MARATHON!!!!!

selfie right after the finish line

I did it! I really did it!! Surprisingly, I'm not sure how glad I am that I did it though. That "race" takes such a toll on your body! My hips will probably never be the same, haha. Before the race, I always would think, how hard could it really be? The answer is HARD! What I was surprised by was that it wasn't my lungs or muscles that were really struggling or even a lack of energy (mainly, because I was popping a lot of energy chews and beans :), but it was the fatigue of the joints which is what slowed me down the most. Maybe I didn't train enough? Here is the training chart I used. You'll see in the middle I had to cut back some because I had injured my IT Band.

Now, let me tell you the good parts about the experience...

The race started at 5AM so it was still dark enough for fireworks!

and I got to catch a beautiful sunrise

there was a lot of good people watching and a lot of neon!

and Brian, bless his big heart, went the last 4 miles with me! He took this pic:

What a guy!

a couple of the pro pics: struggling and pretending not to struggle, ha!

and finally a finish shot...

I think my official finish time was 5:52.51. Not great, but hey, I got my medal. :]