My Marathon (The day I thought death was upon me)

As many of you know this past Sunday October 3rd I participated in the Milwaukee Lake front's annual Marathon.  This has been something I have been preparing and training for since May.  As the weekend neared I didn't have an overwhelming sense of nervousness or fear that some would anticipate, I have since decided this was due to complete and utter denial.  However on the eve of this marathon as my cousin, uncle and I gathered at my parents home to eat spaghetti and prepare for the event denial seemed to become a thing of the past and complete fear began to set in.  


My uncle being the paternal type that he is decided to help calm my nerves by showing me some "inspirational" YouTube videos.  I sat down expecting to see people crossing the finish line with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes at the overwhelming feat they had just accomplished.  I quickly realized these were not the type of videos my uncle had in mind.  The first one entitled women collapses 20 yds from finish showed the details of what would happen if your legs gave out right before the finish.  Showing me video after video of women collapsing then crawling through the finish to be greeted by endless numbers of emergency medical personal my uncle's idea of inspirational I came to believe is slightly different from mine.  


We then left my parents house and headed up to the hotel we would be staying at that night approximately 26.2 miles north of the city.  As we drove and drove and drove I began to realize that 26.2 miles is a long way in a car, so how was I going to run that in the morning!!!  I crawled into bed that night with my uncles words in my head "remember Morgan if you collapse at the finish remember to crawl!!" wondering if that really was my fate.


When morning finally came and I got dressed ate breakfast and headed over to the start line denial began to settle in once again, this isn't anything major just going for a little run I told myself, and for the first 10 - 15 miles that's exactly how it felt, just like any other run.  Only a few bumps along those first 15 miles, forgetting to start my watch and ipod at the start, spilling water all over my face and up my nose at mile 3, dropping my ipod at mile 7, 10 and 12, and losing my gum at mile 7 (still not quite sure where it went and hope it didn't end up on somebodies back).  


However, at mile 17 I began repeating a mantra over and over in my head, "9 miles you can do 9 miles you've done this how many times before"  by mile 17 and a half that mantra changed into lets take it 2 miles at a time, just 2 miles at a time get to 20, then 22.... A good friend of mine had told me when it starts to hurt just keep smiling, so like the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland I plastered a smile on and kept trotting along.


Around mile 19 the relay exchange took place and those people who were smart enough to complete the marathon in a relay switched with their last leg and I secretly cursed each and every one of them for getting to be done.  The miles became longer and longer after that and all I could think was that the finish had to be getting closer.  Pain radiated down both my legs and I had to remind myself over and over again that I voluntarily signed up for this, that when it was all done I would be glad I did it, this wasn't somebody torturing me it was me torturing me.  Crossing mile 22 and knowing I could run home to my parents house in less than half a mile rather than continuing became a really great idea.  


Finally I crested the large hill at mile 23 looked down at the lake in front of me and realized I was going to do this, I was going to finish a marathon.  Mile 25 and a half, less than a mile to go and all I wanted to do was stop I rounded a bend and my aunt popped out scaring me and giving me the last boost of adrenaline needed yelling "you're almost there, this is it!!", I sprinted down the chute crossed the finish line and thanked the lord that this thing was over, smiling the entire way.


While I can't say I'm about to sign up for another marathon tomorrow or ever for that matter i must confess that it wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated.  In the end I was glad I got to accomplish it and become a member of a very elite club, now able to refer to myself as a Marathon Runner.