Beat my time.. Woo Hoo

Talkin to my mom after I finally met up with Josh and the kids.

Back home with my honey.

Kids and the sign they made for me!

So the race was on a perfect day. Cold at first and then just perfect. I stayed in Enterprise with my friend Amanda at her in-law's house. It saved us a lot of time. I would have had to ride the bus about 4:30 am. I woke up about 3 am and could not go back to sleep. Got up at 5 and got ready. Used the bathroom 3 times from 3-5 and was good until mile 11 or so! Starting off the race was FREEZING! Around 40 degrees or so. I left Amanda with her FAST pace group and then I went to my 4 hour pace group and just waited for it to start. They played the Star Spangled Banner and a few minutes later, they blew the horn. It was like a herd of cattle heading out to graze. People were packed like little sardines. It was quite an experience. I am glad I got to experience it. It was still a little dark and everyone started off with gloves, hoodies, jackets, hats, a guy was wearing a gurney, anything to keep you warm. Our pace group leader was so awesome. He talked us through the hills and when to slow down, speed up, closer steps, longer paces etc. He helped out so much. He had run over 100 marathons. I can't even imagine that. One was almost too much for me! Anyway, there were families there at the beginning cheering everyone on and I got emotional. There was just this unity I felt that is unexplainable. Even though I was there without anyone I knew around me, I was not alone. We were all there together to accomplish the same thing. It felt like an honor. The first mile felt like it took 2 minutes. It went by so fast. At that mile I yelled, "Alright, only 25 more to go!! Yeah!" I was expecting to hit a wall around mile 18 or 19, but I stopped to use the port a potty about mile 10 and it took me 45 minutes to catch up to my pace group. I didn't even have to go that bad. I wish I hadn't gone. It was so unfair. The guys could just go step behind the POP and be done in 30 seconds. I had to take a 10 minute break for 30 seconds of releasing bodily fluids. Not fair! Plus I was running uphill to catch up to my group again. Not fun. Anyway, most of you know about my cramping and poop problems. My answer for this is Percocet. The only thing that worked for me. So mile 11.5 I took it and never had to go to the bathroom again (that day). It was great. I just wish it took care of all my pain for the rest of the marathon. It took off the edge for a mile or so and then I could feel it again. Although, I didn't hit a will again until mile 23. Those last 3 miles were brutal. I had it in my head that I would be pumped up and get an adrenaline rush from so many people there cheering us on. Well, mile 20- 23 was good. I tried running faster and harder because of the spectators. Then there are 3 more to go and you think, I am almost there. But those last 3 miles take as long as the first 10 miles do. Seriously, it honestly feels that way. You are dead or at least want to be dead and you think why did I do this? My husband and kids were waiting for me about 200 yards away from the finish line. I was on the left side looking around for them to kiss them or wave hi and get motivated to finish that last little bit. Well, I didn't ever see my family! There was a nice guy that saw me struggling and ran next to me very calm and relaxed saying, "alright, here we go, we are gonna finish this together. That is a good pace, there ya go..." I thought I can't, I can't do it. But I kept going. So thanks for the boost whoever you are! I finished, got my medal, tried to not fall on my face. I was thinking of finishing off with the worm. There was NO way in heck I could get off the ground once I got down. I knew they would think I was dead and throw me in an ambulance if I even tried. I have never been so exhausted in my life. I forgot to mention one of the signs I read on the way that stuck out to me was, "Your feet are so sore because you are kicking so much a$$!" That made me laugh and think to myself, heck ya I am! Now back to my sob story. I grab me a couple of grapes, a Bomb pop and head to find Josh. I was a bit mad thinking he was late and totally missed me. My good neighbor was there taking pics and I borrowed his phone, called Josh and said "Where are you?" When he heard my voice he was mad and thought what? You are done? He was there on the right side instead of the left and totally missed me. I was wearing a pink tank top and he thought I was wearing black. I was also wearing a bandanna and he didn't know. So I wasn't as mad because at least he was there. I was a little upset because my parent's didn't come and I knew this would be the last time I ran a marathon. I had tonz of friends there and NOBODY saw me finish. How crazy is that? Luckily there are pics to prove that I ran it and finished. My goal was 4 hours and my time was 3:58 and 20 something seconds. I was happy to finish and under the time I was shooting for. I was very grateful for a great day. After I felt like Josh wanted to hurry and get the kids in bed for their naps and I wanted to hang out at the park and just enjoy it and get all the food and stuff that was there for me and so I was frustrated about that too. Josh made it up to me by getting my DQ and a blizzard. Thanks honey for the cute sign, loading the kids and coming to support me, I love you! (That is the reason I ran the marathon. Because YOU wanted me to!) I forgot to tell you, an old man asked me during the run how I ended up doing it and I told him, "My husband and a friend!" (Erica is the other reason I ended up running it. She talked me into it and I wish I could have run it with her!) This was an amazing experince that I never want to experience again!