The Running... Part 3

After the half marathon the miles started to increase. Beau came over to our house around midnight. Sitting in the kitchen we exchanged smiles delaying the inevitable. I laced up my new Asics, threw on my winter hat, running gloves, a North Face fleece with a light-weight jacket over the top. I took in a deep breath. “Ready?”

“Aghh.” Brent smiled, as he clapped his hands. “Let’s do it.”

Beau started laughing. “We’re nuts.”

Walking outside I felt the cut of the cold against my skin. I inhaled and could taste the pure cold air in my lungs. It tasted good. We walked down the driveway and past the house, waiting for each other to start it up. Brent started off. The beep of my watch sounded and the run had begun. I always felt his pace was too quick. I thought of our course and how far we would have to go before returning to the spot we were leaving—16 miles. But my legs felt good—light.

The night was dark. Street lamps formed shadows of our figures against the pavement. Running north on third street we passed the homes and dogs’ barks that we had become accustomed to over the past few months. The first couple miles were the most challenging—finding that groove. The streets were mostly bare, other than the occasional car or two. We ran on the side of the street. “How far to the Capital?” I always needed to set up small checkpoints.

"Just under three." Beau replied.

“Three miles then water." Said Brent. “Ahhh! This is good. Water every few miles—something to look forward to."

" Just think about how good that Snickers is gonna sound around mile ten.”

When we arrived at the capitol building it felt as though our bodies had been transported. The water was still in the corner of the building awaiting our arrival, I grabbed the bottles and we shared the glory.

“What full do you guys wanna do?” I tossed a bottle in the garbage can, and we started back up.

“I don’t know, but how bout running 10 more miles after this.” Said Beau.

Brent smirked at the thought of it. “Wow. Can you imagine. Nuts dude--nuts."

"I can’t wait till we get to that Snickers.” A snickers commercial started playing in my head.
“The Grandma’s would be sweet. But we’d have to sign up soon.”

“Well lets narrow em’ down. We got the Grandma’s in June—that might be a little tough to get in to though—you gotta sign up early.” Beau created a list of the options we’d been contemplating. “Minneapolis—but that’s not till September.”

“I still like Bismarck, cus everyone could come cheer us on.” Said Brent.

I laughed. “They’ll just be asking us why we’re going so slow.”

“Good point. Fargo?”

“The Bayou, the bushwackin’ bayou. I’m tellin’ you. What would be better than running a marathon, and then telling your buddies about how you were attacked by an alligator at mile twenty-three.”

“Settled.”

We dipped on the dark black path rounding Pebble Creek golf course—it was pitch black other than a handful of stars. Beau tripped up on the side of the path, and I saw his ankle roll. “Holy shit man—you alright?” We stopped for second. “I’m fine.” Beau started back up.

"Sure you’re ok, that looked like it hurt man.”

“It’s cool.” Beau reassured us.

“Well that’s good, cus… I’m pretty sure we woulda just left you out here.” Said Brent.

“No, but really what would we have done?” I asked.

We all agreed that breaking an ankle in the middle of nowhere would suck, and figuring out what to do afterwards wouldn’t be any better. We decided not break any ankles and continued on. Rounding the corner to the bank where we stashed the goods we all began to appreciate the guy who invented the snickers. “The carmel, the nuts, the nougat.” I was stoked. “You can’t go wrong with nuts and carmel.” Brent was equally stoked, and Beau laughed at us, but agreed.

Delicious.

Waking our legs up after the brief euphoric sensation, we headed up a small incline up Century Avenue. We passed Smith Barney, and around Lowes and Pet Smart. “You know you can take your pet into Pet Smart with you.” Brent said.

“That’s awesome.” Beau sounded thrilled at the idea.

“Yeah it is.” I added.

We winded around Tyler Parkway and over the Interstate. We coasted around Tom O’leary, and down Washington. The branches overhead created monsters on the street below. Once we got to Shaunberg, we knew hit the homestretch. We could feel the magnet effect as we picked up our pace. Striding out the last steps we found ourselves outside my house—where we started. High fives.