Article: Recreation Spotlight: Heart conditioning; Seven years after double bypass surgery, Naperville runner tackles Boston Marathon

George Wilkins, left, wishes John Davis good luck in Monday's Boston Marathon. It will be the fifth marathon for Davis, who started running seven years ago after double bypass surgery. "The hardest part of running a marathon is deciding you're going to do it," he said. Wilkins has run 10 marathons but is taking some time off after his Feb. 23 surgery for a malignant melanoma on his back.

It is the final and most ferocious of the hills, rising and twisting ominously along Commonwealth Avenue in Newton, Mass. It begins ascending just after the 20-mile mark, when most marathoners are nearly drained of momentum and fueled only by will.

Then, as the runners hobble over the top, it spits them down ...

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