Finish

I did it.

I ran a full 26.2 miles, finishing with the relaxed time of 4:57:10, and 392nd out of 447 participants. And I couldn't have been happier while running.

I left for South Bend on the 1st looking for something, and I might have found it.

My comrades and I arrived in town on Friday evening. We checked into our hotel and then headed downtown to pick up my registration.

The weather was slightly overcast, and a bit chilly that evening as my friend Mike, his girl friend Eleanor, and I wandered around looking for something to eat. Not finding anything, we called Pizza Hut, and caloried up back at the hotel.

That night, I could hardly sleep. Nervous energy crackled palpably off of my skin.

The next morning was cool like the day before. But this is to be expected from a mid-west 6 a.m. jog. In the first couple miles I remember seeing my breath a bit and then exhaling hard to make steam. The cluster of runners around me giggled as the first few miles took the adrenaline edge off. As the sun rose on us, so did the temperature.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect though, race day went from a cool 50 degrees, up to about 70 by the time I finished.

The first 13 miles where quick, and were almost completed before the sun came up. I remember my time being around 2:09. The next 7 took a bit out of me, but I still was hanging on to my predicted finish time of 4 hours, crossing the 20 mark at about 3:30.

It was around this point (a couple miles before the walking set in) that I was passed by a few runners making the trek in Vibrams. Apparently my suspicions of a Fivefinger's pace were correct. I chatted a bit with a man and his wife who have run 20 and 2 marathons respectively in the footwear. My worries about the naysayers that have come out against the shoe/movement have pretty much been erased (I mean c'mon 20 marathons!).

After I hit the 20 mile marker, all bets were off. I started walking, then jogging until I couldn't, then walking again. I ran it in for the last 2 miles to the clock just before five hours had clicked off (as seen on my official finish thing here).

I can't even begin to describe the feeling. Jogging into a giant stadium, through the tunnel, hearing my name and time announced.

Euphoric is the closest word for that experience that I can think of.

Big ups to my friend Mike also, who despite not training for months, entered the half marathon, ran most of it, stopped to get cigarettes, moved the car closer to the finish line, ran backwards on the course to find me, and then not finding me, finished just after me. Dude was definitely a huge help.

I left South Bend on Sunday struggling to walk (my legs have since regained consciousness), and arrived back home and promptly took food, beer, water and a nap. This surely is the only way to recover. As of today I am still sore, but definitely able.

This post is a little bit late, but that is because I wanted to take time crafting it to capture the experience in a meaningful way. I think that I have done that. It was an amazing through and through training, writing, and then running in, on, about and around a marathon.

The only thing that remains is to find the next race and then Barefoot 1 will be a go.