A Frozen Victory

Photo+donated+by+Logan+Duke+

Photo donated by Logan Duke

Bridget Squires, Staff Writter

On Sunday, November 30th eight of our own grizzlies took part in the Seattle Marathon.  Logan Duke, Jeff Gill, Isaac Ripley, Sawyer Carter, James Horne and Garren Arnold ran the full 26.2 miles, while Parker Rounds and Nick Stringer ran the half, which is still an impressive 13.1 miles.

Two of these country teammates, James Horne and Garren Arnolds came in the top five in the boy’s age division finishing the race in 3 hours and 38 minutes. “I was warned that around mile 18 I would hit “the wall” and would be reduced to walk. Despite the warning I kept running without any breaks and I wound up running all 26.2 miles without ever walking or stopping. My teammate Garren Arnold stayed with me the entire race and we crossed the finish line together, holding hands, tying for 4th in our age group. I loved the whole thing,” Horne said.

On the day of the race the temperature was below freezing at a balmy 27 degrees.

“I was covered from head to toe, including a bandana covering my mouth. For the first half of the race, we were fighting the cold. For the second half we were fighting the distance” Horne said.

The recovery was slower than the run,

“Okay so after the run um I wasn’t feelin too good in the stomach area so I thought to myself what would be the best kind of meal. And I thought to myself hey, half a box of pasta with butter salt and pepper and a little bit of cheese sounds delicious. So that’s what I had,” Duke said.

The next day coming to school you could say the boys were tired, they had just given their entire bodies a 26.2 mile workout.

“Um, I wish I would’ve gotten a cane the day before. I know that I felt like an old man. And Jeff was hobbling and using everything he could including elevators. Maybe next time we’ll be sure to get some wheel chairs before coming to school because we definitely needed them.” Duke said

No matter what the cost, if it be running in 27 degrees, being in some horrible pain the next day, or solely just the fact they ran 26.2 miles, these boys came out of the event with an experience they’ll never forget,

“I felt excited. I just ran a marathon. Admittedly, I carried my medal around for a week” Horne said,

“It was fun in a way because you know, it was like a team bonding experience that our guys got to run together. Afterwards you kind of felt you know like the actual pain of it but in reality it’s like ‘hey!’ who before the graduate high school has ran a marathon, not that many people.” Duke said.