And they're off
I was running. This basically solitary sport was suddenly a show for thousands of cheering fans and I was surrounded on all sides by runners. The Hulk was to my left and I could see a pirate not too far in front. Halloween had not gone unnoticed by the marathon runners. Many still sported jerseys or shirts with their names. I went for a dave-o-lantern look in my orange shirt with eyes, nose, and mouth drawn in, the teeth in the shape of my name. Next to me, Matt was a ghost in his white shirt. Not 400 meters after the start we found our fans cheering. We waved, pumped our fists and cheered back, the task before us still entirely unreal. As Matt said, "It's hard to be nervous when you know you won't hurt for 10 miles."
We puttered along, content to follow the crowd and not work too hard finding gaps to shoot through. There was a lot of run left and it was far too early in the day to be in a hurry. We cruised along, up and down hills on this traditionally flat course. Some loudly noted the elevation changes were new this year. This early in the race and at our pace, it hardly seemed to matter. We passed cheering section after cheering section and unconciously fed off their energy. Tracking our time on my watch, I noted that we were off to a slow start. Still, after 3 miles there was a lot of day left. Ever so slightly we started to move. We started to squeeze between people and seek out space for ourselves. We didn't lose contact very often, pointing out incredible views of Georgetown, or the absolutely ridiculous shimmer of a thousand runners in front of us bounding along up a hill. The sheer volume of people was astounding and at no time could I see more than a tenth. I've never bumped elbows with so many runners. I've never thanked so many spectators. For 7 more miles, we cruised on, pushing our pace slightly, but fully aware that pushing too hard now could spell disaster later. We passed the Lincoln Memorial and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't notice. We nearly slipped on banana peels. We let Powergel ooze into our mouths, but even the caffeinated magic of an energy gel seemed dull compared to the buzz that the monstrous crowd created. The stretches where they weren't were almost eerily quiet, even with the shuffle of hundreds of feet.

At mile 10, we again crossed paths with our wonderful and loyal fans. They cheered and we smiled. It was so nice to see them on this very lovely Sunday morning. Even at 10 miles this was still just a Sunday run with 17,000 of our closest friends. Things were going remarkably well.

Within minutes of that fan sighting, I felt the first twinges in my knee. I turned to Matt and re-iterated our pact. "My knee is starting to go. If I have to stop, you keep going." He echoed me with a remark about his side stitch. I don't have the best sense of time regarding that day, but it couldn't have been more than a minute before our run together was finished. I don't remember the moment of separation, only that he was gone. At that time I still held hopes that he would catch me later. Now, I was on my own in the midst of thousands. The screams from my knee seemed to disappear at the next water stop. I reeled off several more miles under the 4 hour marathon pace, cutting into that initial deficit I'd created.

Heading up the hill around the U.S. Capitol, the back of my shirt was recognized for the first time. Running past two men, "Shock" and "Awe" emblazoned on the backs of their shirts, I charged up the hill (I suppose only marathoners can call such a gait a charge). As I passed, Shock and Awe called out, "You'll get there faster if you run SCREAMING!" The very quote from the back of my shirt caused the three of us in unison to break into screams. For effect, I also threw up my hands and surged up the hill, until someone kindly mentioned, "You'll need that energy later." I crossed the halfway point after 2 hours and 1 minute. My morning had just begun.

There's more? yep... It's only fair you suffer almost as much as I did.