My marathon with James

On Saturday, I ran the Monumental Marathon with James Boyd. What an experience.

If you are a seasoned marathon runner, I highly recommend running a marathon with someone who has never gone the distance. It is truly a rewarding, fun and real experience. You know what it meant to finish your first marathon. You know the feelings you had when you crossed the finish line. What better a feeling than to experience that with someone else.

James and I running with our friend Dave, who we met at mile 8 and ran with until mile 20. We never found Dave after the race but hope he had a great last 6.2 miles!

James has overcome so much in life and today he uses running as a means to move forward in life. The week before the marathon Mary Milz, reporter for WTHR came out and interviewed James - she did an amazing job portraying his story and you can read about it here!

After the finish- time 4:46, which destroyed the goal of breaking 5 hours!

Needless to say the news coverage about James and his journey to the Monumental Marathon was very helpful in our journey to finish 26.2 miles. The whole race, random strangers would run by and say "your the guy!" "way to go- you are an inspiration to me" "keep it up man, I saw you on the news". There was even a random lady in a car waiting in traffic that yelled out and called him by name to cheer him on. We were overwhelmed by the support of the community and can't thank Mary Milz enough for sharing the story with Indianapolis.

I am amazed at how great James felt the whole race, it is a true testament to the importance of solid training. Our Program Director, Brian Meyer did a great job putting together the training plan for the team and the hard work paid off on race day.

James, with his hard earned medal. Photograph - Green Sky Media

Now for my favorite part of a marathon race report! I either do a section break down of the ups and the downs or my favorite moments. This time around, I think I'll touch on my favorite moments:

1. Back on My Feet leading the 11,000 runners in the Serenity Prayer in Opening Ceremonies

2. Waiting in the starting corral with James for gun time (aka Bob Kennedy yelling GO!)

3. Running into a handful of BoMFer's during the first 4 miles - Jaime, Kelly, Anne, Leona

4. All of the love we received from the local community 

5. Have to say- bathroom break at mile 10. I never realized how long the lines can get! (pretty much needed the bathroom from before we started, but just figured we'd wait.... we weren't willing to stand in line though.) It took 10 miles before the course spread out enough for no lines. 

6. Our friend Dave, who we met at mile 8 and stuck together for 12 miles. 

7. Dedicating each mile to someone or something different. - From our families to the weather!

8. Seeing the Olson crew and all of the other BoMF cheerleaders throughout the course

9. The aid station that had candy! Ahhh- the Snickers were a life saver. 

10. The BoMF water stop at mile 23!

11. The DJ at mile 25 and us singing John Michael Montgomery 

12. The undeniable energy during the last mile- encouraging those who had turned their run into a walk, to finish off the race with us

13. The Finish Line, of course

14. 4:46

15. Finding all of our friends at the finish & sharing excitement

Now- I can't fail to mention that although my marathon experience was all about James. There were some other pretty phenomenal accomplishments within our crew, including Mitch, who ran a 2:58 for his first full marathon. Hello Boston 2013!

Three of our members ran the full marathon, 4 ran the half and 10 ran the 5K! 

Full marathoners with Chris Thronberry- one of our amazing volunteers with sick photography skills.
photograph - Green Sky Media

Thank you to the Monumental Marathon for donating bibs to our members and supporting us along the way! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to say the Serenity Prayer during opening ceremonies... what great exposure! We are looking forward to working with the Monumental Marathon in the future. An organization that gives back to the community and puts on a great event.