Monday, June 9, 2008

Green River Marathon

Dave and his friend Eric Flake ran a marathon this weekend. It makes me laugh because he has always mocked our friends and family for attempting something so crazy and hard on your body. Maybe it's the beginning of a midlife crisis. I will have to prepare myself for some kind of hot rod to appear in our garage.

Anyway he ran the Green river marathon which starts in Kent and ends on Seattle's beaches. It wasn't a really big production. No numbers, no people lining the course, no tape at the finish... but then again it was free. I laugh thinking back to the night before as we looked at the directions online and tried to even get the course figured out. They actually had to post people at certain points to keep the runners from getting lost (they didn't cover every spot though as Eric ran a good extra way).

We saw Dave and Eric off at the start and piled in the car to go to the 2 1/2 mile mark to see him crossing the river (the first of many crossings). We barely made it. They were running so fast. Then we were in the car again and off to find a place to buy poster boards and markers in an unknown land to make signs. We parked our cold little selves at one of those ambiguous direction places and pointed a good 75 people in the right direction. Then we saw Dave and Eric coming around the corner. We had lots of fun waving our signs and hooting and hollering. Next it was off to the rescue to find Advil and meet back up with our aching runners. That was at about mile 13. That's when Dave and Eric split up. He was on his own after that. We met again with him at mile 21 and from there Chase ran the last five miles with him to keep him company and keep his mind off of his aching body. We had a lot of fun being the Gatorade and Gu suppliers.

The kids are the best groupies ever. They never ever complained even though it was cold and we got rained on several times. Dave always looked like he was doing well the whole way. Not like me. I would have looked like the living dead after a short few miles I'm sure.

We celebrated with a yummy lunch at Red Robin and some ice cream later that night from Cold Stone. Now Dave can call himself a marathoner and I can say with no reservations that I will never follow in his footsteps :-)

That's what she said... now here's what Dave has to say. It's true, I mocked the marathoners as nuts that seemed to like pain. Then I met a guy in Egypt who does it because he loves to run. He runs beyond 26.2, even up to 100 miles. We had lots of conversations about the sport and I found myself wanting to run a marathon myself. To be honest, I had an idealized vision in my head of running long enough to find inner peace like Greg and become one with nature around me. Turns out I instead held a debate in my head for about 15 miles on the merits of finishing vs. the shame of calling Jen for a ride. I battled a cramping calf muscle for about half the run and my knees felt like they had gravel in them by the end but I finished. No need to tell the time because it wasn't fast, but if you want to look up the results I'll save you time. I'm pretty far down the list. http://www.greenrivermarathon.com/results/2008_results.html

I did learn a few things in running a marathon: it's great to run with a buddy (thanks Eric), 26.2 miles is an incredibly long way to run, and the fear of shame is a very powerful motivator.

15 comments:

Sarah said...

Good job Dave!! I looked up your results and they aren't too shabby...I finished mine right about the same! You are lucky to have such a good fan club, too, signs and all. I can relate to the debate in your head too...I usually say "one foot in front of the other" for miles and miles:)

Sarah said...

That's awesome. Give your body time to heal, and you just might want to run another one. I love that Chase ran the last little bit.
As I told Eric on Sunday, one of my favorite quotes ever is "There will be days when I won't think that I can run a marathon, and a lifetime knowing that I have." (Or something like that.) Yeah for accomplishing something so big!

Anonymous said...

Dave,
Really proud of you, I know it isn't easy but now you can always say that you have run one.
Glad you aren't hurting too bad.

I think it was way cool to have Chase run with you.

While it is neat to say you ran a marathon, the neater thing by far is that you have such a relationship that your son would want to run with you and be a part of your life. In the eternal scheme of things that makes all the difference in the world.

Love
Grandma D

mom said...

I guess I haven't checked your blog for a while . . . I had a ot to catch up on! I loved Sara's blessing dress. Congrats to Dave on the marathon and Chase on the Math Relay. Good for you getting your food storage well stocked--I'm trying to build mine up but still have a long way to go. And I love the pictures of Emily and the horses--she looks enchanted.

Jamie C. said...

How did I miss so many posts? I had such fun reading up on everything! I especially love Sara's blessing pictures! She is such a cutie! I loved her smile after her blessing to! That was to die for!
So I finished! Just need to add a little extra length to the curtains! Can't wait to see yours! I'll post pictures soon, but I can't seem to find the motivation to finish the last few touch ups tonight! Thanks for the fun day!

Lisa said...

Wow, Dave. Totally impressed and I think you confirmed that marathon runners are nuts. What an accomplishment though. So cute that Chase ran. That's amazing too! Way to go Wilcox boys!

The Roberts Rollercoaster RIde said...

Way to go Dave!! That's great.
Jen- I too wish I had that "inner runner" in me. I can even visualize running for miles on end. However, I hate it. I hate to run. I think I'll stick to elipticals!!

Anonymous said...

I agree with jamie. i'm so behind on my blogging-- sara's cute blessing, gandpa plays rock band, and dave runs a marathon. realkly what hasn't happened scince i've been gone. thats what i get for going on vacation. i gues the world does go on without me though, proving once again i'm not the center of the universe:-)

Congats, Dave!

Anonymous said...

dude, i just read my post after posting it and i really don't deserve to blog after such horrible spelling and typing:( I know you'll understand though:)

Meghan said...

Yeah! Congratulations Dave. I hope that the recovery is going well... I'm pretty sure I would be lying moaning in my bed for a good week if I even attempted a marathon. But then again, I wouldn't have such cute kids cheering me on.

Nicole said...

Dave, you should have jsut asked Jenny to COMPLETE the race for you...

Anonymous said...

Dave, I'm proud of you. I bet the next day was a blast!
Tucson Grandpa

Colbert said...

Dave I love that you post your side of the story.

Sarah said...

Good job Dave, I hope you're happy when you can't walk 20 feet with your grandchildren because of this. Love Danny

Colbert said...

David, David, David. Brutal. No way I will ever get suckered by some Egyptian dude into ruining my joint cartilage over 26.2 miles of asphalt. You should've known better. I believe the heart has only so many beats and I am conserving mine.

Rand