen any build up of lactic acid in her stomach. This, she said, will prevent stomach cramping during the race. Walking prior to race time also helps loosen her muscles, she said.

The morning of the race, Skeffington will also make sure she has everything she needs from her water bottles and Ibuprofen, to a silver necklace with a “26.2” charm, symbolizing the marathon’s 26.2 mile length.

“I always wear this necklace when I run,” she said. “My mom got it for me after the Boston Marathon and every race that I’ve run since then, I wear it.”

While thousands of runners will eat dinner together the night before the event at the traditional pasta carbo-loading dinner, Rice said he will most likely be in the North End enjoying a meal with his parents.

Running for a cause

Northeastern will not only have its students participating in this year’s marathon, but members of the university administration, as well.

Director of Student Leadership John Silveria will be running in his third Boston Marathon. Like other participants, Silveria will be running to raise money for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He said since he started running for Dana Farber he has raised $23,000.

“I did it because members of my family were cancer survivors and I wanted to do something to raise awareness,” Silveria said.

The 36-year-old administrator trains between four and five days each week with runs consisting of four to eight miles, and longer weekend runs of 12 to 20 miles.

“Last weekend I did 20 miles, this weekend I’ll do 15. You want to get to the starting line with everything feeling good,” Silveria said.

When he trains outdoors, Silveria can be seen running portions of the marathon route. During the week he will run inside SquashBusters before and after work.

He said his goal this year is to run the marathon in under four hours, 30 minutes. Two years ago he finished in five hours, six minutes, and last year he did not run because of the birth of his son.

Silveria said he has been fortunate this year in that he has only had a few muscle strains, but nothing too bad to stop him from training for Marathon Monday.

“The biggest thing is you have to put the time in,” he said. ” I think people forget how hard it is when you’re at mile 17 and those hills are there.”