There's a noticeable limp and his body sways to the right when Kyle Magee runs. He's oblivious to it, and so are his training group friends. Strangers ask if he's injured.

For Magee, 29, that's his gait. He has no movement in his right ankle and foot, so he lands flat-footed on his right side, the result of being born with a mild case of cerebral palsy. Magee's never let his disability stop him. That's why he decided 14 months ago to run Wellstone's Dallas White Rock Marathon on Sunday.

"I'm a real goal-oriented person," he said. "It was a huge goal. It tests the limits of my abilities."

Initially, Magee simply wanted to finish a marathon. As his training progressed, Magee identified a more ambitious goal. If he can complete the 26.2 miles in six hours or less, he will qualify for one of the Boston Marathon mobility-impaired divisions.

Magee, who lives in Dallas, said he realizes that Sunday's projected warmer-than-normal weather could take a toll on him physically.

It's been an arduous path for Magee, who tipped the scales at 243 pounds when he started training. He had done virtually nothing physical in his life.

His marathon goal evolved from daily conversations in the summer of 2006 with Umesh Reddy, a co-worker at his old job. Reddy had run the 2005 Dallas White Rock Marathon and was training for the 2006 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon.

Magee asked many questions about running a marathon. Reddy gave him tips about proper shoe fit, stretching, nutrition, breathing and pacing.

On his first run, Magee wore the Nike shoes he bought because they looked stylish. He followed Reddy's advice of running 30 seconds and then walking five minutes. He tried to go one mile out and then back. In no time, Magee felt severe shin splint pain.

"I thought I wouldn't make it," he recalled. "I was thinking of sawing off my legs. That was my single worst day of running."

Magee's cerebral palsy exacerbated the shin splints. He had no way to stretch his tight right calf because he can't bend, flex or point his right foot.

Reddy rescued him the next day, taking him to get properly fitted for shoes. He also showed him light stretching exercises. He introduced the concept of icing to relieve pain and reduce swelling.

"I didn't know how his body would react," Reddy said. "That's why I told him to take baby steps and gradually increase his pace and distance."

Another problem for Magee is that he falls down more often than most people. He's had two bad falls, one in May and one in July. Most people open their hands to catch their fall. Magee said his right fist closes when he falls, and he has the scars to prove it.

""I tend to go down hard," he said. "I run mostly on the roads. The sidewalk is my worse enemy. It's too uneven."

Magee has slowly, steadily built up his mileage. In May, he joined a training class through Run On, the area running store chain, for those who could complete a 5K. Graduation was a nine-mile run, the distance of the first marathon training run in July. Magee steadily increased his mileage with the walk-run marathon training group, dropping his weight to 225 pounds.

ERIC KAYNE / DMN

Kyle Magee demonstrates how he stretches after a training run.

In November, he completed his longest run, 20 miles. He did so by running five minutes and walking one minute the entire way. Magee said he'll use the same system Sunday.

This week, Magee is resting his body for the race. He's spent the time planning how, where and when his support team should meet him with extra liquids and electrolytes.

He's also contemplated what finishing the marathon will be like.

"It's hard for me to comprehend spending so much time on a single goal and to have it come down to a few hours one day," he said. "It's overwhelming."