So Here’s The Marathon Story

Before I begin…let me say thanks to those who have e-mailed encouragement to me…it means a lot! To be honest–you can pray for me to get over this quickly…it is disappointing to train as hard as I did, be less than four miles away and not be able to finish. (Although the ambulance ride was cool!)

The day started out awesome…the crew and I had dominated some pasta the night before and got up early the next morning. The hotel shuttle took us to the starting line and we stretched, prayed, and then prepared to begin the race. (I had to tee-tee so bad…so I went…but five minutes later I had to go again and the lines were SOOOO long…more on this later!)

We finally began the race and I felt AWESOME! I was confident, knew I had trained well…and there were tons of people around me. I was hurting from needing to use the restroom and was looking for a porta-potty when…all of a sudden…I saw a bunch of guys heading for the bushes…I thought, “I am a man”…and one of the unique privileges we have is using the restroom outside! Oh yes–I did…and I felt much better!

Mile seven through ten was uphill and it hurt–but when I came over the hill I felt great…I made it to mile 13.1 in about 2:12…I was making great time! (By the way–if you ever do a marathon–13.1 is NOT halfway! Trust me!)

I was having fun, talking with strangers and seeing strange people run by me. (Seriously–there was a dude who ran by me wearing nothing but a speedo and a sombrero…and that’s all I’ve got to say about that.)

But at mile 18 something hit me–HARD. I had to slow down and walk. “No problem,” I thought, “I will catch my breath and keep going.” I finally was able to run again…but only for about a hundred yards or so…so the next couple of miles I just would run about a hundred yards and then walk about a hundred.

At mile 20 I stopped sweating…which I knew could be bad…but I dismissed it by telling myself that I wasn’t pushing myself as hard AND that it was really cool outside.

I kept doing the run/walk thing until about mile 22…and then I just had to walk. I told myself, “Dude, just finish!” I went about another half a mile and said, “I think I need to sit down here…maybe I will wait on Jake and Sherry.”

I sat down on a guard rail underneath a bridge and everything went blurry. There was a dude working with the race walking towards me and I raised my hand to get his attention…I could not talk. He asked me did I need to go to the medical tent and I shook my head yes…then he asked me could I walk–I tried to stand up but my legs were completely useless. Then he looked at me and said, “Oh my gosh…are you going to pass out?” I said yes and then everything went black.

I woke up with people around me and they were putting salt in my mouth. Then they helped me to the medical tent and made me lay down. I started feeling better and they asked me to stand…and that is when the cramps hit and I lost my manhood! I screamed–it hurt…at one point my foot, my calve, and my quad were cramping at the same time. When this happened the doctor said, “You are going to the hospital.”

So the ambulance driver was new and didn’t know where he was going…and he and the dude with me sort of fought all the way–which was funny. They got me to the hospital and stripped me of my clothes…and I was freezing! They put these warm blankets over me–which was awesome for about five minutes–and then I was cold again!

I got the royal treatment–CAT scan (for precautions in case I hit my head when I passed out), a chest x-ray, and EKG…and a lot of IV fluids. They finally called Lucretia–which is a story in and of itself. For some reason I could not get anyone to call her. When they finally did she was walking on the race course back to meet me…and our friends Joe and Jenn brought her to the hospital.

They released me with instructions to drink a lot of fluids. What was funny about this was that I had NO CLOTHES…and so the hospital gave me a gown and a pair of PJ pants that looked like something that Bozo the clown would wear. I didn’t care–I put them on and walked out into the waiting room–which caused everyone to literally stop what they were doing and look at me, I announced to the entire waiting room that I was making a fashion statement and that they could not have my clothes–which caused everyone to laugh.

I went back to the motel and relaxed for a while…and then the crew went to Ruth’s Cris steakhouse. It was awesome! I slept well and then yesterday spent all day on a plane.

As I said…it was an incredible experience. I KNOW God has taught me a lot already and will continue to teach me more. We had actually planned on me doing an entire message on this experience on June 25th…and we are still going to–but it is going to change a little…and for the better I think.

I can honestly say this–I thought about NewSpring the entire time I was running! I love this church, I love being pastor here…there is NOTHING I want to do with my life more than what I am doing right now! Thank You Jesus for blessing me so much!!!