What an experience!

Well, we did it! 26.2 miles through the desert. It only took a little over 11 hours and 22 minutes. It was hot, dusty, windy, painful, torturous, picturesque, inspiring, satisfying, exhilarating! So many words to describe this event. I got a call from someone at church when I was on one of the killer inclines around mile 9 and a half - I guess church had ended and there were people standing around talking, wondering where ol' Pastor Chad was at this point. So this person called me on the cell phone and asked me where I was at that point. "I'm at mile 9." "People here want to know why you're doing this." And the first thing I could think to say was, "Because it's here!" Truth is, I think it is a very hard to explain why I did this. There are many reason, but hard to explain. Adventure?... Maybe. Facing a personal challenge?... That's certainly a factor. But there's certainly more to it... and to be honest, there's more that I don't think I could explain well. Well, as I'm reading over what I write, it doesn't sound very eloquent either, so I'll just blame it on the water loss and heat stroke!

Yesterday morning I woke up around 2:40 to go to the bathroom (we'd been very conscious of hydrating) but since we'd planned to wake up- and start getting ready around 3AM, I figured it would just be harder to try and fall asleep for 20 minutes and have the alarm wake me up, than to just stay up and start getting ready. Once we all got ready, we all got our gear and went to the car and drove off towards Post.

There was a pretty constant flow of traffic heading towards the front gate of Post, but still, it wasn't too bad getting through security. They asked us for ID, then wanted to confirm we were there for the Memorial Bataan March. We said yes, and he must have thought we weren't very motivated, because he wanted us to be a little more enthusiastic about it. We would have choked him, but it was too early to move so fast... plus he had a gun.

Then we followed the traffic to the parking area, found ourselves a spot, and sat and waited... and waited... and waited. We had a few trips out- to go to the bathroom (remember the hydration thing?). We went to find out where we needed to go, what we might have needed to do - us, and the six thousand other people! The people!! Amazing. And we'd go back to our vehicle and wait some more. Partly we waited there because the wind was VERY strong and steady. That was our introduction to the desert grit.

Once we got to our place in the starting area, we got a chance to be part of the starting events. First they had the color guard carry out the American flag, and played the national anthem. It really felt powerful to be able to salute again at the National Anthem. And in a simple but moving ceremony, they played reveille in honor of those who fell at Bataan, and then read the names of those survivors who died since the last memorial march. Then they played Taps, and all the military people again went to attention and saluted to honor fallen brothers.

Then they fired the start cannon, and off we went! And by "off we went" I mean we all sort of shuffled ahead with everyone, following the people in front of us, as we moved like a bunch of sardines in a very large tin. And once we crossed the start line, the chips we'd tied to our boot laces caused the electronic counter to beep... and since there were so many of us crossing all at once, the individual beep sounds ended up sounding like one long electronic tone.

The first 3 miles were still located on the populated part of post, and to put the number of participants in perspective, we were still all lumped together for probably the first 6 or seven miles. And it wasn't until about mile 10 that people didn't start spreading out. And by that I mean there were just a few less people... still pretty crowded. And then by about mile 17 was where the people really did spread out. In fact around that point, there were times that you didn't see anyone for a while. Imagine walking in the desert, on a dirt, dusty path, with wind blowing dusty grit on pretty much anything... and not seeing anyone!

Let me paint you a picture of what any random mile was like... you're walking, trying to not let the pain stop you - pain in your feet, pain in your hips, pain in your back and knees - but more, having your mind control your body. You will keep going! You will keep walking! You will make it! as the wind blows grit on you - every time I'd wipe sweat off my brow, I'd take off my sunglasses, and I'd see dust all over them. I stopped bothering to do that after the first ten miles. The path would periodically change from hard road, to hard packed dirt, to the infamous "sand box", about a mile and a half long stretch of sand (at around mile 21).

We ended up stretching out along the path. One of us got a fun Blackhawk (helicopter) ride to Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces where he got treated for heat exhaustion... but he made it to mile 18 and a half! Still a tremendous accomplishment in itself!

And miss Karen to to be treated for a separated toe nail, so her plan was to keep going- at her pace - and see how long she could go and then stop, if need be. And Mike and I just kept going to try and beat the 8PM time limit. We ended up separating at about mile 22, where her toe got treated by the medics at the Aid station. (There were water points and medical stations placed across the route- and people on four-wheelers and trucks going up and down the trail looking for injured people.)

So Mike and I ended up walking along until the end together. We weren't talking too much after about mile 24- it was basically keeping one foot in front of the other, and walking through the pain. The last few miles took us around the back of the house on post, we walked on the dirt trail abutting the wall separating the the housing from the desert. And those miles seemed so long! At mile marker 23 there was a water point, and a little girl offering us small American flags for us to carry. I took one, but I'd already been carrying a little flag I got prior. So by this point I had two flags. Then I ended up seeing another of those small flags on the ground, and since I don't like seeing the American flag on the ground, I picked up that one as well- so by that point I ended up with 3 flags.

Mile 25 to 26.2 was the longest mile! It kept going on and on and on! And the last tenth of a mile, we turned off that dirt trail to cross the the finish line. Just before we got to the finish line... Mike took it upon himself to start sprinting, so I took it upon myself to sprint with him. And we crossed the line - at 11 hours and 22 minutes! And what an experience that was. Certainly a strong emotional experience! At the end, people in the "heavy" division had to weigh their packs so I had to get it weighed - ended up being just a little over 50 lbs. And 16 minutes later... miss Karen comes across the line, with a missing toenail and all!!!!

What an experience! and we all did well! We faced the dragon, and have made it our friend! What a trip this was! I'm proud of our accomplishment and achievement! We did well - all of us! There is more to say, beside the thoughts on the even itself, that have more to do with the the motivation, with what we endured, with the challenge of it all, with the sense of surpassing your physical limits and continuing to move forward in spite of the pain. Theres' something to say about how this has changed us. But that's for another day.

Would we do this again? Ask me next month!