Grand Rapids Marathon
At mile 4 I left my pace group to head out to unfamiliar waters. I thought I could out run the 4:14 group, I had never trained this fast nor ever expected to run this fast. At mile seven I realized what time I must finish in... "sub 4" I told myself. The bar had been set. I'm not one to back down from a challenge. At mile 13.1 I was at 2:02, I would have to shave 2 minutes off my next half. At mile 17 I felt it...I was starting to slow down and I couldn't do anything about it. I made a friend. Someone had just passes me and I determined to catch him and stay with him. At mile 19 he was slowing and I was pulling him. This is a mental game I told myself and I don't have the strength to play it for two people. At mile 21 I saw them, my little bro and my fellow marathoner Sarah..Waiting to run a few miles with me. A tear slipped as I heard the screatch of a willis and they joined my stride. "Push me" I blurted "I can't do this alone." I told them I needed to run sub nines the rest of the last 5 miles and I never run that fast. "I need you guys"
at mile 22 I wanted to quit, I hurt like hell and no amount of motivation was helping except for sarah's stride being one foot in front of mine. "Mell, just catch Sarah" I told myself. and as soon as I would she would push a little more...Brilliant! At mile 24 after a few sips of beer Sarah informed me I had just run an 8:10 mile. at mile 25 I realized how much I was focusing on myself. "selfishness never gets you anywhere and its not going to get you to the finish line" I began thanking people for volunteering, for cheering or just for watching. I couldn't breath but I forced out I love yous to Sarah and john watching from the road as she left me to finish on my own. after the worst 1/2 mile of my life I looked up to see a man in blue sweats and a woman in pink running my way. My dad and lynnel had come to run me in. "Push me" I forced out again. And then there was ethan, matching my stride. On the corner of fulton I had the finish line in sight, those two blocks seemed like an eternity away. I heard my name from the corner, it was beth and kate. they dropped their bikes and joined in with me. And then off to my right was my mother pacing me along on the side walk. "see those pants," lynell challenged me, referring to the girl in front of me, "take those pants." and I knew I could. Somehow a sprint burst our of me and heard that long beep as the electronic chip attached to my shoe hit the finish mat. This is what I was meant to do
3:58:48. 4/17 in my age/gender group, 65/245 for gender group, 327/734 overall, average velocity 9mins 7sec/mile
1 amazing sunday morning
at mile 22 I wanted to quit, I hurt like hell and no amount of motivation was helping except for sarah's stride being one foot in front of mine. "Mell, just catch Sarah" I told myself. and as soon as I would she would push a little more...Brilliant! At mile 24 after a few sips of beer Sarah informed me I had just run an 8:10 mile. at mile 25 I realized how much I was focusing on myself. "selfishness never gets you anywhere and its not going to get you to the finish line" I began thanking people for volunteering, for cheering or just for watching. I couldn't breath but I forced out I love yous to Sarah and john watching from the road as she left me to finish on my own. after the worst 1/2 mile of my life I looked up to see a man in blue sweats and a woman in pink running my way. My dad and lynnel had come to run me in. "Push me" I forced out again. And then there was ethan, matching my stride. On the corner of fulton I had the finish line in sight, those two blocks seemed like an eternity away. I heard my name from the corner, it was beth and kate. they dropped their bikes and joined in with me. And then off to my right was my mother pacing me along on the side walk. "see those pants," lynell challenged me, referring to the girl in front of me, "take those pants." and I knew I could. Somehow a sprint burst our of me and heard that long beep as the electronic chip attached to my shoe hit the finish mat. This is what I was meant to do
3:58:48. 4/17 in my age/gender group, 65/245 for gender group, 327/734 overall, average velocity 9mins 7sec/mile
1 amazing sunday morning
posted by Mell at 7:13 PM
1 Comments:
So a few months ago my mother apparently talked to your mother and she mentioned that you were at Aquinas and all the other stuff that mothers like to talk about.
So recently I've been going through the "look-up-people-you-haven't-seen-in-a-bazillion-years" phase.
So, um... hi. :)
-Matt Snoek
mercy1 at gmail dot com
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