26.2

The Top of Utah Marathon.

Holy. Crap.

No, I did not run the marathon. Me, Kelsey and Mary waited at the end of the marathon and waited for Matt and Kyle to finish. We got lost trying to find the park and ended up walking too far up, too far down, then over to actually where we were supposed to be. We waited near the end and just cheered for everyone that came in. It was so crazy, seeing a variety of people running across the finish line. There were 60-year-olds, short people, really tall people, really thin people, average-sized people, and even a few "bigger" people (even though they weren't that big, because hey, they're still running a marathon). We cheered extra loud for the girl runners.

Kyle's parents found us cheering at the sideline and stopped to say hello. They told us that Kyle was at 25 miles, and that we would see him in a few minutes. I was surprised when they told us that Matt was behind Kyle almost 8 minutes, because Matt is more built for running than Kyle. Kelsey said he was technically "too tall" for running.
We soon saw Kyle running towards us, looking like he just wanted the race to end. We started screaming like crazy and watched as he crossed the finish line. I'm not sure his exact time, but it was something around 3 hrs and 19 minutes. Wow! That is super awesome.

We turned back to the race and kept waiting for Matt. Every time we got sight of a runnie, we'd ask if it was him or not. We started getting antsy, hoping that he hadn't injured himself and that everything was fine. About 15 minutes after Kyle finished, Matt came running down the street. He looked a bit happier than Kyle did, and we continued to scream and cheer as he crossed the finish line.

We found them lying on the grass eating Fat Boys a few minutes later. Kyle said his legs hurt too much to get a massage from the people, plus he said he didn't want anyone touching him at the moment. We talked to them and asked about how the race went, and they told us about different people they ran with, how it was super cold up the canyon when they started, the aid stations, and a bunch of other running dealios. Kyle was shaking and both of them were basically really slow in responding to us (or anything, for that matter), and seemed really exhausted for the rest of the day. I kept telling them how cool it was to be able to say that they had finished a marathon. Finished... a... marathon. So cool.

We went out to Angie's to lunch, where Matt basically got half a cow's worth of meat on a burger, and where we filled up, after me and Kelsey not having breakfast and the guys running since 7:00 a.m. We drove around town and hung out at the dorm or the creamery for the rest of the day, and I bid Matt, Kelsey, and Kyle farewell around 5:00.

Oh yeah, Matt's mom and uncle said they would pay him $30 to ride on the bus up the canyon to the start of the marathon wearing nothing but really short running shorts and a strand of pearls. He had to think about it before declining. He said he would've been too cold.

It was sure fun watching them run and complete the most treacherous 26.2 miles of a marathon. But watching the marathon made me wonder if I could ever accomplish anything as physically challenging (and crazy) as a marathon. I have problems running half a mile, for heaven's sake. I'm not saying that I ever want to run a marathon, but I think it'd be cool to do something I've never done before. I congratulate Matt, Kyle and everyone else who ran in the marathon, including Robert, Tairsa, Matt's mom and basically everyone else who had the guts to even try.
Good job, people. You're awesome!

Above: Kyle finishing the race.
Below: Matt and his ribcage finishing.
Sorry for the crappy quality of this picture... I have no idea what happened.

These are the guys just lying in my dorm, trying to relax.