Not being one to have done a lot of races before, my soon to be wife talked me into trying a roller blading marathon. I had skated many times before and while not the easiest thing for me, I thought I would have no problem. One mile into the 26.2 mile race, I hit a tar snake (a.k.a. tar repair strip) on the road and crashed bad (so much for my brand new outfit I bought just two days before). I tore the back of my shirt, skinned my knees, and worst of all, bent the bottom of my skates. I skated for 10 miles on bent skates before I started having foot/ankle pain. At 16 miles, I actually had to stop to check my skates and then realized they were bent. I kept on until mile 21, by which time I was stopping every 1-2 blocks to rest my foot. Finally I could not stand on the roller blade any more. I took off the roller blades and was going to walk bare-foot to the finish. Luckily, a fan watching asked what shoe size I was. He was exactly my size. He gave me his shoes, and luckily he was a runner, so I ran the last 5 miles to the finish. Well, I lost a lot of ground, but I did pass some people believe it or not. This was my worst race ever. Out of 1,929 skaters, I was 1,870th place. My total time was 2:45.58. I was not that far from the last place person in 3:15.14. It was a lesson in humility, but a testament to my determination to finish what I start. Sorry, Angela, for making you late for your own wedding shower since you had to wait for me to finish. The picture of me running while carrying my roller blades and wearing my helmet is one of the true gems in my picture collection and I must say is one of the funniest pictures ever taken of me.
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