I don't yet have the words to do yesterday any kind of justice. I am still on a runner's high of some sort, and still glowing like a damn firefly. Or maybe jellyfish is more fitting, given my currently very wobbly legs.
In January, when I first approached Meghana about running a marathon with me, I was completely taken aback by how readily she agreed. Obviously, I hadn't yet experienced Meghana in her running element. I would learn very quickly- Meghana is a force of nature. A couple days later I asked Davey if he'd run it with us. He said that he didn't think he could run more than 3 miles, but he'd think about it. A couple weeks later I went hiking with Dan and basically told him that he was running the marathon with us. He didn't protest, and I wasn't really asking. The same day Davey got back to me saying that he'd thought about it, and he wanted to do it. We had a team!
The next three months were a hodge podge of hungover sunday morning runs, a couple painful sprint workouts that were quickly abandoned and forgotten about, and a lot of stupid injuries and college kid woes. Standing at that start line yesterday morning, I was a ridiculous combination of zen calm and hysterical laughter. Luckily, whilst Meghana and Davey sprinted off into the sunrise, Dan and i stuck together and chatted away. The first thirteen miles flew by, and I was a little giddy with how well we seemed to be doing. No kneecaps had blown off, no ankles had been sprained. And so our five hour conversation continued. By mile 20, we knew that we were going to finish, but that didn't make it hurt any less. It hurt like a bitch. So we kept the stories coming, kept the conversation rolling, gorged on gels, made stupid jokes and kept running. Mile 25 and we finally stopped talking, started gritting our teeth, focusing on the pavement and dreaming about that thin red line that would make it all worth it. About a 100 meters from the finish, Dan looked at me and said- "We're sprinting, or else I'm going to beat you!" I have absolutely no idea where we found the energy, but we made a mad dash to the finish, and I cannot begin to describe the feeling of being done.
I know that in the grand scheme of things, running a marathon is not a lot. But for now, I am extremely proud of our motley crew. I could not and would not have done it, finished it, or even considered it without them.
Here is the the absolutely amazing, and mind boggling experience of running 26.2 miles, as seen through terribly lit pictures, and phone camera images: