Michael & Liz are Bloggable

This past Saturday I ran the Grandfather Mountain Marathon. It goes from Boone, NC to near the top of the mountain. It is advertised as one of the toughest marathons in America. I didn't really take that seriously... which was a mistake. It has easily one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Check out the details:

Did you read that right?!?! 3068 feet in elevation gain!!

To the average hiker, that doesn't sound bad, but to a marathon runner, that is about as miserable as it gets. If it wasn't going uphill then the downhills were so steep that you were trying to slow yourself down. After the first 2 miles, there were very few flat parts. But in the end I finished in 4:06 (I forgot to stop my watch, so that's why it says 4:08). I am THRILLED with that time. I probably could have done better if I didn't walk as much in the last 6 miles, but that's what I do. Someday I will break through and run the whole thing. This wasn't the race to do that.

 There were 2 highlights for me though. The first one came around mile 4. A puppy, very similar looking to the dog we met in Mexico named Bubbles, started following me. He was probably a good 20 or 30 pounds, but very clearly a young pup. At first I tried to "shoo" him away because I was worried he'd get hit by a car or run too far away from home. He had a tag, but his safety consumed my thoughts for a few minutes. I did have visions of just letting him follow me the whole race and taking him home. But after a mile he started trailing off and I lost sight of him. I only hope he got back home OK.

The other highlight was the finish line experience. It almost made up for the difficulty of the race. It was in the middle of the world's second largest Scottish Highland Games. There were thousands and thousands of people crowded around a track. We enter on one side, run all the way around and then finish on the other. It was so cool to be a part of that and be cheered in that way.

Once we finished we sat around for a few hours watching the games. They had things like the caber toss, stone throw, hammer throw, sheep herding, duck herding, and track and field events. It was a perfect ending to the race.

Will I run this race again? Maybe in a few weeks I'll start thinking it's a good idea, but I haven't yet forgotten how tough it was. If I do run it again, it won't be for the accomplishment of finishing the race, it'll be for another chance to finish in the midst of the Scottish Highland Games. I will never forget how awesome that was. I can't imagine a better finish line experience than that. Here is a picture of me coming around the track:

You can see some pictures using our photo album link at the top.