finishing a 3 1/2 year journey...THIS WEEKEND!

Three and a half years is a long time. Your kid can go from birth to potty trained in that amount of time.  By the time I had known my wife for three and a half years, we had been married for two and a half. Lots of people graduate from college in three and a half years. Me? I take that long to run a marathon... Let me explain...
January 1, 2009 my wife and I decided enough was enough and it was time to resume treating our bodies the way we're supposed to.  I had run track in college and been a 5k runner for a while afterward, but my job situation wasn't healthy and the stress had gotten to me. When we moved to Knoxville in July 2008, I was weighing in at 190. That's not cool. That January day we ran .8 miles and we were spent. (nope, not a typo... .8 miles.) Round about November of '09, while discussing our weight loss with some friends, the subject of marathons came up. The next few minutes were a blur, but all I know is before the evening was over, we had agreed to run the Country Music Marathon in Nashville. (clearly, we were nuts.) The date of the race was April 24, so we threw our training into high gear...and I kept getting more and more nervous. 26.2 miles is a long freakin way to run. Then the big news came...

the weather over Nashville on April 24, 2010

Lots of people remember what happened in Nashville one week later, on May 1. It was a 200-year flood that left all of us shaking our heads. What many don't remember (unless you were running with us that day) is the powerful spring storm which was closing in on Nashville and scheduled to land during the race.
Everyone in the marathon got an email from the director on thursday, telling us that we were going to be allowed only 4:30 to finish the race.  If we were not on pace at the split, we would be rerouted to the half-marathon finish.  We were kind of freaking out. We had spent months getting to this point and now we might not even be allowed the opportunity.  The expo was abuzz with talk of the storm. I remember being hesitant to buy marathon merchandise because I wasn't sure I would finish.
Sleep was not easy the night before the race. My heart beat kept me awake for a while, but eventually the alarm went off at an hour which came too soon and we headed off with our friends to find out exactly what a corral was, anyway.
The race started well and my nerves settled a bit after my feet were moving. (Running always does that.) After a few miles I became more confident I would make the cutoff and that confidence paid off. I remember my elation as I passed the half-marathon split at 11.5 miles.  It felt so good to have all that trouble behind me... now we could just enjoy the rest of our marathon and bask in our accomplishments.

just a few minutes before the race stopped...
of course, the picture would be taken during
a walk break with my water...
walk breaks look very athletic :-)

Soon we were in northwest Nashville and around mile 17 I learned what it meant to hit the wall. I still had a lot of learning to do about race nutrition so, it lasted until nearly mile 19.  Those two miles were some of the worst in my life, but once it was over, I felt great. I was ready to take on the world and cross the finish line with style and power.
As we got closer to crossing over the river to the north side, I noticed some people running the opposite direction.  I thought it was odd, but just figured it was people who were doing cool downs after the half. The storm had started now and the rain was coming down.  The wind was pretty amazing and the police were out with bullhorns encouraging all the runners to be mindful of places to take shelter as we went along the route in case things got dangerous.  I remember them saying "We are not forcing you to exit the course, but please be aware." No problem. That's what those waivers are for, right?
As we crossed the river I could no longer remember the exact course route, so I thought nothing of the righthand turn just across the bridge.  Before I knew it, I was staring down the half-marathon finish.
I felt tricked.
I felt cheated.
I was angry, mad, upset, you name it.
In spite of the fact we had only run 20.4 miles, they gave us the marathon finishers' medals anyway.  To this day, it has never hung around my neck.

Jamie and me after the race in 2010 with
my sister,  with whom I ran the half last year

Afterward, we started combing the internet for another race we could fit into our schedule.  We settled on Buffalo, New York (they have really cool medals, and it's flat) but then life happened.  My wife felt "funny" on one of our maintenance runs and that afternoon we found out we were parents. (BTW, I would make the same trade 1000 more times)  Buffalo was out and so was everything else for a while. Our son was born in January of 2011 and we managed to squeeze out a half-marathon in Nashville the next year because my wife is so much cooler than everyone else. We set our sights on 2012, but my sister decided to take a huge leap and run her first half-marathon that year, so I trained with her and ran with her every step of the way.  Helping her accomplish such a huge goal was one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. So now it's 2013.  The Country Music Marathon is four days away and my heart is beginning to beat a little faster.  Not because I'm unsure I'll finish (I finished at Disney and Knoxville, TN in 2012 and again in Knoxville earlier this month), but because Nashville is my white whale.

This weekend should yield my fourth full marathon finish.  I will be wearing two medals at the finish line...one from 2013 and I'll also be taking my 2010 medal so that I can finally call it even with Nashville.
The odd thing is I'm not sure I would've run any more marathons after that first one in Nashville if I had finished, but because it all went wrong it left a burning in my soul.  I had a vendetta with long mileage. Somewhere along the way it became more of a romance. I now find myself in a position to go run a half-marathon at the drop of a hat.  I only need a couple of months to be ready for a full.  I'm pretty much at the healthiest I've ever been and I still cry just a little every time I cross a marathon finish line.  My heart and soul are both made happy when I run now and I owe it all to that storm in Nashville on April 24, 2010.

The Boston Marathon and What I Expect in My Next Marathon

I believe it is no secret to my readers that I am a runner. Because I am a runner, I can't help but feel that I was personally attacked on Monday. Sure enough, all of us were attacked, but the running family is a tightknit group of folks who will stand by each other, even if we've never met and never will. Running is a sacred thing and it is undertaken by some of the strongest and most amazing people that the world has ever known. Running is pure. There's no equipment, really. There's no magical methodologies. Just a butt-load of miles stacked up to get you to where you are. Your only adversary is time. The vast majority of us aren't competing against anyone other than ourselves. We cross finish lines and get every inch of our bodies packed with ice, looking like we can pass out at any second and say things like "I couldn't be happier with how I did today." Knowing full well that we won't walk normally again for at
least three or four days, if we're lucky.  We're the ones that will be on a road trip and say something like "Hey, we're one marathon away from _____." and grin while everyone else in the car seems to visibly wither. In some ways, we're all probably a couple of degrees off of right, but you know what else?
Runners are some of the bravest, most determined, most tenacious, steel-spined, reach-my-goal-or-die-trying sons of guns there are. We train in the mud, snow, rain, thunder, lightning, heat and cold and beat the living crap out of ourselves doing it just so we can go out and kick a little harder next time. We get up before the sun and eat hills for breakfast. We burn off a full "recommended daily allowance" of calories before most people's days have even started. Our souls are fed by destroying mud, dirt, rocks, hills, valleys, and asphalt. We are the ones who feel BETTER after running 10 miles.

You know who else is strong? Our friends and our families who put up with all of our ramblings, moans and groans and then yell at us at the top of our lungs when they see us at mile 3, 7, 12, 16, and 20. They hug us at the finish lines even though we smell worse than any human should ever smell. They get up with us and make oatmeal or pancakes. They rub out our sore muscles and go to innumerable lengths to make our dreams possible.

The starting line of the Rock 'n Roll
Country Music Marathon in Nashville

In other words, runners and their families are the worst terrorism target ever.  We don't get afraid. We don't back down. People learned a long time ago not to tell us we can't do something, because we love nothing more than to prove you wrong.  We will mourn for our friends who have been hurt and weep with those who lost friends and brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters... but we won't be gone long. By definition, runners move on...and we come back stronger than ever. Defiance of intimidation is in our blood and we've got the scars to show it.

I know these are all big words and tall talk, but I'm going to prove it to you...WE will prove it to the world. Just watch...watch what happens at races in the weeks to come. You know what you'll see? More runners than ever... family members, friends, and even just random local people will come out in greater numbers than ever before to cheer on all of us runners as we move toward another goal.  They'll have signs that they spend their own time and money on... getting as creative as possible to give us encouragement and motivation, and effectually proving to the world that whatever fear or terror may have been there for those first seconds, minutes, hours after those bombs went off has already been turned into fuel that pushes us harder. That's what we do with pain.

My next race will be the Rock 'n Roll Series' Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee on April the 27 and I couldn't be more excited about it.  The national anthem before the race will be the best the world has ever seen. 35,000+ of us will be there to run our butts off and say to the world "How do you like me now?" The crowds will be HUGE and the running family will be at its best. See you there!