So That Happened.

Yesterday, I became one of the 1%. The 1% of the population that has run a marathon.

Now I'm not going to go into some emotional essay about what the whole thing means, or any of that. Really, I'm not sure I feel the emotional storm brewin' like that. Hell, I thought I was going to cry at the end because of how crazy the whole thing was, but that didn't really go through my mind at that moment. So here we go, a recap of my first marathon.

The night of, I was already working on a delightful cold. My forehead was burning up, and was thinking, "Crap, should I even be running? Don't they say it's a bad idea to run with a fever? Oh god."
I started getting ready two times that night, thinking it was time to get up. No, it wasn't at 1:00 AM nor was it at 2:30 AM time to get ready. For some reason, I thought it was.

For the first few miles, things were great. I was feeling good, legs were good, all that jazz. By mile nine, that feeling was starting to go. Weirdly enough, the whole time my legs were fine. It was my stomach that was giving me issues.


This picture of joy is a lie... Sort of.

 For most of the race, I felt really nauseous. I think it was too much sugar the week before? I have no idea. All I know is that it was not a good feeling.

Other than that, things were pretty good. I continuously ran the whole time except for dashing to a bathroom and out. That's probably why at the end of the race, my legs suddenly went, "What the hell have you been doing?" and started aching like crazy. That plus the already upset stomach? Not a good combo. A lady in the bathroom next to me asked if I was okay because I was repeating "Ohgodohgodohgod" over and over again. That's not awkward at all.

Who cares about all of that? I ran a freakin' marathon! Plus, I happened to see some pretty crazy/wonderful/bizarre/cool things. Like:

Before the race seeing all of the people for one.

• Musicians playing everywhere, including a bus blasting the song "I'm Sexy and I Know It", great for getting pumped up
• Some awesome signs, like "Your legs are sore because you're kicking ass-phalt!" and others I can't remember now.
• Justin Bieber running. Well, it looked a lot like him just will a pre-puberty voice.
• People giving out the craziest snacks, including bananas, apples, oranges, skittles, pretzels, candy corn, and beer.
• A random hobo peeing by the side of the course. Told you there were some weird things, it's Portland.

There was a lot to see. It is a big city, after all. I managed to get one mid-running picture on the bridge. Cool thing was, only marathon participants were allowed on it. How exclusive.

The ending shoot was very cool, simply because there was so much stuff. There was a ton of food, but because I felt so sick I didn't want to eat. There was a lot of other stuff though that was super cool. For instance, the Portland marathon finishers get no only a shirt before the race, but they get a shirt afterwards that says " Portland Marathon Finisher" on it. We also received our medals, a medallion, a necklace charm, a rose, and a tree. Yes, a tree. Currently my Douglas Fir is sitting in my house, waiting to be planted. I have no idea where. The other part of the finish included getting a finisher's picture, which I've been waiting for impatiently to be put online.

It was nice that a lot of my family members came out to see me. This came in handy when tired legs wanted a break and had a piggyback ride available.


...Which then stretched out my inner thighs in a hurt so good kind of way. My cousin is a creeper.

 What wasn't so good about a lot of people was too many people freaking out about what to do when all I wanted to do was sit and warm up. Big groups can't decide things very well. What made me sad was that a lot of my friends really didn't seem to care, and it's just because it's an important thing to me. I've been talking about it, but many of my friends didn't even acknowledge it. Except Aaron, who ran it as well. Boy is a beast!

Oh, and I must not forget the swag. Most of my swag came from the race day, but I did get some things at the expo. Mostly magazines. I bought the mug, sticker, and bondiband myself.

Right now, I feel like I should be feeling a lot more special. That might sound weird, but it's a pretty big deal. However, it just feels like it's Monday. No biggie. I just wanted someone to comment on my shirt. (I wore my finisher shirt.)

Something no one ever told me about running a marathon? You get totally bloated afterwards. Or maybe that's just me. At least I don't think it's fat. My stomach feels too full of air for that. I think.

Will I ever do a marathon again? I hope so. What I'd like to do is a marathon for every decade of my life, starting with the teens. Now I've got ten years until I have to do one for my twenties. Perhaps the 50th anniversary? (This was the 40th anniversary)

For now, I just need to crash. I had to stay up late last night to finish homework, and because I was so tired I ended up sobbing about how tired I was when I got to bed. Yeah, I wish I were joking. I was sobbing because I wasn't going to get sleep, which kept me from falling asleep. We can be stupid when we're tired.

Really, all I can say is I can't believe I did that.