His 1st Time

My brother, Chris, ran his first marathon yesterday at the 25th Long Beach International Marathon. He completed the course in 4:03 - way to go, brother!
I had a little dilemma on the day of his marathon. I wanted to be there to cheer him on, but I also needed to do my training run for that day (12 miles). Then I realized that Long Beach also had a half marathon. So three days before the race, I signed up for the Long Beach Half-Marathon. This worked out great - I tested the gear I plan on wearing the day of my marathon, what to eat the night before and the morning of, and what snacks to eat during the run.

I ran the first 10 miles with Chris and his buddy, Lito. At mile 8 we were greeted with our friends (Jay, Sean, and Gilbert) holding these signs:

"Your feet are hurting because you are kicking so much ass"

"Finishing is your only fucking option"

"We are proud of you, Chris & Lito...take a dump in your pants if you need to"

The split was at mile 11. As I ran the last two miles by myself, I started to realize that 26.2 miles is a very long distance. I'm both excited and anxious about the marathon next Sunday. Excited to cross the finish line and anxious about getting runner's trots during the race.

By the way, I finished the race :30 seconds per mile faster than my last half-marathon!