Tone's Rock 'n Roll Marathon

Winner of the Stud of the Year Award...

Tone would far and away easily win my Stud of the Year Award just by being Tone… and now he goes and runs a marathon in just about four hours and totally just grabs the award from the trophy case before I have a chance to even think about how the award ceremony should go! My original intention was to go to several waypoints along the route and catch him at different points of the race… unfortunately, the time of 5am is not very friendly to me… So, with the end in mind, I was at least able to document the momentous occasion of that crossing of the finish line…

And there is Tone waving to his adoring fans...

So I have never been to a marathon, nor ever plan to actually participate in one, but there was something about being at the finish line that gets you – a bit emotional – if you will… Not in the teary-eyed sort of way, but a way that has to grip you no matter how much you loathe the idea of running a mile or two, or twenty six point two… You are standing at the peak of the Everest of thousands and thousands of - in my opinion – crazy people and watching as each minute and day given up for this one moment completes itself in a ceremonial crossing of one line. It’s nearly spiritual, and if you ask Tone – it was. A consistent battle between two powers in your mind – one telling you to finish, the other telling you to completely quit now... one telling you that the cheering and supporting crowd is helping, the other telling you that all that support is just downright annoying… it screams spiritual, the same battles that run through the mind on a daily basis – it’s biblical… my post conversations with Tone later that night yielded the insight to an event that I may never experience in my own lifetime.. The closest I can liken his experience to is a season of playing football… that voice in your head… and you don’t realize the battle is over until your supporting fans greet you at the end for a meeting which verbal explanations can’t explain why/how you do what you do… I think we were all speechless.

That last picture of the writing on Tone’s arm was his feeding schedule… “goo, water, goo, water”… I’m telling you – completely crazy… I’m not too sure what motivates you to run so far, so hard, for so long, but there is a level of discipline, determination, and sheer guts that can only get you across that one line… I can’t even imagine... What a champ though…

And the last shot of Tone - slowing down behind the group just to soak it all in, pained and tired, ice on the calf - is a shot of a superhero… This guy did it somehow… and although I don’t think I’m crazy enough to run a marathon – cuz I swear it takes some kind of crazy - it kinda makes you wanna get up and run - towards anything, for something…