Run for your life.

Hi, I am writing this post as a certified, official, and experienced marathon runner.

Okay, now for my own experience. (Sorry if its long and boring)

Saturday September 19th
4:45 am - Wake up.
5:15 am - Leave for Merlin Olsen Park. Lindsay was nice enough to drive me, Brianna, Nate, Dave, and Nick Wells to the Park. It is still completely dark. It is cold. There is a huge line of people waiting to get on a long line of school buses.
5:45 am - Finally on the bus. Driving up to Hardware Ranch. Its a forty minute drive. I listen to music on my iPod and try to sleep a little.
6:25 am - Weird place, the starting line was. The bus lets us out at the top of Hardware Ranch, up above the starting line, by the porta-potties. There are 60 of them all in a giant row. There are lines 8 - 10 people deep the whole way along. Kinda crazy. We walk down the hill after using the bathroom and walk past a group of mountain men (Who knows what they were doing there) and come to the tent. On the way we pass a group of people all wrapped up in space blackets. They look weird. Also there are people wearing plastic garbage bags with holes for heads and arms. Also weird. It is full of people standing there. Imagine a full subway train, or a standing sardine can type of full. We wiggle into the side and find a little pocket to stand and wait in. At least its warm in there.
6:50 am - I take off all my extra clothes, so now I'm wearing my basketball shorts, and a soccer jersey. Same kind of thing that I had been training in all summer. After I put my stuff on the bus, I work my way back through the line. There are little signs that have things like 2:00-3:00, 3:00-3:30, 3:30-4:00, 4:00-4:30, 4:30-5:00, etc. I put myself close to the 4:30 area, having made the goal of 4:15-4:45. Its pretty exciting, kind of in a dreadful sort of way, knowing that this is going to hurt and what now.
7:00 am - Mile 0 - BANG! The gun goes off and we are on our way. Walking, walking, walking. For the first few minutes, that is what it is. Finally I cross the start line and start jogging. There isn't really much space at all. Its kind of amazing that no one trips, because there are thousands of people. It is fun to look forward and see the whole road full and all the heads bobbing at their own times. I kind of find a little pocket, where I can fun without too much congestion. I start out running with Brianna. We are doing good. At mile 1, there is a line for people to use the porta-potty. Why did they not go at the start line? I do now know. Continuing ... running ... running ...
Mile 6.? - Ah, a fourth of the way done. My time is 55.40. Right about where I want it. I am still running with Brianna. Along the way some interesting sights: A lady with one leg (with a metal prosthetic), people taking off more and more of their clothes each mile and leaving stuff in the drop boxes, some very old people, a lot of people who still look fairly happy.
Mile 8.5 - Nate and Nick just caught up after running the same speed as us a couple of hundred yards back. We all just passed a lady who was probably 300 - 350 pounds. We are very confused about how she stayed ahead of us for so long. She does not look like the type who has trained for the marathon, but "hey, good luck and all the power to you." Later we passed the cross country aid station, and that was kind of fun.
Mile 13 - Halfway!! A few interesting, disturbing sights along the way. Men and women going to the bathroom on the side of the road. That is gross. Most went off behind trees, but some were just right there. One lady just stood there on the side and pulled her shorts a little to the side, not cool. People are starting to look a little worse. But at least we are coming out of the canyon. Brianna kind of faded a little bit about 10 miles or so. Nate and Nick were up ahead somewhere. My time at the halfway point was 1:59:10. Still about right where I wanted.
Hollow Road and Beyond - Now there are people here and there cheering and clapping. Hollow Road went pretty quick and the highway too. On the highway, Lindsay and her Mom were there cheering and taking pictures. Between mile 18 and 19, I pass the one-legged lady. My legs are very tired especially my calves, and I feel out of energy. The sun is up, and it is pretty hot. At each aid station I drink a gatorade, a water, and dump a water on myself. Dad is at mile 19 to say hi, take pictures of me drinking, and all of that.
The Slower Part - Once I reach mile 20, I make a decision. I am going to walk. I haven't had to walk in any of the training runs. It felt very nice. I walked for a block or two. In my mind, I said, "Okay, now I can keep going and not walk any more until the end." I ran, or more jogged by this point, up to the about mile 21 1/2. I get there and decide that I need to walk. I walk for another block and two. From this point on, I run to the aid stations walk through it while I drink my gatorade and water, and usually an orange. Then I run for about half a mile, walk a block, and run the other half a mile to next aid station. This is repeated for mile 21, 22, 23, and 24. Lindsay cheered for me at a few different places and ran a little bit with me between 23 and 24.
The End - The last mile hurt. My legs ached. I felt exhausted. Each block seemed triple length. But finally I made it to the two blocks to go. My iPod decided it was a good time to play the victory theme from Rocky. I turned that up, and tried to pick it up a little. I turn the last corner and can see the finish line. I run, the announcer reads my name and I am going. Right before the end I almost catch up to a guy in front of me. Instead I decide "This guy has been ahead the whole run, I'll let him cross first." So finally after 4 hours 30 minutes I cross the finish line. They take my timing chip, and give me a big medal. I am done!! I ran a marathon!! Nate and Nick ran together the whole way basically, finishing in 4:05ish. Marty Israelsen finished 4:42ish. Brianna at 4:45ish, and Dave just barely after 5:00.

Post-Run - First thing, I went and got water and gatorade. Also chocolate milk, goldfish crackers, a fat boy icecream sandwich, and some great harvest bread. I sit down for a few minutes, then get up. I give Lindsay a hug. Its kind of sweaty. Gross. Then after a while more, we gather up my stuff and start towards the car. Unfortunately it was like half a mile away. I walked a few blocks, but then I was too tired to go further, so I sat on the grass and waited for Lindsay to come with the car. I took a shower and went to sleep. Saturday evening I was very sore and it hurt to walk, so I stayed in bed most of the day. Sunday it still hurt. Monday also. I normally have 3 miles to walk between classes, but Lindsay was nice enough to drop me off at my first one, so that takes .6 off of that, but it still is not the funnest day.

Hopefully my legs get feeling better and I can appreciate what I have accomplished, but for now, it is over, and that is the best thing about it.

Pictures to follow