I have two brothers. They are both two of my biggest heroes. The three of us were born with this insane need to be obsessed with things…I mean really obsessed. Almost to the point of being unhealthy. In the case of one of my younger brother’s latest obsessions, a lack of health is definitely not the issue.

I believe that being “obsessed” with things is a pretty fun way to live life. I guess what I mean by obsessed is more on the side of being completely dedicated to a goal and going after it 100%, and less on the side of say…John Hinckley Jr. and Jodie Foster. My brothers are constantly teaching me how to really go for something all the way, and watching my younger brother run the White Rock Marathon this past Sunday was the latest example.

I think you pretty much have to be “obsessed” with running to be able to run for over 466 miles in 4 months of rigorous training, not eat anything at Thanksgiving, and finish your first marathon in 3 hours and 28 minutes. To me, that is a heroic feat. Most people won’t ever know what it feels like to run that far, but my brother certainly does….and he wants more. He’ll be running again next year and I have no doubt that he’ll shatter his previous time. One word that would describe my brother, Mark would be DEDICATED. The guy is unstoppable… unmovable. I think a lot of people miss out on some really good experiences in life because they don’t want to or feel like they can’t commit to a goal 100%. We all know what we want to do…or at least we have some idea but something always stops us from doing those things. It’s those times that we buckle down and stay committed that we find a pretty huge amount of joy in life. Just ask my brothers. They will agree with me.

So to say the least, it’s pretty obvious from this post that I was pretty deeply inspired by the experience of watching Mark run the marathon. My wife and I have even set our alarms earlier for the past couple days in order to get out and walk in the morning before work. Next week we’ll start running. Hey, it’s one of those goals, right? One of those things that we always want to do but we always have some excuse. The start is easy…let’s see how the finishing part goes. All I know is, watching Mark accomplish his goal certainly makes my own goals seem a little less far away.

If you have ever wondered what it might be like to run a marathon, here is Mark’s “brain dump” that he wrote after he regained partial mental stability after the run. I think this is some very interesting stuff. Also, check out Mark’s blog for some very interesting posts (mostly sports related… he’s a little obsessed). You will also find his take on the marathon experience. But for now…enjoy the brain dump.

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2006 white rock marathon

3:28:22 after :08 second late start and some time after finishing to stop my timer

got to AAC at 6:00am, they let me off at some huge “W� by the arena, that’s where we said we’d meet afterwards..didn’t open the arena it to runners until 6:30, I was one of the 1st ones there

sat inside the arena until 7:10…checked my bag, put my bib on, shoes, got all ready, went down to the start line at 7:15, used the portapotty a few times, stood in between two news trucks to stay warm..tons of people down there…they started the women’s elite at 7:43..wheelchairs started at 7:55, sang the national anthem, had an f16 flyover and started the race at 8 sharp

2 mile mark at 8:40, little worried about being that far off the pace but by the 6 mile mark I was right at 48:00

music, bands, people shouting encouragement all throughout the race…1st 10 or so miles were downtown and in neighborhoods..had a few people I was keeping my eye on because I heard their goal was 3:30:00..i ended up beating them all

tried to take in the scenes, but after awhile was too tired to care..1st glance at the lake was very beautiful..

10 mile mark was 1:18:15 which is a pretty good time, worried that I might have gone too fast.

After arriving at lake, most of the terrain was pretty flat…took my first gel pack and water at the 12 mile aid station, shortly after saw jenn and mom…wasn’t expecting them…had a red wrist band I put on so they could find me

Knees never started hurting, amazing…what hurt the most was my quads and abductor muscles (groin), those really started hurting at about the 19 mile mark

Crossed the 16 mile mark at 2:05:30, 2.5 minutes ahead of my pace, again worried that I was going too fast but I kept thinking about my goal (3:30:00) and making sure I got it so I kept the pace up

Was a sign at the 19 mile mark the said “you are entering the dolly parton hills�..there were some bumpy hills, nothing I’m not used to, the wind wasn’t a factor either though some were complaining about it

Lots of signs all over the course, “go daddy�, “steve rocks the rock� etc…stayed around basically the same people the whole time..

Mile 20-21 was mostly uphill, that may have been one of my slower miles because I was really starting to hurt, but once we started the downhill part, the home stretch, I started passing people..

Saw jenn, mom, heath drimmel and ian Lawson right around the 20 mile mark, that was also pretty close to where the ½ marathoners joined up with us, got very crowded after that

Miles 17-26.2 are pretty much a blur, I don’t remember any of my times except that I was faster than my goal pace

Crowds cheering and calling out your name was very encouraging, my bib said mark hunter so that’s what everyone was yelling out..i probably had over 100 people yell my name out during the race…that was very cool and unexpected..

The last mile felt like the longest mile of the whole day, I found something inside and sprinted the last 150 yards…I passed one guy right at the end, they called my name out, I put my hand up, very cool and emotional

As soon as I crossed the line they put the medal over my head the lady said “what an accomplishment�…another girl asked what size shirt I wore, I couldn’t speak, just mouthed the word large…she sort of laughed and handed me the shirt

Another girl cut off the chip on my shoe right after that

…felt like I was going to throw up or collapse at the finish, went in between the 2 trucks I stood next to before the race and bent over to throw up…never did, just sort of dry sobbed and stood there for about 2 minutes

Huge crowds at the finish line, family members, runners, etc…had to walk about 200 yds to the bag check where all my dry clothes were

Don’t really remember walking to the bag check, very weird mental state at that point, could hardly control where I was walking, kept running into people…

Finally got to my clothes, sat down and started changing my shirt, shoes, etc…lots of other runners were sitting on the curb, everybody looked horrible

Got up and walked down the steps towards the “W�…very hard to walk down the steps, knees, quads, calves all extremely traumatized…never felt anything like it

Saw jenn, mom and Allison, jeff was running across the street smiling, I hardly remember that moment, he hugged me and that’s when I found out they missed me crossing the line, I reacted strongly to that news, probably because of my current mental and physical state

Jen had the ensure with her that she had bought the night before, drank 2 of those and started to feel a little better, initially thought I would throw them up

Went inside the AAC and tried to find out where to find my official time and to get my picture, couldn’t find anybody who knew anything, got very frustrated and laid down by the wall, felt horrible

Jeff went and found out about all that stuff and we slowly walked to the car

Other random things during race:

Guy with a green shirt that said “staff� on it

Santa clause guy

Fat guy with his shirt off (I think he beat me, don’t remember passing him)

Guy that dropped his water bottle and nearly fell – funny

Guy that dropped his hat

Tried to smile when I saw the pictures being taken by the lake

Tried to wink or wave to all the people that shouted my name, did it to everyone at first, but didn’t have the energy later in the race

Took my first drink and gel pack at 12

Another water at 15

Gel pack and water at 18

Water at 20

Gel pack at 21

Gatorade at 21

Wore my gray hoodie, gloves, blue dri fit shirt and while long-sleeved plano off-season shirt during the whole race

My jumper’s knee brace felt like it would fall off at the very beginning, but it stayed on the whole time

Had to pee right at the start, end of the race, didn’t have to pee, I’m writing this at 1:50 pm the day of the race, still have not peed

2 groups of African drummers were around the lake playing these really cool beats

finished very strong, unexpected