Finished

I get it now.

I get why people wake up at the crack of dawn to run marathons.I guess you can say that I've never thought of running a marathon before. I still don't have the desire, but as I ran this year's Bolder Boulder (and praise the Lord for no wind!), I will say I understand the intrigue. But this must also be balanced with the pain. Oh the faces of those that I had passed who had stopped to walked. They looked miserable. And I'm sure I probably looked the worst at mile 3 (my most poorly paced of the miles. To my defense it was an uphill climb).

And I had read about a guy who had completed a 100 mile race, how his toes had turned black and how he lost two toe nails. That kind of thing made me vomit a little on the inside.

Oh, and don't forget the guy on the stretcher.But then there is this thing called endorphins. Almost everyone coming out of the race is smiling. We made it, and we made it together.

That was the intrigue--the sense of community felt for a very individual sport. There was nothing cooler than the bugle call to start us off. There were the runners dressed up: a gorilla chasing a banana, a pacman being chased by a ghost, the girls in tutus, the green spandex guy, the teenage mutant ninja turtles, the dinosaur... Throughout the race, there were the folks cheering us on, offering yummy treats like gatorade, marshmallows, and Kendra's favorite: Bacon.

There we were, all sitting together and enjoying our after-run snacks in the CU stadium. We got to watch even more, the 50,000+ runners, finishing the race. Hebrews 12:1 comes to mind.

(Our fan club Lexi and Reyna who came to support us. Talk about dedication!!!)

I'm just saying I get it. Running long distances isn't easy for me because I grew up as a sprinter. That makes me pretty slow, but I'm simply thankful for finishing the race without quitting. I'm also encouraged to be better at encouraging my fellow teammates (metaphorically speaking) with the long journeys ahead of them. And um.. I love the free snacks at the end of the race!