26.2 for two?

When life gets you down, what do you do? Do you go for a run or a nice bike ride? Or do you just sit on a couch and think about what might have been? I am pretty sure that I have done all of those except for the whole running thing and Taylor Swift seems to make my blues go away. So the day has come and gone, the Salt Lake Marathon happened and I was a spectator to one of the greatest things that I have ever seen. I had never seen so many runners/walkers in my life but there was really only one person that I was really interested in seeing, Devin Duncan. With every runner that passed, I thought to myself could I beat them? How much are they hurting right now? Are they enjoying their marathon experience? Watching others run gave me more motivation and fuel so that when I get back running that I will do it right so that I will be with them the next time around.  I feel like I am just blabbering on now but there is a point to reading this.

This whole past week my mind was going crazy and I was thinking about the marathon, running, and what I should I do. As some of my mission companions know, I tend to receive some pretty good inspiration in the shower but this week it was just full of crazy thoughts like I should just show up and run the marathon. I am sure that my mind was not registering the fact that it was 26.2 miles and I had not run that much in the past month.  I wanted to run so bad, every time that I heard the word marathon, my stomach just dropped. Waking up Saturday morning and going to watch the marathon was one of the hardest things that I have done lately, I just didn't want to see something that I could not participate in. Worst part was that I got a message from Dev in the morning telling me that he had been throwing up but he was going to finish no matter what, what a STUD! As I drove down, I felt some peace that everything would be alright and I needed to just be happy for all the runners. When I am at a race, I am not one of those guys that is shouting the whole time and cheering for everyone. I am the silent guy who just sits there and watches people, I can tell when people are hurting and when they are faking to make it. Seeing some people at the end of marathon was pretty awesome, some people just looked drained but they were so determined to finish. I also saw a crap load of people walking the half marathon, not a fan but that is a different story for a different day.  After about an hour, I saw a youngster running with a white Brooks jersey and I knew that it was Dev. That was about the first time that I had said anything and I am sure that my voice squeaked, I am pretty sure that some people laughed. He looked tired but who wouldn't be, he was killing it when he had thrown up early that morning.  He told me to get to the finish, and I jokingly told him to catch a big group of ladies running in front of him. He just smiled and kept running! As I was walking to the finish, I realized that my first marathon is going to be hard, something that I can not imagine right now. Dev was super tired and just laid on the grass, I don't blame him but I look up to him a lot from that 3 hours and 55 minutes that he endured a lot of pain and suffering.

These past few days I have had the chance to think about running and how much joy, pain, and frustration it brings me. I want running to be fun, and I am just dreaming about running some trails and just doing what makes me happy. Seeing one of your best friends achieve one of you life long goals seemed hard at first but it was one of the most rewarding things in my life. Knowing that I got to run with him a few times just makes me happy, I helped him just a little bit. The best is yet to come, 26.2 will get owned sooner or later. So it was not 26.2 for two this past weekend but it will be soon...