Marathon

A couple of weeks ago, as she was in the home stretch of her dissertation, my dissertation date buddy posted the following status on Facebook:

They say getting your PhD is a marathon and not a sprint. What they don't tell you is that writing the dissertation itself is a mini-marathon!

A friend who defended his dissertation last year commented:

The best part is that your dissertation doesn't have to be amazing, or even good - it just has to be finished.  Any by finished, I mean "nothing in mid-sentence."

I think my dissertation is at least a little more complete than "nothing in mid-sentence," but it certainly is heartening to hear from somebody who's survived this already. :)