Half a marathon

My legs still ache. Yesterday was the 26th annual running of the Budapest Half Marathon through the heart of Budapest, with more than half of the race running right along one side or the other of the Danube cutting through the heart of the city. One of our Calvin students, Ben Stark, and a visiting friend from Romania, Kadie Becker, and I all started together, running through City Park to Heroes' Square, and then down the famous Andrassy Boulevard to the Danube. We had set as our goal to stay near the balloon pace-setter leading a group to a 2-hour finish. After crossing the Chain Bridge and heading south down along the river, as we came to our first water stop (it was somewhere in the upper '80s, or around 32 degrees C), we became separated due to the jostling that happens when 7,000 people all reach for water cups at about the same time. Ok, there weren't 7,000 all in one place, but it seemed like it. Ben took off at that point, and we didn't see him again until the finish. He kept a good pace and finished in well under 2 hours at around 1:53. Kadie and I struggled a little more, with several places where we lost each other due to short walking breaks along the way. We were under an hour at the half-way point, but losing steam. It helped that there were so many people out to cheer, with around 10 places on the route set up with music and lots of excitement. I remember one sign in particular that some person along the route was holding out, it read simply, "you will make it to the finish line." This was a very helpful sign for me at about the 9 mile mark. With about 2 miles to go, I took an extended break, walking for about 5 minutes, with no idea where Kadie was, but with a fairly good idea that I would make it to the finish line before the 2.5 hour cut-off (they had to re-open the streets, so if you were not finished by 2.5 hours, they picked you up with a bus). Just as I reached my landmark where I had decided to start running again, I looked to my right, and there was Kadie, and we helped each other for the last mile as we re-entered Heroes' Square and the City Park for the final stretch. Along that stretch we saw Julie, Bastian and Abi, and several Calvin students who had come out to cheer us on - it was great. But I'm not going to lie, it was excruciating with each step. Not having trained for this distance, I only finished through the energy that came with that many people in that beautiful of a place, and when I was finished, I paid the price. As I said, I still ache, and probably will for awhile.

After crossing the finish line, it was great to find lots of folks there to greet us, and to help navigate the way to water, other refreshments, and other finishing details.

Thanks Kadie, Ben, Julie, Bass, Abbie, Joel, Kyle, Erica, Jen, Rebekah, Ainsley, Luke, others I don't remember, random person with the inspiring sign, and all 7,000 fellow runners. It was a great time. Why did we do it? Maybe I should leave this question for the philosophers, but I would guess it has something to do with the human community, in addition to "because it was there."