3:42:03

42.195 km or 26.22 miles is the distance that the IAAF set as the standard distance for a marathon in 1921. The term "marathon" comes from the decisive Battle of Marathon where the Athenian hoplites numbering around 4,000 miraculously defeated an invading Persian army of between 20,000 and 60,000 infantry and cavalry. According to legend, the soldier Pheidippides ran from the battlefield to the city of Athens to inform the citizens of the extraordinary victory where, moments after proclaiming victory, he dropped dead.

Wes and I began running together sometime in October, and as any runner knows it's much easier to motivate yourself to get out there and run regularly when you have a race or some kind of even that you are preparing for. I suggested that we find some kind of race in or around Bamberg that would lend some kind of legitimacy to our training. Wes being the ambitions overachiever that he is went out and found the König-Ludwig-Marathon in Füssen and when he mentioned this to me I thought to myself, "Haha, marathon. That's funny." Although I never really thought of myself as being able to run one of those we continued to train, and train. Through the unusually cold winter that Germany had that year (and the coldest winter of my life) we continued to train. We even suckered Andrew into going along with the marathon idea. As the marathon got closer I went through periods of feeling totally unprepared and periods of thinking that I might actually be able to do this.

The time came, we all registered and Susan found us a sweet Gasthaus just outside Füssen. Mark, Meredith, Jen and Monika were also awesome enough to make the trek all the way to the tip of southern Germany to cheer us on. The morning of the race Andrew and I met Wes at the starting line and I remember looking around at all of the runners wearing shirts from other marathons and thinking to myself "what have I gotten myself into?" The gun went off and due to the volume of runners we had to wait a few moments before we actually started moving and then a few more before we crossed the starting line. Initially Andrew, Wes and I tried to stay together but we inevitably separated. The weather was perfect for a race, overcast and a bit chilly meaning that I never really poured sweat. Passing watering station after watering station I tried to listen to my body and only grab water when I needed it as to not over hydrate myself. I would even get periodic bursts of energy when I would round a corner and see Mark, Mere, and Jen cheering me on. The course was beautiful, winding around the woods in the foot of the alps, around swan lake and even swinging by the Disney castle Neuschwanstein.
I finished the race in 3 hours 42 minutes and 3 seconds, placing 8th in my group (20-29 year old males) which is something that I am quite proud of. Having completed my first marathon I genuinely look forward to the next and the next. I consider the König-Ludwig-Marathon my second greatest accomplishment of my sojourn in Germany, and Mark, Meredith, Jen, Wes and Andrew the best friends anyone could have.