The Legacy Midnight Run - My First 1/2 Marathon!!

If you want the short version of this blog entry, it would go something like this...

YAHOOO!!!! WE DID IT!!!

Now for the long version. In bullet format because that's how I roll.

Things to remember from this awesome first experience:

• BACKGROUND: On very short notice, I decided to use some (okay, half) of Rex's frequent flier miles to go to Salt Lake City to run a half marathon with my amazing brother Mark.
• COUSINS: Mark and I met up with his Elder's Quorum President (church men's group leader) who happened to be a Brandley, which is my mother's maiden name, and also with his business partner. Turns out we were ALL related through our grandparents. After that, we fought like siblings the entire way to the race. It was great.

• BURRS: Mark and I must have inherited the same bladder size because we both had to pee about 5 times in the 2 hours leading up to the race. On the sixth run, there was a humongous line for the porta-potties so we decided to run along the trail and find a bush. After scrambling through the weeds and doing our business, we realized that we were covered in sharp, pointy burrs by the hundreds. Served us right really. We limped back to the starting line and started taking off our socks and shoes trying to remove all the burrs. At that point, the megaphone guy announced that it was 7 minutes until the race started. It took us up until the last minute to remove the last burr. But during that last minute we realized that we didn't have our music and GPS set up set up on our phones. And then my earbuds were in a tangled heap on top of all the hurried chaos. Needless to say, we had a late start and were the last runners in line.
  
• GLOWSTICKS: Since this was a midnight run, glow sticks were provided for safety reasons I assumed. Turns out it was for an underground contest among the runners to see who could come up with the most creative glowing outfit for the night. There were some impressive homemade wigs, earring, full body suits, painted arms and legs in glow paint, and much more. I had no idea the running world had so many free spirits. We just stuck with our bracelets and called it good. It made for a really fun environment though of a big, glowing mass of happy people.
  
• SETTING: The race began at 10PM. It was the most beautiful, peaceful, and FUN race I have ever been in (not that many, but still true!) It was so nice and cool, and the almost-full moon was out so we could see our moon-shadows while running. We also ran next to a little creek that followed the highway. Running in the dark made it go by faster as well, it seemed. Or it may have just been that the cool breeze made it more bearable. Either way, running at midnight is the way to go!
  
• CHEERLEADERS: At every mile there was a group of volunteers who cheered us on. I know this is very traditional to do in a race, but it really made the difference! Mark and I would cheer them on for staying up late and we even humored them with a synchronized heel-click at the halfway mark. Since the path ran along the highway, cars and trucks alike would honk and yell at the glowing runners throughout the night. Talk about fun!

• INFINITE PARDON: It's inevitable while running or walking beside someone that you're going to be bumping elbows at some point. After about the third or fourth "Sorry!" from us, Mark graciously gave me an "infinite pardon" for the night and I reciprocated. Whenever there was a bump after that, we'd just say "I.P.!" for short which later turned into "Ipe!" Just a bit of silliness really, but it was a bonding moment for me and my brother.
• SLOW AND STEADY: Running with Mark was absolutely AWESOME. We kept each other going. When I was all charged up at the beginning, he would slow me down and when he would start to accelerate I'd try to keep up and vice versa. It worked like the whole "equally yoked" analogy. Because of that, we kept the most consistent pace either of us had ever kept for that long of a run. We never stopped to walk once and maintained a 10:34 min/mile pace the entire time.

• THE FINISH: At around the 10th mile my hips and feet were really starting to hurt. At the same time, Mark's adrenaline kicked in so he was eager to sprint the last bit. I was not. However, as he pointed out, there was no "Mark" in TEAM, "unless you add an R and a K" and that we'd finish this together. We crossed the finish line at 12:20AM with a heel-click that gave us a few cheers and a finish time of 2 hours 18 minutes. I still cannot believe that we ran for two hours straight. And we were happy about it! Talk about crazy!

• THE UNSUNG HERO: After crossing the cheering crowds, we soon ran into some rather angry people because there were no medals as promised. Kinda weird, but oh well! We found the water and some orange slices and then tried to find an uncrowded spot to stretch. Most people were just throwing their orange peels on the ground, but that would never do for Mark so we walked until we found a box on the ground that we thought was trash. About mid-air to throwing our peels in the box we noticed that this box was full of medals. Mark took the box over to the tents and when the volunteers saw that the medals were not lost, excitedly announced over the microphone that there were indeed medals for everybody now! Swarms of relieved runners crowded around poor Mark who started handing out the medals. He eventually broke free and found our stretching spot. Who knew that it was my brother who saved the sponsors a couple hundred dollars by not having to order new medals and mail them out to everybody? Who knew that it was Mark who pacified the angry mob of exhausted runners from threatening the poor volunteers? I did and I'm proud to call you family! Go Mark!!!
• ST. GEORGE MARATHON: This was our practice run for the St. George Marathon in October. I have a better feel for a long race like that, even though it will be MUCH more difficult, but I'm way excited to be able to run it with Mark. This has brought to my attention a few things I need to do first before the blessed day arrives, though. I need to read "Chi Running" and get better form so my hips won't hurt so badly; I need to go to a chiropractor to check out my lower back because I noticed that my feet don't bend symmetrically which may be affecting my running; and I need to go to a dedicated running store that will record my running gate and recommend some better shoes for my aching feet! Running sure can be an expensive hobby - who knew??
  

• MORAL OF THE STORY: I love my brother! This was such an amazing experience and I have loved talking with him throughout this whole experience. Neither of us have ever been runners, so to do something this challenging and actually being somewhat good at it is so exciting. And I know that we probably wouldn't or couldn't have done it without each other. Thank you, Mark, for the good run! You rock my socks right off - that and the burrs. :)