Jack Bauer from 24 - I honestly don't know that anyone has every watched an episode of 24 and *not* wanted to be Jack Bauer. Well, maybe that one episode where he got shock tortured, flatlined, and eventually came back to life. Seriously, though, Jack Bauer might be the ultimate tough guy. Sure, it would suck when one of your co-workers (Tina, who by the way was smokingly hot) killed your wife, but you otherwise have it made. Even if you get fired for being too rough around the edges, you know eventually Said Ali or one of these terrorists punks is going to come out of the woodwork and who are they going to have to turn to? That's right - Jack frickin' Bauer baby! Plus, Kiefer Sutherland's got that awesome "I smoke 3-packs a day" voice that a guy like myself just can't compete with.

Trent Walker from Swingers - Once again, he is such the man. In some ways, he is the anti-Brent. He's cool and confident around the ladies not letting what they think bother him. He's hysterical, he cheats at videogames, he knows all the cool places to party... what is not to like about this guy? Even if you watch this movie and think he's a complete jerk, you've got to admit he's a good friend. He tries to help out his buddy even though what he thinks is help is actually kind of skewed. I also like the fact that he has no real job that we know of. If I could pick anyone on this list to be for just a day, it might be Trent from Swingers. I would love myself if my daily dialogue included lines like "Baby, we're going to be up five hundy by midnight!" and "Hey! What're you kicking me for? You want me to ask? All right, I'll ask! Ma'am, where do the high school girls hang out in this town?"

Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt edition) from Fight Club - Again, another example of a person who is probably the polar opposite of me right now. First of all, I've never been into a fight, never been punched in the face, and never punched anyone in the face. He's very cut which every guy wouldn't mind being. Once again, he doesn't care what his nameless buddy (Edward Norton) thinks... he just does whatever he feels like doing whenever he feels like doing it. He's the ultimate free-spirited person. I love that he hates materialistic things. I love that he plays with people's minds to get them to do things he wants them to do... only they don't realize the only reason they are doing these things is because Tyler is messing with them.

John McClane from Die Hard - Besides having a bunch of cool one liners and always coming through in the clutch, John McClane is cool because he gets shot at like a billion times in one movie but he doesn't get so much as grazed once. Plus, he runs around in a dirty wifebeater all day. Who wouldn't like not having to worry about what kind of clothes you are wearing because you just know people are going to think you look cool... even in a dirty wifebeater. Plus, look at the "bad guys" he takes down. Simon Gruber... Hans Gruber... these are big league bad guys. Simon Gruber threatened to blow up an elementary school. That's (best Rick James voice)... cold blooded!

Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill - What is a chick doing on this list you ask? Don't worry... I asked myself the same question. She's arguably as tough as anyone on this list, though. First of all she took a bullet to the dome like it was no big deal. As soon as she was back up and at it, what does she do? Go and try and kill each and every person remotely responsible. Plus, as a straight male, I would definitely rock that yellow jumpsuit if I was some sort of superhero. Seriously... it's cooler than the Superman or Spiderman tights. As far as girls go, I honestly challenge you to find a girl that's tougher than the bride. Plus, she learns the art of samurai from Hattori Hanzo who has the greatest combination of a white beard and eyebrows ever... how bad is that?

Will from Good Will Hunting - First of all, he's automatically smarter than everyone in the room which is something I've always admired. I mean, he outwit's a guy that goes to Harvard! Secondly, he's from Boston so he gets to have a sweet accent and he gets to cheer for the Red Sox. By the end of the movie, it's discovered he is going to have a ridiculously high paying job without ever having to go to college. Plus, while most people go to college and then have the painful experience of searching for a job that everyone did or will dread, he's basically picking which job he wants. The funny thing is, I kind of thought that's how it was when you come out of college. Little did I know... Anyways, I also forgot to mention with nearly no effort on his part, he meets up with a good looking girl with a cool accent. Seriously, you cannot top these sorts of things.

Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything - Lloyd Dobler is cool just because you know Lloyd Dobler. Lloyd Dobler is that friend you have that you just can't say anything bad about. He's a nice guy and you know when it comes to the ladies, he deserves nothing but the best. Fact is, though, Lloyd is a little bit of a nerd. Apparently nobody told him, though, because he goes after the smartest girl in school who also happens to be pretty good looking. I love the fact that he has no idea what he wants to do with his life. His big plans are to be a kickboxer... that's it. He helps take care of his sister's son which is super cool. He makes sure nobody drives home trashed from a party - once again, pretty cool. The coolest thing about him is when the girl he wants tells him no, he doesn't just leave it at that. Instead, he shows up outside her window with the old school 80's boombox playing Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" in what is now known by me as the single best moment in chick-flick history. Say Anything is actually kind of the ultimate chick flick for guys. Someday, when I get married (and we may be talking 10-20 years now...), the dj *will* play "In Your Eyes" for the simple reason that Lloyd Dobler is the man.

"The Dentist - There is only one thing I can see that would suck about being "the dentist" and that is nobody likes to see you. Look at the job, though. It honestly can't be that tough. The assistants do all the work and then the dentist comes in for like two minutes with the scrapy hook shaped tool. He then says "remember to floss" and kicks you out the door. A few weeks later, you get the bill which is usually between $100-200 for like 15 minutes that you sit in that chair. Do the math... he can make $100 every 15 minutes and there are usually 2-3 other people when you are there, so we're talking some serious dough. Plus, look at the name on the sign. That means, if you want to take a couple days off of work or you plan on ducking out at noon on a Friday, that's alright... you run this place! I could say other high paying jobs like a doctor or a lawyer, but let's be honest. With a doctor, chances are you have to see someone die sometime... who wants to be a part of that? Being a lawyer would be boring... have you seen the size of the books they have to read?

Hansel from Zoolander - Why Hansel? I mean, the life of a male model can't be all that rewarding. You have to watch what you eat. You have to make sure you always look good when you go out in public. There is one thing you forget, though. That Hansel is just so hot right now! Seriously, being a male model would be kind of lame, but not if you were kind of the extreme male model who's into things like skydiving. Plus, even with the nose that looks like he's gone 15 rounds against Rocky Balboa, people still consider him good looking. The one nice thing about being a male model? It can't be tough. I mean, you show up to a photo shoot and wait for some moron to get the lighting right. Show the pearly whites... instant fattening of the pockets. Plus, if you were a male model, I'd guess you would have a better shot with good looking female models, no?

Nightcrawler from the X-Men - As a kid, I was all about Wolverine. He had those cool Freddy Krueger hands, plus he was the strong silent leader. As I've gotten older, though, I've started to have a change of heart. It all started in about 6th grade when I first played the X-Men arcade game. Nightcrawler was by far the quickest making him my favorite. Around 7th grade, I started to actually read the comic book and I really found myself liking Nightcrawler. He looks like he should be a bad guy, but he's got such a soft heart. After seeing the second X-Men movie, it was confirmed that Nightcrawler is not only my favorite X-Men mutant, but also probably my favorite comic book character period. The opening scene in X2 in the White House was worth the price of the DVD alone.

Ryu from Ninja Gaiden - I know if sounds a bit childish, but how sweet would it be to be a ninja? I first fell in love with the whole concept of being a ninja when I was a kid watching Ninja Turtles. I later started to think it would be cool again after watching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. After playing the old school Ninja Gaiden on NES and now again the new and improved Xbox version, I've gotta say it would be cool to be Ryu. I mean, he can just go lop someone's head off with his sword. Do you think he feels guilty? NopeDo you think he has to worry about getting caught? Nope. It was a tough choice between either Ryu or the Prince of Persia. They can both run along the sides of walls and do all sorts of crazy acrobatic backflips, I'm going with Ryu just cuz he's got that whole silent and very dark thing going for him.

Gil Grissom from CSI - Why would I want to be an old, fat, grey haired single guy? When it comes to being a professional working man, Gil Grissom is the man. He's the very best at what he does. He's seriously got a gift. I mean, it's amazing how he'll solve a triple homicide that nobody else can figure out based on three strands of hair and some baby powder residue or something. Plus, you know before it's all said and done he's gonna hook up with Catherine (complete babe for an older chick) even though he's a total nerd. You gotta respect the tight ship he runs. Everyone knows not to mess up, but he's also willing to forgive and forget like letting Warrick Brown back on the force even after his gambling problems back in season 1.

Tony Hawk - First of all, he's filthy rich. I'm not talking about being the guy with the nicest house in your town rich. I'm talking about who's rich enough that he could probably buy your whole town. How did he get so rich? Selling stocks and bonds? Nope... selling skateboards, t-shirts, shoes, and videogames. Seriously... someone try to convince me that's not the life. I've already tried to live through him on all the Pro Skater games. Plus, you've gotta respect the fact that he seems like a really good dad. I had a period in my life where all I really did was work at a pizza place and skateboard. That period would have been great if my only concern was skateboarding. Besides all of that, it would be cool to be the absolute best of all time at your sport.

Tom DeLonge from Blink 182 - There are a few reasons behind this decision. First of all, I love music so being a professional musician would be awesome. Tom DeLonge looks cool playing the guitar. Besides looking cool, his songs are pretty sweet, yet easy to play. He's got a hot wife and he just became a dad for the first time. Some musicians will have you believe that life on the road is rough. Let's see: wake up whenever, play videogames and work on your music all afternoon, play a show in front of thousands of fans at night, and then do pretty much whatever you want to do the rest of the night. Sounds terrible! Oh yeah, did I mention that your pockets are just fat with cash?

Well... I hope that does something for someone. I really enjoy making these sorts of posts. Anyways, I've gotta finish watching the Red Sox game. If it's a blowout, I might actually go to bed early. I skipped my run today, but part of the reason was because I'm gonna wake up before work and run about an hour or so. I've also gotta head up to Fargo for Speed & Accel. That dreaded treadmill is going to get the best of me one of these days! If you get bored, come drop a line to me & the rest of the crew at the forums. I also threw some random pictures up in the photo gallery, so you might want to check that out. Anyways, have a good day and we'll speak at ya later!

If you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white,
-B-

Dot... Dot... Dot...

• I read an article in the Star Tribune today and this is no joke what the headline said: "Kelly Ripa a more desirable roomie than Regis, survey finds." Really... is this news to anyone? For an old guy (and I'm talking like 73), Regis is incredibly cool, but how is he going to touch a younger, good looking, cutesy girl? Seriously... seriously - Kelly Ripa might be about number 2 on my "if she wasn't married and I was a bit older..." list behind Elisabeth Hassleback (formerly of Survivor). Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, David Letterman and Tony Danza were all people that were also ahead of Regis Philbin. My question to you is who are these people who'd want to live with Tony Danza? I'm surprised that same person didn't choose Scott Baio or Kirk Cameron. Tony Danza...
  
• Has anyone bought or rented a movie based on a one line caption on the cover? I've made it known I hate floating heads on dvd covers. If you don't know what a floating head refers to, run down to the local video store and you'll notice at least half the covers feature just a headshot of the actors seemingly suspended in midair. Besides the floating head, "the caption" has become the newest thing I hate. I put up the Good Will Hunting cover because it wins the award for best movie with a terrible dvd cover. This movie cover had so much potential, yet what do you get? At the bottom, you've got Ben Affleck trying to look devilishly handsome or something. If you'll look closer, though, you'll notice he doesn't have any hair and/or clothes because it all blends into Minnie Driver and Matt Damon's blazer. Above him, you have Minnie Driver trying to do some stupid little head tilt. Apparently, she is tired from having Matt Damon and Robin Williams getting a piggyback ride or something. Above her you have Matt Damon rocking his best Tiger Beat smile with his Mr. Rogers sweater. On the top of the celebrity totem pole is Robin Williams. Apparently there is something very interesting going on to the Robin's left because we get the nice portrait view mugshot of him. The only thing I can see is what seems to be the Jefferson Memorial, but that doesn't make any sense because they are in Boston. Then you've got the top little "Miramax Collector's Series Widescreen" crap at the top that takes up about 1/5 of the total dvd cover. Seriously, give me an teenie little bar that says widescreen and we're good. Then below that, you've got the names in a huge all-caps font as if you didn't recognize any of the actors from their mugs on the left. What really bothers me is the huge "Academy Award Winner" bit which is larger than the title of the movie. It won an Academy Awards? Really, so did Titanic and that movie sucked, so why should I care? This, my friends, is quite possibly the worst cover besides a classic Val Kilmer flick named "Real Genius" (might want to Google that yourself) ever.
  
• This is another great example of high schools going to ridiculous lengths to reinforce rules that are... well, ridiculous. First printed on espn.com, I read a story about 26 high school cross country runners who were disqualified for wearing the yellow "Livestrong" bracelets sold by Lance Armstrong's foundation in order to raise money for cancer. They were disqualified because they wore the rubber band bracelets which are ruled jewelry and thus are illegal. As the article points out, runners are allowed to wear watches, though. I went through my whole junior and senior year of basketball wearing a WWJD bracelet which I still wear to this day. I cannot imagine someone being such a jerk that they decided they are going to disqualify a bunch of kids for wearing a bracelet supporting the fight against cancer. Once again, this is a great example that some people just have entirely too much time on their hands.
  
• Have you noticed that public service announcements have gotten more and more lame as time has gone by? Think back to the 80's... there was two absolutely classic PSA's that ran probably every single day. The first one was in the kitchen and then some random guy did the "This is your brain... (cracks the egg and starts it cooking) This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?" You would almost think that couldn't be topped until you saw the crash test dummies commercials. Who didn't want to "buckle your safety belt" after watching those two crazy mofo's go flying throw windshield after windshield? Honestly... why are their no good public service commercials like that anymore? Actually, why are their no good commercials anymore? Everytime I see one of those crappy rehashes, I just want to strangle someone. Coors is the worst... we're going on like year 12 of the "...and those twins..." commercials which were funny the first 12 times you watched them. They also ruined a good thing when resorted to the "wing dog" commercial.

I'm a dummy - I forgot to mention that I updated the photo gallery page with some of my pictures from Twin Cities. I finally got my pictures from my digital camera. They look pretty snazzy, so I definitely think you should check them out! Anyways, I'm going to call it a day, so we'll talk at ya later!

If you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white,
-B-

Where I’m coming from…
The 2004 version of the Twin Cities Marathon was my second TCM and my third total. My first marathon, the Twin Cities last year, was a bit of a train wreck and I barely broke five hours with an official time of 4:59:53. After a good winter of training, I went into Grandma’s more prepared and subsequently ran a 3:57. After Grandma’s, I took it easy for a couple weeks and then started back training again for TCM (Twin Cities Marathon for those of you who haven’t put two and two together). I trained a lot harder for this than I ever have for either other marathon. For my first marathon, I think I may have topped out around 40 miles a week and I *know* I never ran more than 45 miles in a week. For Grandma’s, I haven’t done the math, but I’m pretty sure my average was around 45 miles a week and I topped out at 60 once. For Twin Cities, I did the Pete Pfitzinger 12-week program. If you throw out the three weeks of tapering, I averaged 64 miles per week with a peak week of 70 twice.

Pre-race day…
Work sucked Friday Tapering sucked more I started off Saturday morning with a nice four mile jog at a really relaxed pace. I stayed at my aunt’s house on Friday night and she has a nice ¾ mile path covered in woodchips about a half mile from her house, so that was nice to help save the legs. After that, I went with my sister, aunt and twin cousin’s to the Saturday family events. My cousin Alyssa ran the half mile and I ran it with her. She’s only five years old and still in preschool, yet somehow I snuck her into the 3rd and 4th grade race. Mostly because she’s an impatient five year old, but it’s not like it really mattered. She was really excited to get her race shirt and (gasp!) a finisher’s medal. After the “race”, I headed down to the Xcel Center to hit up the race expo. I was really impressed with the expo this year. While I went last year on Friday and avoided the crowds, this year I couldn’t make it until Saturday. It didn’t really make any difference, though, other than Saturday was a little more crowded than Friday. I spent entirely too much money at the expo, although it would’ve been an acceptable amount if I didn’t drop $80 on some new shoes (New Balance 1023). They were $100 online and the cheapest I’d seen them in stores was $90. If I was rich and/or smart, I would’ve picked up about 5 pairs, but what can ya do? I also got a nice shirt that says “One More Mile” – it would’ve been cooler if it wasn’t a questionable purple color, but it was only ten bucks. I also got some running tights – one pair in red and one pair in white. Normally I stick with all black running tights, but I figured that’s kind of boring, so why not switch it up a bit. I think I’ve already established that there are maybe 3 single girls around my age that live in Perham, so it’s not like I have anyone to impress. I also got a chance to talk to Dick Beardsley at one of the booths for around 10 minutes. I just went up and told him I’ve run his half-marathon twice and thought it was a real classy event. We then got to talking about running. He ran the Air Force Marathon about two weeks ago, so I asked him how that went. He said it went well except he felt pretty terrible the first 17 miles. He’s a great guy and he’s so easy to talk to – if you ever get a chance to say hello, I highly recommend it. Saturday night after the expo, we ran to Olive Garden to carbo load. I’d probably had four Gatorade’s and plenty of water all day, but I hadn’t been taking in a ton of carbs like I needed to be. Two big plates of all-you-can eat pasta and 8 breadsticks later, the lack of carbs problem was more than solved. After the meal, I went to my aunt’s house and laid all of my running stuff out making sure I had a chip, number, and everything else I’d need. I was feeling tired around 9:30, so I figured it’d be easy to fall asleep. Wrong! At 10:00, I threw in a Jerry Seinfeld standup dvd… and preceded to watch the whole hour and a half. I was starting to get nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep. The only thing I could think about at that point was the clock saying 4:00 AM and still being awake. After the Seinfeld dvd, I threw in Return of the Jedi but turned the volume down so I could hear the beeps and whirring noises, but I couldn’t make out the dialogue. I still probably “watched” 45 minutes of that movie before falling asleep.

Race day…
Woke up at 5:30 and got all my stuff ready. Had a Gatorade and bowl of oatmeal. My dad gave me a ride to the Metrodome and then went back to pick up my mom, sister, aunt, and two cousins who were all coming to watch. My dad must’ve been spaced out as he was driving because before long he started getting mad because he was heading towards 35E instead of 35W. As we drove by 35W, I kinda thought to myself ‘Hmm… I thought that took you like two blocks from the Dome.’ He grew up down in the Cities, though, so I didn’t say anything. Once he figured out we were going the wrong way, he started apologizing, but I just said “Well, that’s why I like to go extra early.” I got to the dome a little before 7:00. I headed in and immediately got in line for the bathroom for a little “carbo unloading.” I walked around the dome a little bit to a) see if there was anyone I knew and b) to see if there was any good looking girls. I’ll pretend like if I saw one sitting by herself or something, I would’ve casually tried to small talk, but we all know I’ve got no game and I would’ve never said a word. Right around 7:00, I ate a Clif Bar as I always do 1 hour before a race (superstition). After a few minutes, I headed back into the line for the bathroom because I knew I’d have to go again. I ate some Sharkies which are some fruit snacks with a little more complex carbs and a little less sugar. They kind of taste “healthy,” but they have a boatload of carbs in ‘em, so they work. About 7:35, I headed outside to throw my sweat bag to be transported to the finish line and headed to the finish. I had run a qualifying time (under 1:45 half), so I was eligible for the first wave start for the first time. Last year, everyone was going crazy and climbing the fence to get into the coral, but this year they made it very clear that nobody was to climb the fence. I only saw one guy climb the fence. Security tried to pull him down. If it wasn’t marathon day and I was that guy, I would’ve let go and just made sure my head bumped the ground. Can you imagine the lawsuit you’d have if someone pulled you off a fence and you banged your head? Anyways, I don’t know if the guy got “disqualified” or whatever, but at that point I didn’t care. It was race time which meant it was time to show if all the work I’ve done over the last year and a half (and some change) meant anything.

Mile 1 -7:48 – Going into the race, my “if everything goes perfect” goal was 3:20, but I would’ve been happy with anything under 3:40. I planned on going out around 3:20 pace (about 7:38/mile and seeing how long I could hang, though). I always like to go out a little slower than goal pace, so I was pretty happy with this mile. I ran most of this mile with a really nice guy named Matt or Mike (I’m terrible with names) who was going to grad school at the U.
Mile 2 – 7:26 – Yikes… I was hoping to running between somewhere between 7:40 and 8:00 for the first three miles. This was a tad faster than I wanted to be. Normally I wouldn’t worry, but my shoulders were really tight and my body wasn’t really loosening up. It was right at the mile marker for 2 that I saw my family, two aunts, an uncle, and two cousins cheering me on.
Mile 3 – 7:47 – I purposely ran this one a bit conservative. The last thing I wanted to do was go out to hard because I’ve made that mistake before. I was really starting to get concerned, though, because my body wasn’t feeling right and, for whatever reason, I didn’t think I was in the mental state of mind to really push myself if I needed to. Oh yeah, I saw former Viking and current Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page outside his house playing tuba on this mile which was pretty cool.
Mile 4 – 7:29 - At least I was starting to settle into my pace around this mile. I still wasn’t feeling good, but I was pretty close to where I wanted to be as far as pace was concerned. This part of the race was around the Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun area which I’ve ran a few times, so it was nice being in familiar surroundings.
Mile 5 & 6 – 15:03 These two averaged out to around 7:31. I actually didn’t miss mile 5, but I must’ve not hit my split hard enough. I love the Twin Cities Marathon, but one (of two) complaints I have is that they have water stations right at the mile marker. I also popped my first Gel (raspberry Hammer Gel) and was hoping maybe the sugar would be what I needed to give my body a little boost.
Mile 7 & 8 – 15:11 – These two miles averaged out to be about 7:35. I completely spaced mile 7 until about 20 seconds after the green balloons marking the miles. I didn’t want to hit the split because I didn’t want an inaccurate split. I saw my family again at mile 7 around Lake Harriet. It always gives me a little boost seeing someone I know in the crowd, so it was nice. Body and mind were still in a questionable state, so I was actually getting a bit worried. Once again, though, the splits were fine, so all I could do was keeping pushing and see what I could do.
Mile 9 – 7:34 - Popped my second gel (apple cinnamon Hammer Gel) this mile. Not a whole lot was happening this mile. The crowd support was a little sparse, but that was already. I was planning when I wanted to throw on some tunes. I usually run marathons with my mp3 player, but don’t turn it on until I feel like I need a bit of a boost. At Grandma’s, I didn’t put the headphones on until mile 20. I was already planning to put them on this time at around 14. Scary…
Mile 10 – 7:27 - The weirdest thing happened on this mile. I was just going about my business as usual. When I’m not looking for someone in the crowd, I naturally look at the grown (for the most part) when I run. I knew my family was planning on being at mile 11, so I wasn’t really looking in the crowd. Then out of nowhere, someone yells “Go Brent!” I look over and it’s some guy I didn’t recognize. He says “I read your website.” How cool is that? I still don’t have a clue who it was? Jesse from Oshkosh is my best guest, but let me know whoever you are. And thanks a lot because for some reason that kind of gave me a bit of a boost for a bit.
Mile 11 – 7:27 - Saw my parents again. I don’t like this mile very much because I keep thinking I’m almost to the right hand turn we make during the next mile. I’ve run this course twice and driven it twice and not once have I figured this out.
Mile 12 – 7:36 - I actually kind of like this mile even though this is like the only part of the course we aren’t surrounded by trees. I saw a girl flash someone else in a running bra. Don’t know what the point of that was since you could look anywhere and see about 10 girls in running bra’s. There was one girl named Tracy wearing a running bra by me for about 10 miles. I knew her name was Tracy because I probably heard 500 people say “Go Tracy!”
Mile 13 – 7:33 - Almost to the magical halfway point and I still wasn’t feeling good. I still don’t know what the deal was. I popped a Clif Shot (strawberry) at the water stop on this mile. This is a fun mile because there are a ton of people and they are normally listening to music and all that jazz. Plus, I got to hear some hip hop which was a nice change from Eye of the Tiger by Survivor (from Rocky) and the Chariots of Fire theme music. When it comes to running, I’ve made a few changes I said I’d never do - the biggest being that I listen to slightly shorter running shorts. I can promise you that I will never listen to this music just because I want to. I honestly bet I’ve heard that stupid song from Rocky about 50 times in my three marathons. It’s almost as annoying as hearing the “you’re almost there” like two hours before you’re even planning on finishing.
Mile 14 – 7:44 - Went through the half around 1:39 which would be my second fastest half-marathon ever. My PR, set in August, is 1:34:34, so I’m not too far behind that pace. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but I would soon find out. I saw my dad once and my sister twice this mile, but apparently I flew by my mom and aunt without noticing. As soon as they were out of sight, I put on the headphones because I was still feeling pretty meh. Mile 15 – 7:34 - You want to know the weird thing? Towards the end of this mile, I actually started feeling good! Before this point, I was half-waiting for the wheels to fall off and just kind of see what I’d need to do to finish. I was starting to look at my splits and realize that I was still under where I had wanted to be.
Mile 16 – 7:36 - West River Road is a really pretty part of the race. I just don’t understand why there isn’t anymore crowd support. I suppose there are only houses on one side of the street which automatically cuts spectators in half, but the next few miles are a few that I think would be easier with the extra crowd.
Mile 17 – 7:42 - Popped Clif Shot number four here (raspberry) The nicest thing about this mile is that there are finally less than a double digit number of miles to go. Once again, this is on West River Road and there wasn’t a whole lot of crowd. It was alright though because around this point is where I start to change from “just running” to focusing a little more on where I am versus where I wanted to be. Since my body was feeling the best earlier, I was half expecting to start slowing down the next few miles considerably.
Mile 18 – 7:47 - Well… slowing down five seconds is certainly nothing that I was about to worry about. It was weird because the other two marathons I’ve run, a lot of people have been walking and really slowing down by this point. I’m pretty sure the reason I didn’t see as much of that this year because I was running faster, but it was weird nonetheless.
Mile 19 – 7:55 - This mile was the last mile in Minneapolis. I was looking forward to getting to St. Paul because I knew it meant I was getting closer to the finish, but I also knew entering St. Paul meant entering the hardest part of the course (aka – the hills!) By this point in the race last year, I think I had already walked two or three times and as bad as I felt earlier, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.
Mile 20 – 7:53 - Popped Clif Shot number 5 on this mile (Cola Buzzz… it’s awesome – tastes just like Coca Cola!) It was just completely strange, though. I hit the 20 mile mark which most people associate with “the wall” yet I was feeling as strong as I had at any point in the race. Mentally, it was a bit of a shock not to be slowing down at this point. At this point in Grandma’s, I ran a 9:33 mile which kind of tells you how much better off I was. I was also doing the math figuring that if I didn’t slow down at all, which I thought was highly unlikely, I could still go under 3:20. I think I predicted I’d run a 3:26 or 3:27 at this point if everything went well
Mile 21 – 7:56 - I was starting to hit the hills, yet I still was staying under an eight minute mile, so I was really pumped. I think I was starting to look better, too, because possibly every single person in the crowd told me “you’re looking good.” I don’t consider myself a particularly attractive individual, so either people in general have a different view of me or the crowd was so unoriginal at this point they told everyone that. I guess I can’t say for sure…
Mile 22 – 8:49 - Don’t let the split fool you; I didn’t just fall off the wagon this mile. This mile is the mile that gets most people if another mile hasn’t already gotten ‘em. It’s not the hugest hill ever, but it is pretty much uphill the whole mile. I knew I was going to be over eight minutes, but I ran the hills a little conservatively. This mile was the first mile that I really, really didn’t feel very good. During a marathon, I always have ups and downs – sometime within about 30 seconds or so. At this point in the marathon, though, if I have a bad mile, it usually means that every mile is going to be a bad mile.
Mile 23 – 9:09 - Popped the last Clif Shot (Cola Buzz again). Once again, wasn’t the greatest mile, but don’t let the split fool you. If the last mile is mostly uphill, this mile is completely uphill. Even Dick Beardsley said, in not so many words, that Summit Avenue doesn’t seem like it should be that tough, but at that point in the race it just sucks. As slow as I was running, people weren’t exactly flying by me or anything. I have a feeling most people were in a similar situation as me. It is mentally knowing you “only” have about 5k left because that’s a distance that doesn’t seem quite so insurmountable.
Mile 24 – 8:33 - This mile I think was a similar effort as the last two, but it wasn’t so much uphill. The nice thing about hitting the 24 mile mark is you are basically done with the hills. It’s funny how much quicker this part of the race goes when you aren’t walking at least ¾ of the time like I was last year. As much as I don’t overly love Summit Avenue, it does have great crowd support which is much appreciated.
Mile 25 – 8:53 - Was starting to cramp just a little bit in my right calf and my left hamstring. It wasn’t a constant cramp like at Grandma’s, but just a quick shooting pain every two or three minutes. I was worried, though, because it’s a short, painful cramp that would be more likely to send me crashing to the ground. I was excited to see my family again at this mile and I think they were surprised that I was still looking pretty decent. Even though I was hurting a little bit, I dodge over to the side of the road to give my little cousin’s high fives. In comparison to where I was now versus Grandma’s a little over three months ago, I ran an 11:41 mile at this point.
Mile 26 – 8:56 - This is where all those people can finally yell “you’re almost there” and I really don’t care. Another weird thing in this mile – I saw a girl (Erin) who is student teaching in Perham and also helping out managing with the cross country team. This was another case where she yelled “Brent! Go Perham!” and I turned and half-recognized her. I think when my brain put two-and-two together, I said something really intelligent… like “Hey” which probably sounded more like a grunt or something with the obligatory wave. Good looking out, dummy! I don’t think most people are going to hold something you say at mile 26 against you, though.
Last .2 – 1:40 - There is a New Found Glory song that’s titled “All Downhill from Here.” By this point, you can see the finish, so I just leaned forward and gave it everything I got. One guy passed me about 200 meters from the finish and I said the normal “good job.” He said “Come on… let’s finish strong,” so I tried to push it pretty good. With about 50 meters left, I tried to really kick it down and my left calf just absolutely seized. I can’t wait to see the pictures from the finish because I’m pretty sure you can see me almost fall down. I felt okay before I tried to kick it, but apparently I just didn’t have another gear in me at that point.

Finish time and a new PR by 30 minutes and 36 seconds – 3:26:41

I felt just golden! Within five minutes, any ache and pain I had was gone. I got the medal, got the aluminum foil-y thing (what is that even called!?!), the t-shirt, a little food, and then met up with my family. They were just shocked that I’d run as fast as I did. I wasn’t shocked, but I definitely was pleasantly pleased. I went and picked up a polo shirt so that I can wear it to work tomorrow and headed home. To emphasize how pain-free I was feeling, I gave my five year old cousin a “ride” on my shoulders for about a half mile while we walked to the car.
I don’t know if he still reads this, but I’d like to say a big sorry to the former Perham cross country coach Brad Hickerson. Not only should I have went out for cross country when he asked me in to go out in 12th grade, I should’ve already been in it since at least 9th grade. I think this race kind of solidifies my opinion of myself which is that I’m starting to turn into a pretty decent runner. So, what’s next? I was thinking of doing a winter marathon, but I’m not sure. I need a 3:11 to qualify for Boston and I think if I work hard and be patient, I will have a good shot at making that next year. As of right now, I’m planning on running the 1st annual Fargo Marathon in early May and then Grandma’s again in June. I’d like to hit a few 5k’s, 10k’s and half-marathons later this fall and this winter, but for now I’m going to go hit the swimming pool to start swimming laps for the first time in my life starting tomorrow before work. I didn’t take enough time off after my last marathon. I’m not even going to jog until Wednesday (not counting all the running around I’ll do at the cross country meet on Tuesday), so I’m all about healing my body and getting back in the swing of things as soon as my body tells me it’s ready. Thanks all for the support, and if you’ve made it this far, I hope you were at least somewhat interested in what I have to say.

If you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white,
-B-