"I'll eat whatever I want, I'm running a freakin marathon tomorrow!!" That's what Alycia, Matt and I kept saying to each other as we stuffed ourselves with anything and everything at The Cheesecake Factory on Friday night. Saturday was the day we would all be running our first marathon - the Rock n Roll Seattle Inaugural Marathon.After dinner we went home and all forced ourselves to go to bed so we could be up and out of the house by 5:30. Of course I couldn't fall asleep and when I did it was only to be woken up like an hour later. Some neighbors dog was barking non stop. It was pretty annoying, but then I laughed to myself because it reminded me of Brian Regan's comedy about dogs barking. "Hey, it's nice and quiet out here, why don't I bark it up for no reason". I might have slept a little bit more after that, but either way I got up at 5, put on my running clothes, made sure we all had everything we needed and the three of us got in Alycia's car to head to the starting point in Tukwila. I was still extremely full from the night before so I just ate a protein bar and a GU on the way there and called it good.
We got there and there were people everywhere stretching and jogging in place to warm up their muscles. 25 thousand people actually. The excitement started to build. Holy crap I'm running a marathon! We checked our gear, found the bathroom then looked for our corral. The race started at 7AM but we were all in the 24th corral so we didn't start running until 7:40. I only had two goals in mind for this marathon - finish in less than 5 hours and run the entire time without stopping at all. I was doing great on both goals until about mile 18 or 19. I could not wait any longer, I had to use the restroom. Those few seconds of rest gave me a new burst of energy and excitement that I was almost done and I shot out of that port-o-potty and basically sprinted to the end. I wanted to make up for lost time, plus I'm not going to lie, I wanted to beat my brother and step sister. I had passed them miles before, but I was only a few minutes ahead of them and they could have passed while I was in the bathroom. When I passed the 25 mile mark and only had 1.2 miles left to go I really couldn't believe it. I didn't even feel tired or short of breath or anything. I thought it must be a lie, there's got to be more than that left to go. Until I crossed the finish line right in front of Qwest feild in Seattle and they handed me my medal and took my photo, I was convinced that sign was misplaced. But it wasn't so. I really was done and I finished in 4 hours and 21 minutes stopping only once. And yes I beat Matt and Alycia. (only by like 2 and 10 min) They did amazing too though, they both ran the entire time with a bathroom break as well!
So it's done, I've run a marathon! I decided I want to run one every year. (Could that be a career, running marathons around the world? Oh rad, I'm looking into it.) Maybe next year I will wear sunscreen.
I also wanted to write about how I attended the Third Eye Blind concert last weekend, but words can't really describe that experience. Maybe it's because they are one of my all time favorite bands, but that was honestly the best concert ever. I should know, I've been to my share of concerts plus yours.
