Brighton McConnell is a first-year dancer here at the Marathon. We've pulled him aside to talk about his experience before and after the Marathon.
What are you feeling right now?
I am feeling a mixture of just kind of like excitement for the end of the day, exhaustion for a really long but fun night, and happiness to have done it. It's a mix of excitement and exhaustion - I'm feeling good morale-wise right now, but my body is at the point where it's telling me "it's time to take a break."
What would you say has been the hardest part of the marathon for you?
I think it's really been just fighting the natural instincts to sit down. Like, I always sit down when I change my shoes and socks and stuff, and it was just so hard for me to consciously think "don't do this" with just simple tasks like that.
We were playing a board game earlier today, and we were going to try and play checkers and it was so hard to not just plop down and instead having to squat or finding other ways to do it.
So I would say that the hardest part was just fighting the natural instinct to do it, but I'm happy to say that I didn't really break at all!
What has been your favorite part of the whole experience?
I would say the camaraderie of it all. Everybody in here is in the same boat and we're all in it for the same cause.
It's just been a really cool experience to just kind of do that with everybody. Instead of feeling like a long day together it's felt like a really long night of folks just kind of hanging out and doing this For the Kids.
Would you recommend the Marathon to other people?
I would definitely suggest it to people and hope to help out in some capacity with the Marathon next year. I've had a really great time this year for sure, and I would definitely recommend it to people because it's not only a great cause but it also ended up being a great time even though it's a challenge.
What are you feeling right now?
I am feeling a mixture of just kind of like excitement for the end of the day, exhaustion for a really long but fun night, and happiness to have done it. It's a mix of excitement and exhaustion - I'm feeling good morale-wise right now, but my body is at the point where it's telling me "it's time to take a break."
What would you say has been the hardest part of the marathon for you?
I think it's really been just fighting the natural instincts to sit down. Like, I always sit down when I change my shoes and socks and stuff, and it was just so hard for me to consciously think "don't do this" with just simple tasks like that.
We were playing a board game earlier today, and we were going to try and play checkers and it was so hard to not just plop down and instead having to squat or finding other ways to do it.
So I would say that the hardest part was just fighting the natural instinct to do it, but I'm happy to say that I didn't really break at all!
What has been your favorite part of the whole experience?
I would say the camaraderie of it all. Everybody in here is in the same boat and we're all in it for the same cause.
It's just been a really cool experience to just kind of do that with everybody. Instead of feeling like a long day together it's felt like a really long night of folks just kind of hanging out and doing this For the Kids.
Would you recommend the Marathon to other people?
I would definitely suggest it to people and hope to help out in some capacity with the Marathon next year. I've had a really great time this year for sure, and I would definitely recommend it to people because it's not only a great cause but it also ended up being a great time even though it's a challenge.