We're all out of ambulances

This past Sunday, I undertook one of the most difficult and craziest tasks I've ever done: I ran my second marathon in 2 months. While I did not have much time to both recuperate and re-train after the Barcelona Marathon, I had already registered for and set my sights on completing the Madrid Marathon. And complete I did. Barely, but still.
While I knew that I wasn't as trained as I was for Barcelona, I went into this marathon confident. The weather was nice, I knew the city and the course well, and I had friends who were going to be cheering my on along the way. And even though I was having knee problems before beginning, I wasn't going to let that stop me.
I started the race great. I was right on my pace at every 5 kilometers, and ran the half marathon in 1 hour, 47 minutes. That was putting me on pace to be right over 3 1/2 hours total, which is what I wanted. I made it all the way through mile 20 still feeling good, slowing down but still running. But then at about mile 24, I hit that wall. You know, the wall every runner talks about hitting somewhere after mile 20? The one that you think has to just be a myth because you've already made it so close to the end and all you have to do is just tough it out? Yeah, that wall exists. And I hit it hard. I couldn't even move. I had to sit down, then when I tried to get back up, I couldn't. I just laid there on the side of the road, accepting assistance from spectators offering me bananas and water. And when the EMT got there on his motorcycle, he tried to help as well. He told me he was going to get an ambulance to take me to the finish line area to get assistance. My race was over. I had come 24.5 miles, less than 2 miles from the finish line, and I wasn't going to make it. Now to just lay there and get taken away be an ambulance.
But wait. This being Madrid, of course not everything works the way you thinks it's going to. The EMT tells me that all of the ambulances are being used (yes, by the marathoners. 190 people had to be assisted during the race) and there was really nothing else that he could do. What does this mean? It must be a sign, I thought. So after laying on the ground for 45 minutes in complete agony, I decide to get back up and finish the race. Why the EMT let me do this, not really sure. But I stood up, put one foot in front of the other, and kept going.
With about 1.5 miles to go, Becca, Katica, Ali, and Katica's friend were all waiting for me to cheer me on. They were of course worried about me because I had not showed up yet, and this was an hour after I was supposed to be there. But they walked with me for a while until I got up the strength to run the last mile. So I toughed it out, picked it up to a jog, and finished the race with fans screaming my name and "Go USA!". My time was pathetic-- 4:24:19-- but hey, I made it. I didn't give up and wait for an ambulance to free up and take me away! Toughest thing I've ever done.
Although I didn't have my dad here to share this experience with me, I did have some friends along the way. Miguel (my old flatmate) ran in the race as well, finishing in an impressive 3:50:00. And Becca created her own "Urban Challenge" where she set out to see me at as many points along the course as possible. In total, she saw me at 5 different points. Along the way, she picked up other friends who joined her in cheering me on. Also, I was able to see Lisa along Gran Via cheering runners on.
Other than the people I knew, I was so happy to have many other spectators cheering for me. My outfit was... well let's just say, ridiculous. I got this amazingly tacky running singlet that had the American flag on the front and "USA" on the back. And I wrote my name in permanent marker on my bib number. So I had people chanting my name, chanting in their broken English for USA, and all sorts of things. It was so nice to have the support of the people.
While I'll never do 2 marathons again in 2 months, I am definitely glad that I've had this experience. And that I'm alive to tell about it.

Becca was very busy cheering, but was able to get one picture of me running. This is at about 8 or 9 km.