Why Would Anyone Run 26.2 Miles

DISCLAIMER: Against my better judgement, I am posting my brother-in-law's guest blog. He just completed the New York City Marathon and trust me, it was his idea to write for the blog, although he would never admit it. Bear with me through this post, as it is not up to the normal level of quality I provide. Lord knows how this boy graduated from the fine institution that is Syracuse University. It must be accredited to his valedictorian saint of a girlfriend!  Anyways, this is my marathon running monkey of a brother-in-law's attempt at blogging. Enjoy:

My husband and I, due to our current career endeavors, must live 450 miles apart. June 24th we will be reunited again. Follow our journey as we defy space and time to live the best lives we can together (while apart).

I am not Alicia's husband.  So immediately one would think why is someone writing a "post" for this "blog" that has nothing to do with the event taking place in 234 days?  Good question.  Simply put, I have been forced to read this "blog" since it's inception (like the other 3 of you) and have begged for it to stop being a sob story, a pity party, and boring.  Maybe Alicia is running out of things to say, maybe it's too much effort to write every night, or maybe I'm the trend setter for the other 3 readers (who could be future writers on this "blog").

Yesterday I ran a marathon.  Is that something special?  I don't think so.  Millions of people have completed this since 490 B.C. when the first "marathon" was ran.  Tens of thousands of people completed this yesterday and quicker than I did.  I have heard people say they always have wanted to run a marathon and my answer to that is...that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.  Anybody that says that has no idea what it is like or what it takes to run that distance.  

It literally takes blood, sweat, and tears.  Sweat being the obvious, blood from the toe nails ripping off my toes, blisters popping on my feet, and fighting off the tears of joy as you cross the finish line or tears of pain because every muscle in your legs and feet hurt like they never have before.  I have no always wanted to run a marathon, I hate running.  It's a way to stay in shape for an injury prone person.  Running is an outlet for someone who needs competition.  You can only go so far before you get comfortable at certain distances and need to run further.  Which brings us to the NYC Marathon.

My goal was an obvious one, to finish.  Every time I said that to someone, their response would be "you have to have a time you want to finish by?"  Yes and no.  I had a range, but I also knew that the most I had ever run was 17 miles and I had to go 9 more miles than that.  I was not going to run hard out of the gates and push it to try to get a certain time.  That was a great strategy for me.  The first few miles came and went.  I hardly broke a sweat.  It was just amazing to see the masses of people running and equally as impressive were the people lining the roads throughout Brooklyn.  6 miles down, still no problem, saw my family for the first time, a very encouraging feeling.  At this point, I felt great, breathing well, hydrating at every station and keeping a good pace around 8 minute miles.  

Around mile 10, the crowds started to thin out, some remote areas in Brooklyn where there weren't a lot of people and the adrenaline starts to fade.  It was around mile 11 when I realized my band aid had come off my left nipple.  Thankful every mile or so there were medical tents handing out sticks with vaseline on them (try and guess why--this also happened again for the right side later on).  13.1 came and went, I felt good, I was happy with my time, still on pace to fall in my range.  Then it happened, the first cramp.  

The left quad.  It wasn't too bad, I could still run at a strong pace, but this came way too soon.  My feet had already started to blister, but that was the least of my problems.  As I tried to adjust my stride to deal with this cramp, the left hamstring started to cramp.  

Crossing the Queensboro Bridge coming into Manhattan, I believe mile 16 is when I started to struggle.  It felt as if it took 20 minutes to cross that bridge.  My right leg started to cramp off and on.  Although there was a big adrenaline boost coming off the bridge, the famous first ave run.  It is as crazy as a crowd can be cheering on people running.  So you can imagine, not really crazy, but it's loud and there are people, which you didn't have for the last mile or two.  Saw the family for the 2nd time, tried to smile.  I ran up first ave, past all the restaurants and shops I used to go to (I lived off 1st ave for a few years).  

I couldn't wait for mile 18!  I knew they were handed out PowerBar Gel's there, I knew it was at 96th street and it seemed so far away from the Bridge.  I grabbed 6 of them and stuffed my pockets so I could finish strong (there would be no strong finish).  With only getting up to The Bronx and back down to Manhattan, it was basically the home stretch.  As I crossed the bridge into The Bronx, I thought my day was over.  The worst cramps yet, left quad, left hamstring, left FOOT!  Look down at your foot, you see how it's straight, well my cramped up sideways, so imagine taking a step and basically your ankle is what is touching the ground and you can't straighten your foot.  Yes, that is how I made it into The Bronx (I kind of feel like my own sob story).

Thankfully the foot cramp left pretty quickly and we were on the home stretch, down to 5 miles to go.  No problem, I run more than that everyday.  Back into Manhattan, down 5th ave and to Central Park.  The last 3 miles didn't go very fast, but they felt like they were.  The huge crowds were back, more adrenaline.  It was at this point at mile 23 when I just wanted to stop, I really didn't care anymore.  Everything hurt and I was just bored of running.  

It's like Where's Waldo, without the stripes.  The camera loves me.  .2 miles to go, thank god, every step I take there is a pinching feeling in my calves.  I can see the finish line, just coasting now.  Made a time I was happy with.  I just wanted to be done and get some food.  I was worried about eating too much food and having problems with that, so I didn't eat much before the race.  As I crossed the finish line around 2:30, I was along ways away from the alarm clock going off at 4:30 am (or the dog eating his poop on the couch at 2:30).  Getting on the Staten Island Ferry at 5:45, and sitting uncomfortably in the cold for 2 1/2 hours waiting to get going.

So why would anyone run 26.2 miles?  My answer, I have no idea.  I don't feel like a better person.  My legs hurt today, the only thing that makes this hurt stand out compared to other times of being sore is that it is every muscle.  Normally your quads will be sore or hamstrings or just one. Well its everything, feet, legs, back.  Will I do this again?  

Yes, gotta improve that time (plus, I don't want to be a 265 lbs popeye chicken eating guy).