One Memorable Day

It's over. I ran 26.2 miles with more than 30,000 people in Chicago on Sunday morning, braving the heat but making it all the way to the finish line. It was a day that could've been extremely disappointing for me, but one that I made sure to enjoy despite some unwanted circumstances.

So, I'll get what I consider to be "the bad" out of the way. I finished in four hours, 22 minutes and 22 seconds, or exactly 10 minutes per mile. Even so, I finished in 10,816th -- so in the top third. I guess that's not too shabby when you think about it.

But, for those of you who have been following my posts over the past few months, my goal going in was to finish under four hours and, in a perfect world, in 3:30. For the first 12 miles, I was on pace to finish in three and a half hours. By the halfway point, I was still on pace for 3:45. Then, the sun won.

Temperatures climbed to the mid-80s (ideal marathon weather is in the mid-40s) and the marathon alert system was elevated to Red/Severe. It wasn't as hot as last year -- thank God -- and there was plenty of water/gatorade to stay hydrated, but it was hotter than any day I trained on. I saw a few people collapsed and my family saw a man blow something out in his leg and nearly get trampled.

Around 13-14 miles in, I had to mix in some walking breaks and was fighting some cramping and shortness of breath -- the latter was only briefly. Once I realized I was falling way behind my goal, I decided not to get too discouraged. This was my first marathon after all.

Instead, I focused on some advice my wife Kelly gave me the night before the race. It was simple enough, she just said, "Just make sure you have fun. Enjoy it. Take time to soak it all in." When things got really hard during the run, I kept that in mind and that's exactly what I tried to do.

I made sure to high five little kids who were holding their hands out and I yelled "Go Green!" to the many Michigan State supporters I saw. MSU was in town this weekend to play Northwestern, so there were lots of Spartans in the crowd, and probably in the race as well.

My favorite poster I saw -- besides the ones my family made for me, of course -- was one being held by a young girl maybe 5-6 six years old. She was standing there, no smile at all, probably tired of being out so early for so long, holding a poster that said, "Go People!" I might've laughed out loud.

I might've been able to finish around 4 hours had it not been for a four-mile friendship I started. About 21.5 miles in, I was walking next to a guy about my age and I made a passing comment about the heat. We started chatting and decided to try and work together for the final few miles.

When I needed to stop for a breather, he did the same. When he needed a break, I stopped to encourage him. He was also aiming for a 3:40 finish, so he was in the same boat I was. It was fun to be a motivational partner with someone through one of the hardest stretches of the marathon.

Once I reached mile 25, though, I said that meeting him was a great experience, but I wanted to see how much I had in me for the final 1.2 miles. So I pushed through some nasty leg cramps -- I had muscles twitching that I didn't know existed -- and ran hard the rest of the way, passing a lot of people down the stretch.

The way I was able to finish made me feel better about the run, and topping it off, my brother Karl was waiting for me right across the finish line. So, instead of having a complete stranger hand me a medal, my big bro yelled "Yo Bro!" and put my finishers medal around my neck.

That was one of the special moments of the day for me. I also ran by our old church -- Moody -- where I high fived my nephew Parker and my sister Melissa. In Chinatown, I saw my wife's side of the family and then around the corner spotted Melissa and crew again, and this time she ran onto the course with me for a few steps.

My bro was also volunteering at the first water station, so I grabbed my first water of the day from him. After the run, both sides of the family headed out to Flat Top Grill -- one of my favorite joints in the city -- and had a good time. Having so many people there for the big day meant a lot to me.

So, as you can tell, there was a lot of good to come out of this day. I saw some Chicago neighborhoods I'd never seen before, experienced something only a small portion of the population on the planet experience, and fought through what was one of the hardest ordeals of my life.

And, now, since I didn't meet my goal, setting a new personal record next time should be a piece of cake! Yeah, that's right, I'm not done with this marathon thing yet. Sure, I checked a life goal off the list, but I'm not satisfied. I plan on doing more -- maybe making this a hobby. We'll see.

I also have more pictures to post, but I'll add those in a separate post later. It's getting late and I wanted to at least get an update online for those of you who have been wondering how I did. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement along the way and the many notes I received leading up to marathon day.

That was a day I'll not soon forget.