The River Bank Run Miracle

The story you are about to read is true. Completely. Even the parts that you don't believe. Those especially are very, very true, and definitely happened. Here we go.

It was a dark and stormy.. wait no, that's not true. Okay, true from this point on. It was a chilly, overcast Saturday morning during the early spring in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The city was abuzz with energy because race day had finally arrived. *Pause* *rewind one day* It was a chilly, overcast Friday morning during the early spring in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The city was somewhat abuzz with energy because race day was only one day away.

Myself and two of my friends were signed up to participate in the 10k run event of the annual River Bank Run. 5k and 25k were also available, but 5k was too short, and the 25k would be impossible to finish. Impossible. It was myself, Rick, and Nick. I like this 10k because they have two clydesdale divisions. (over 190 lbs. and over 200 lbs.) I appreciate this because although I am by no means fast, when my finishing time is determined by body-weight, I trick myself into thinking I'm at least not slow.

I was the only one of the three runners who was planning to run the race at a higher than leisurely pace. I was also the only of the three runners who had run more than a few times in the months leading up to the race. That's why I needed to rewind one day. The night before the race, Nick called Rick. Nick had only run twice, I believe, in the weeks and months leading up to this day. Nick's phone call was an attempt to convince Rick to change their entry to the 5k run, if they even ran at all. Nick's left foot was also bothering him, which was a legitimate claim. ...This story is better understood if you are aware that a couple years earlier Nick was in a car accident. His vehicle exploded. Blown into pieces. (Don't believe it? Refer to the opening statement, please.) Nick barely survived, physically, but his mind was remarkably improved. Anyway, the heel pain was a residual effect of the fender bender he was in.

Rick staunchly refused to waver in his commitment to run the 10k and demanded that Nick man up and run it with him. Annnd I think now we can move forward to race day. So yeah, chilly, overcast and all that stuff.. Nick and I are on our way to the race. It's packed. This is the biggest 25k race in the U.S. On the way there Nick informed me that his right knee had now begun hurting. Also legitimate, but no excuse to not run 10 kilometers, right?

Parking was kinda crazy, so I dropped Nick off near registration and looked for a place to park, hoping for an open spot in the state of Michigan. I found one.

Meanwhile, Rick and his wife, Natalie, and their son, Lincoln had arrived, and were getting Rick registered. The plan was for all of us to register, give our registration things and warming layers to Natalie, and then run our hearts out. That was the plan. The Marine Corps taught me that the only thing you can plan on is that things will never go as planned. Nick had registered. I ran to the registration and signed up. I looked for Nick for quite some time. I found many other people I knew, but not the tallest person there. Rick had signed up, but I never saw him, either. The 10k race time was drawing nigh.

Finally Nick and I were able to link up with the aid of our cell phones. I quickly put the tag on my shoe, my number on my shorts, my phone in my race-goodie bag, and gave the bag to Nick. I figured that because I was actually hoping to finish well, I should get going. Selfish, perhaps, but justifiable.

At this point the stories of Rick, Nick, and Jonathan must depart, as I desire to keep the reader in the context of the story as it unfolded before me this day. I pushed through the mass of runners, trying to get somewhat close to my pace group. Too late. The horn blew. The race had begun. Three minutes later I crossed the starting line and began my agonizing half mile shuffle until the crowd thinned out. My wonderful race soundtrack that I programmed for every mile of the race was on shuffle, and my ipod was in this insane mode where if you shook it, it would skip to the next track. That little music plan of mine was quickly defeated as I skipped through songs every 3 seconds. I finally figured how how to swing my left arm so that the songs wouldn't skip, and got back to the task at hand.. being a fast clydesdale. I arrived at the first clock and realized my goal was impossible. I know finishing strong is key, but starting faster than a stroll is important as well. Nevertheless, I knew two girls who were running in the race, and I hadn't passed them yet, so in a panic I kept running, terrified that they may finish before me. (I'm a tad bit competitive.) At the halfway point I saw the girls parents, and they told me I was ahead of them. I relaxed. A little. I ran a little bit longer, and then I finished. Whee.

I was a few minutes off of my goal. I chose to look at it optimistically, though, and realized that I probably passed around 3,000 people during the race. I grabbed some water, a banana, and waited near the finish line for Rick and Nick. After a few minutes I saw the two girls I knew. I beat them. (I am positive they were not running very hard, though, and could have finished before me quite easily.) They went on their way, and I continued waiting for Rick and Nick. Further waiting occurred. I really needed to go to the bathroom, so I quickly ran to a port-a-jon that was only overflowing a little bit.

As I was heading back to the starting line to resume my task of spotting Rick and Nick, I found Rick! Only Rick, though. Not that finding Rick isn't a great thing.. I just expected to see Nick with him because they planned on running together.

(dramatization of our conversation)
Me:"Rick! You finished! Where's Nick?"
Rick: "I don't know! I haven't seen him yet!"
Me: "Weren't you going to run together?"
Rick: "Yeah! I don't know where that guy went."
*At this point, I realize that Rick is wearing heavy sweatpants, a heavy coat, and carrying a bag of race-goodies.*
Me: "Rick, why are you wearing all those clothes, and WHY are you carrying your race-goody bag?"
Rick: "I couldn't find Natalie [his wife] before the race, so I ran with all of this. People were looking at me soo weird. I think they thought I stole something."

Rick ran a 10k race with far more clothing than the weather required, and a bag full of junk. (It's not goodies when you've run with it for 10 kilometers.) As Rick recounted to me, he couldn't find Natalie or Nick, and the 10k was beginning so he started clear at the back. He intentionally hung out back there, hoping that Nick would come running up to jump in the race. A short distance into the race, Rick realized Nick wasn't back there, so he began passing people, hoping Nick was ahead of him somewhere. Rick also passed thousands of people, all while looking like a shoplifter running from the scene of a crime. People were openly questioning his style. "Lookit that guy! Why is he running with all that STUFF!?!" Don't question Rick's methods. He flew. But he didn't find Nick amongst the thousands of people left in his dust. He did find me, though, and we at least had each other.

As I mentioned at the beginning, it was a chilly day, (high 40’s, maybe) and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. We were also both pretty sweaty. My warming layers were in my car, my car keys were in my bag, and I last saw my bag with Nick. We waited a while for Nick at the finish line. Long enough that the 25k leaders were finishing. We hoped Nick wasn't still behind them. We decided to split up and begin looking for Nick. Or Natalie. Natalie would be a good find as well, as she had a phone, Rick's car keys, possibly my clothes and keys, Lincoln, and a generally joyful, warm spirit. Anything warm would be great.

Rick and I canvassed the downtown area for quite a while, reconvening every so often with nobody located. We also made several trips to our vehicles, hoping to find Natalie. I was the only one who knew where my car was, so we didn’t expect to find anyone there. We looked for a stick or something to write a message with on Rick’s vehicle, but it was very smudgy and completely illegible. We decided to leave a finishing pin in the driver’s window so that Natalie would know, if she came by, that we had finished the race and had been to the vehicle. Much thought was put into this form of communication, and I think Rick and I were both pretty pleased with our creativity.

Despite all of our creativity and searching, we didn't find Nick. Or Natalie. I did find many other people I knew, though. I would always ask them if they had seen a very tall guy with a white long-sleeve shirt or gray sweatshirt wandering around. Nobody had. It had now been over two hours since I finished the 10k.

Rick and I were at our meeting place near the goofy red sculpture when I found my friend, Tim. Tim had finished the 25k very quickly. Tim’s brother had a cell phone, so Rick and I asked to borrow it so we could at least call Natalie. Rick called, and she answered her phone!

(Dramatization of their conversation)
Rick: “ Hi! John and I are finished, but we can’t find Nick anywhere. Where are you?”
Natalie: “I saw Nick before the race, he gave me all of his stuff and went to find you.”
Rick: “Good! Well tell me where you are and we’ll be able to get warm and look for Nick.”
Natalie: “I’m by the goofy sculpture”
Rick: “Where?! We’re by the goofy sculpture!”
Natalie: “I’m on the stairs by the finish line.”
Rick: “We’re on the stairs by the finish line!! Where ARE you?!”
Natalie: “I’m right at the bottom of the stairs..”
Rick: “Are you sure?! John and I can’t see you any... oh never mind. We see you.”

Natalie was 10 feet away from us. This was not my proudest moment, considering I’m trained by the military to see needles in haystacks from 1000 yards away. But we found Natalie, and we were happy.

Nick had indeed left his things with Natalie, including my bag, which contained my keys and cell phone. I promptly waddled (muscles were pretty tight by now) to my car to move it next to Rick’s. I donned my warm clothes and met back up with Rick and Natalie. They still had not seen Nick. I found Nick’s cellphone in his things and checked it for voicemails. Nothing. I think there was a missed call from his sister, Angie, so I decided to call her. I was thinking maybe Nick found a phone somewhere, called his sister, and asked her to call his phone. It was a long shot, but it was the best shot we had at this point. (Based on the way I’m building this up, you’re probably going to think I’m about to find out where Nick is. If only that were the case.)

I called Angie, and there was no answer. I left a voicemail that we couldn’t find Nick, he could be badly injured somewhere, and there was definitely need to worry. (I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it probably resembled that.)

So, where are we? Rick, Natalie, Lincoln and I are standing between the goofy red sculpture and the finish line. It has been somewhere between two and three hours since I finished my run. We began debating Nick’s whereabouts..

(Dramatization of our conversation)
Me: “Maybe he finished before me, or I just missed him when I was running.”
Rick: “But you definitely started before him. So he would’ve been back by me.”
Natalie: “He didn’t find me until the 10k had already begun and the 25k runners were lining up. Rick, did you run with all your stuff?”
Rick: “Yes. It was horrible. But there’s no way Nick ran the 25k. He didn’t even want to run the 10k.”
Me: “He probably just ran by the 25k starters and jumped in the back of the 10k to find you.”
Rick: “I never saw him.”
Me: “Maaaybe... maybe he finished the 10k, wandered around, found someone he knew, and got a ride back to the townhouse. I could see him doing that. But then again, he’s extremely erratic, and I could see him doing just about anything. Except run the 25k.”
Rick: “He may not have even run. He didn’t want to.”
Me: “But he’s so careful with his money, I can’t believe he would pay for this race and then not run it.”

As you can see, Nick’s behavior was, and still is very difficult to predict. However, although some of his actions are very challenging to determine, I believe that I know exactly how Nick’s interaction with Natalie went before the race..

(Very accurate dramatization of their conversation)
*Nick walks up slowly. Very slowly.*
Nick: “Hi Natalie.”
Natalie: “Hi!”
Nick: “Soooo.. how’s it goin’?”
Natalie: “Good. Have you seen Rick?”
*Nick straightens up sharply and raises his eyebrows slightly*
Nick: “No I haven’t! *Quickly tilts head forward and slightly to the side* Have you?!”
Natalie: “No. He went to register and I haven’t seen him. And it looks like the 10k is about to begin.
Nick: “Yeahhhh.. Hmm.. Lookit that.”
*Nick looks at the race start for an unusually long time* (Usually people would scramble to make the race, but he’s probably debating some major ethical issue in his head right now)
Natalie: “Do you want to leave your stuff with me? Rick left to register a while ago, so I’m guessing he’s probably in that group somewhere.”
Nick: “Yeah, I guess that’d be good.”
*Nick hands Natalie our bags and his warming layers and puts his hands in his pockets. He’s really tall, though, so only half of his hands are in the pockets.*
Nick: Whelp! See ya!
*Nick turns abruptly toward the race, pauses for a moment, and starts running with the straightest form you’ve ever seen and a very unique stride.*

Back to our little group by the sculpture.. we had decided that Rick and his family would return to the vehicles to warm up, also hoping that maybe Nick had discovered our vehicles and was waiting by them. We had cellphone communication now, so I decided that I would continue roaming around the race area for sight of Nick. I walked south along a ledge toward the finish line area, searching the recovery area as well.

Suddenly, as I was scanning around me, about 200 feet away near the finish line, I saw a tall figure with a white long-sleeve shirt.

(Our exact conversation)
Me: “NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
*Nick spins around and sees me on a ledge with outstretched arms*
Nick: “JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHN!!!!!”

Nick then thrust his arms in the air and I saw a green medal in his right hand. They don’t give medals to 10k finishers. They give them to 25k finishers. Nice. Nick had clearly stolen a 25k finishers medal. Oh yeah... we also terrified everyone around us. Our yells were at full volume. No holds barred.

I called Rick as I quickly made my way to Nick before losing him again.

(Dramatization of our conversation)
Me: “Rick! I found him!! I found Nick!”
Rick: “Really?! Where?!”
Me: “He was right at the finish line! He had a 25k finishers medal in his hands. Rick... I think Nick may have run the 25k.”
Rick: “No way! He did not. He probably stole the medal.”
Me: “Well I’m almost to him. I’ll find out and head your way.”

I found Nick as he was grabbing a banana and we had a long embrace. Three hours apart is a long time. Especially when I have NO IDEA where he is.

Me: “Nick.. did you run the 25k?”
Nick: “Yep.”


Nick, with virtually no preparation, completed a 25k race that he hadn’t decided to run until he was already several miles into it.

I have nothing more to say.