Author: Andy Smallman

Two days after the marathon, it’s still occupying a lot of my thought space.

In the days leading up to the marathon I found myself questioning my ability to complete it. I had encountered some specific physical challenges in my longer training runs. And as more people starting talking about me running, the more pressure I was feeling about HAVING to succeed. That was an interesting part of the experience, too. I had to address a fear that I might let someone down.

Then something remarkable happen. The morning of the marathon I found myself fully relaxed. I mean I was stoked to run but my nervousness about it had vanished. Standing in the cold, moments before starting, I entered a profound sense of comfort. I had the awareness and satisfaction that months of preparation had led me to this moment. When I ran the half marathon last year, I was crazy-jazzed, adrenaline-filled at the start. This year, I was calm and collected.

And then I just got in a groove and ran.

Melinda took this photo of me just past Mile 14 of yesterday’s Seattle Marathon. That means the person in this photo (me!) has already run a half marathon! This was also Melinda’s and my predetermined water bottle exchange point. I’m reaching out to hand Chloe my empty bottle so she can give me the full one I had prepared before the race. The trade-off worked perfectly. In fact, seconds after the exchange, Melinda and the girls ran with me for 100 yards or so.

Don’t underestimate the value of one’s support team. That was something my friend Duncan told me after he ran the Portland Marathon in October. It’s certainly true.

I first saw Melinda at Mile 2, not far from PSCS and when things were so early that I was completely fresh. I next saw her and the girls, who she had gone home to pick up, at Mile 11. Next was this water bottle exchange at Mile 14. Mile 19 & Mile 21 were the last places before the finish.

Kudos to Melinda and the girls!

That was my “chip” time, and basically the same time I caught myself running on my watch. My “official” time is about a minute and a half more, but still under the 4 hours and 20 minutes that basically constitutes 10 minute miles.

In some ways, even after months of training, I can’t believe I did it. I ran a marathon, all 26.2 miles. I kept going when we got to the infamous Seattle hills in the last 5-6 miles, not stopping to walk them like so many people around me did. And I didn’t stop after mile 23, the point at which I hit the infamous “marathon wall.” My mind was playing serious tricks on me at that point and I was running on a crazy blister on the bottom of my right foot that popped a few miles earlier.

Many, many thanks to all those who offered me support, both before the marathon and during. A big shout-out to Melinda, Chloe & Ella, who located me at several points along the way and sent photos to our friends in France and local family. And special thank yous to PSCS alum Tynor Fujimoto who came out along the trail, alum parent Teresa Collins who cheered me on as I ran the horrendous Interlaken hill, to Greg & Perrin who cheered me on at the finish, and to Dwight & Michele who were there at the end to show their support, too.

Super special thanks to Laurent for his ongoing inspiration (and for staying up late in Nantes to make sure I finished), to Duncan for his local inspiration, and Bernard in Nantes who tried to follow me using Seattle traffic cameras.

Today’s photo was taken by Ella seconds after I crossed the finish line.

Tonight’s meaningless math fact: I will be spending 25% of the next 16 hours running.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me explain this photo. It’s a dawn simulator that I found on CraigsList today. Melinda isn’t a big fan of the lack of sunlight around these parts this time of the year. She gets up at 6:30 every morning, in the dark, to spend 30 minutes in front of a light box. I figured it might help her if she didn’t get up in the dark and went looking online today for a way for her to awaken to light.

What a find it was to discover this one for a fraction of its original price. And get this. The seller lives two blocks from where I grew up in Bellevue. But there’s more. He’s French. In fact, he and his family are moving home to Paris next week after living in the US for 8 years.

There’s a message in there somewhere.

That crazy math/time disease I have that makes me want to calculate how far things are away in the near future and compare them to how long ago that was in the near past is kicking in big time as Sunday morning’s marathon approaches. For instance, it’s 10:35pm on Friday night as I write this, so I’m expecting to be finishing the marathon in approximately 38 hours. 38 hours ago I was making myself a bowl of cereal to kick off the start of Thanksgiving day.

That doesn’t seem that long ago, if you know what I mean. Which means that the marathon isn’t that far away.

If you know what I mean.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the home of my brother Scott and his partner, Sally. Sally orchestrated a delicious dinner and the company was outstanding. We were excited to see all three of Scott’s girls. With Chloe & Ella both present, five of my parent’s seven grandchildren were there, which made for a great Thanksgiving for my parents who, of course, were present (along with my mom’s famous rolls and apple pie). Add the fact that today is my parent’s 54th wedding anniversary and the things to be thankful for only increase.

Also present were Alex and four additional guests of Scott’s and Sally’s. Totaled up, Sally had to plan a dinner for 16 people! Well done, Sally!

On the drive home Melinda had a short text exchange with her sister Brenda who, along with Greg and Perrin, were having a casual Thanksgiving with Dwight & Michele, Melinda’s & Brenda’s parents. We made a quick stop so everyone could say hi to Chloe. I got this picture of the grown up sisters.

So said Chloe just a second ago, having just used the PhotoBooth application and its strange settings. So really, this is what PhotoBooth does to you.

Yes, Chloe is home from college for the Thanksgiving holiday along with her boyfriend, Alex. Alex is staying with us, and having Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow with us at my brother’s, because his mom, dad and sister have relocated to Japan.

Chloe and Alex were here when Melinda & I got home from school early this evening. We all went down to University Village and the Veggie Grill for dinner. We wandered around U Village looking at the new shops, then stopped over at Fran’s for a chocolate.

In other words, things are just about perfect around here.

This is the oldest photo I have from when I became a “runner.” It’s from Nantes in early 2011, not far from our house there. It’s early enough in the running game for me that I’m wearing a cheap pair of high top basketball shoes, and a really long run for me would be 20 minutes.

On Sunday I’m running the Seattle Marathon and I am aiming to run for 4 hours longer than that. Without stopping.

I was inspired to run long distances by my French friend Laurent. A couple of months after I started running, back when 20 minutes was a long run, Laurent ran the Nantes Marathon. The next day I went out and ran for an hour. Seven months later, last November, I ran the Seattle Half Marathon. Now this Sunday, it’s the full.

Laurent wrote to me today to wish me well in the days leading up to the marathon, what is known as the taper phase.

Thanks, Laurent!

Well, it’s a better picture than last night’s as it’s clear and you can see both Claire and me. But I almost look angry, right? What with that facial expression and my finger pointing and all. You’d think I was lecturing to the crowd.

At least Claire looks friendly.

I *think* this was a moment when I was “joke-lecturing” to the audience at last night’s Teen Talking Circles event. I said something to the effect of you know that certain people are important to you when they keep reappearing in your life.

That’s the way it’s been for Linda Wolf, founder of Teen Talking Circles, and me.

In 1995, one of the moms at PSCS starting an after school girls group. In short order, all the PSCS girls started attended these events which gave them a forum for navigating some of the challenges of being a teen girl in our culture. It was a powerful experience.

An organization called Teen Talking Circles helped the girls and the facilitator create structure for these meetings. Much of this structure carried over to other aspects of PSCS. We begin and end each of our school days in “circle,” we have a special hour-long, school-wide circle every Monday afternoon, our major community events end in appreciation circles, and our graduation ceremonies were influenced by this concept.

So when Linda Wolf, the founder of Teen Talking Circles, asked me choose a student to come with me to represent PSCS at their annual feel-good/fundraising event, it was quite an honor. I just got back from the event and am thrilled to say that Claire, the PSCS student who spoke on the school’s behalf, was brilliant.

The photo is the best my cell phone could get of the Teen Talking Circle staff taking a bow on stage.