Try This at Home

It was the day I ran the farthest ever in my life. In order not to rush to an early death, I started out my first marathon " conservatively" with the 3:30 pacer who was supposed to be running 8 minute miles. When he ran the second mile in 8:20, I started to lose confidence in the man. Besides, this felt like jogging to me. At mile 3 I bid the 3:30 pack adieu, tucked in my tail and began to tempt fate with 7:30 and even 7:00 minute miles. I met my family at mile 10, which ended up being the 2nd best feel good part of the race. Last year in the half marathon, I had such a hard time finding my family and just ended up catching a glimpse of Dawn, so this year I was bound and determined to search them out. Lyric was on the top of the list because she periodically likes to ask me why I didn't see them or hear them or see the sign that they made. I was going to stop and sort through the crowd by hand if need be in order to make sure I found Lyric. Well - there they were so I waved and gave Lyric a hug before tearing off and then suddenly remembering I wasn't half done yet. It was metaphorically uphill from there. Miles 13 through 17 were pretty mundane and mental energy began to lag. For a few miles I even lapsed back to the horrifying 8 minute pace! After 20 miles I could begin to envision actually finishing this thing. There were runners who had stopped to walk at this point and I don't remember if that was discouraging or encouraging at the time. But -

Glory! Glory! There it is! I'm downtown and the ramp into the stadium! There's a guy running just in front of me as I turn into the stadium - I blow by him and I can see the finish! Some primal beast tries to leap out of my skin and I clutch at his hair just in order to hang on. I hear my family yelling and I'm sprinting like a maniac, trying to stay abreast of the hairy beast. What exultation is birthed here? I must have ran right by the guy who was supposed to shake my hand after the finish because no one shook my hand. I got my medal and a water bottle then walked over to lean on the fence. I cried for five minutes, laying Shannon to rest and exulting in the freedom I found in running. I walked off the field, threw up my water and was met with congratulations from my family.

When can I do this again?

Official Results: time 3:20:27

split average 7:39
place in age group 16/151

place in overall men 75/976

my thumbs up at mile 0.

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giving Lyric a hug at mile 10

Dawn holds the blue "flag of Buryatia", a piece of

cloth from Russia given as a gift by Shannon

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.just after seeing my family at mile 10

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. Lyric listens to the anthem right before her fun run

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Lyric (and Mommy) run!

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It's over!

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Photos courtesy of Darren Byler. For more photos of a maniac finishing a marathon, visit http://www.runphotos.com/

select Akron Marathon and enter my lucky bib number 777