The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.: 1/2 Marathon, Phoenix

OK, Mission Accomplished TEAM TACO!!!!

Team Taco was our self-adopted nick-name.

Ben and Krista (brother-in-law and sister), Christina and I, all drove up to Phoenix this Sunday to compete in the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. The largest in the country, with slightly over 30,000 runners. It was crazy looking at the sea of people. It was so big we had to be sectiond off in 27 different corrals, each holding maybe 1000-1500 people. The corrals were divided by your estimated time you would pace your miles at. So we were nearer the end :) just to be safe. It was perfect weather, 75 and sunny, but the morning was pretty chilly, low 40's, so we stopped the day before and got some sweet Salvation Army Clothing for cheap that we could just use to keep ourselves warm during the early stages and just ditch along the road when we didn't need them. No worries, the clothes make their way to homeless folks or back to the Salvation Army (see pic 2 for my sweet afghan poncho and Ben's Hugh Heffneresk bath robe----classic!)

We opted for the 1/2 marathon not the full, a whopping 13.1 miles start to finish. If you can run a marathon you are a stud in my mind-sheesh. This was my first and the others 2nd 1/2 marathon. We had a really great time. We headed up a day early to do the pre-race check-in, get our bib numbers, our swag bags, and walk through the convention center full of all types of running companies and gear. We snagged a great 4 star hotel nearby (thanks Priceline.com), and enjoyed a serious carb-up dinner of pastas, salad, tuna, and more pasta. Chilled in the hot-tub a bit the night before, then off to bed early. The run started at 8:30 and our awesome hotel transported us right to the starting area. And....off we went. We all made it, with no walking involved. Ben and Krista had a few bathroom stops (pretty common for over 2 hrs of running) but no injuries or anything like that occurred. Todd's time = 2:16, Christina finished at 2:26, Ben and Krista 2:43 (but inclusive of 4 bathroom breaks, so still awesome).

I must say, seeing the finish line was over-whelming awesome, such a sense of accomplishment you just can't get many places. Sidenote: out of 30,000 participants, only 20,000 actually finished, a full 1/3rd drop off or don't finish- which is crazy but believable. It's tough, but if I can do it, anybody can. Really happy we did this together, it made it a truly great experience.

After grabbing our medals at the finish line and every available orange slice, banana, frozen yogurt, free granola bars and fruit cups we could, we head back to the hotel for some quick showers and checked out, so we could go eat some real grub.

Of course, we found the nearest Mexican place and TEAM TACO, celebrated by gorging ourselves on many Dos Equis beers, nachos supreme, chips chips chips and salsa, jalapeno poppers, steak tacos, bean and cheese burritos, more beer, and more chips chips please.

We made it back to Tucson, but I must admit, my freaking legs were soar and my joints ached. Took some ibuprofen and went to bed really early to get the recovery on. Today is the day after, and although we're all a little sore, we're pretty recovered and back to normal.

After $135 entry fee, hotel fee, gas, dinners, 2 hrs of exercise....I can finally say....I got my free tee-shirt!