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The two most important dates on an Albuquerque lapsed-runner's calendar are New Year's Day and the day of the Duke City Marathon. New Year's Day is when running promises are made, and the Duke City Marathon is when those promises are most often broken.

I'm a lapsed runner. No, I never did a marathon, but for a time back there in the mid- to late-Õ90s I was a fairly faithful congregant in the church of middle-distance running. I finished the Duke City Half-Marathon three straight years and trained for that with plenty of 5Ks and 10Ks.

The only proof I have now of my "racing days" is a number of event ID tags and a bunch of old, hole-ravaged, commemorative T-shirts. Verification of my lapsed-running status is easier to document. It's right there in big, red numbers every time I step on the weight scale.

I'm very careful to use the term "lapsed runner" instead of "ex-runner." I don't want to give you the impression I've stopped or anything like that. It's just that I haven't run consistently in almost seven years. Every New Year's, and each time I see or hear any mention of the Duke City Marathon, I resolve wholeheartedly to start running again.

And sometimes, if the weather is nice, and I can find my running shoes, and there's nothing on TV or radio or the Internet, and the moon is in the house of Jupiter, I will make good on my resolution for a half-hour or so and go for a pathetically slow run. Then another month or so goes by until a New Year's or another mention of the Duke City Marathon comes around.

About four weeks ago, I ran into an old running buddy. I hadn't seen him in years - since about the last time I did the Duke City Marathon. Almost the first thing out of his mouth was a recitation of how many times a week he was running and that he had just finished a run that morning before work. He was remarkably svelte and appeared to have experienced a Dorian Gray degree of non-aging.

I repressed a desire to strangle this person and instead told him I was resolved to resume running and might even do the Duke City Half. That was a month ago. I don't think I've even bothered to find my running shoes since.

I'm guessing I'm not alone with this lapsed-runner thing. Running is undeniably hard on the body. Put on a few pounds, as just about everybody in the nation has done, and the stress dramatically increases, especially on knees and feet. I've read that the late-Õ90s runner's boom has subsided, probably leaving quite a few folks like me: older, heavier and a bit wistful.

You know what? I think I'll wake up early this Sunday, throw on a hole-ravaged T-shirt and drop by the Duke City Marathon's start/finish line Downtown. Haven't registered or anything, but maybe, if the moon is somewhere near Jupiter, I'll pay late registration and insinuate myself at the very, very back of the 5K runners. It'd be good to rejoin the congregation.

Ah, who am I kidding?