Marathon Man

I got an early start to my Sunday-- waking up at 4:10 am, which I can confidently say I've never done before. Anyhow, the purpose was to run the Mercedes-Benz Marathon in Birmingham. Ann and I got a lucky parking spot and I got in the starting corral with a few minutes to spare for the 7:00 start.

I won't bore you with details here-- if you're interested in specifics, please head over to the On the Road With Woodrow Miles blog. The link is on the far right column. But it was the hardest thing I've ever done. 26.2 miles, 4 hours, 12 minutes, 35 seconds of my life. But I got it done. My legs (ten hours after the completion) still don't want to be associated with me. But what a sense of accomplishment.

After a post-race meal, we drove home for a quick nap and cleanup. Our bishop was the celebrant at church and we didn't want to miss it. This service, after a big run, made me realize just how much standing and sitting I do in church. More ouch. But one of the Scripture readings was from the 9th chapter of I Corinthians, which included words like, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize." Pretty powerful stuff for me.

So now I'm home, parked on the couch with the First Lady/wife/support staff/pit crew. And some really sweet victory swag:

What a day. And yes, I got my prize.