I did it!!!!!!!!!

I am so so glad that it is over and that I did it!!!!! I woke up the morning of the marathon with a protruding belly, feeling fat, not at all like a marathon runner and thought to myself "I am as insane as everyone thinks I am." But it was too late I had to do it.I got my bib number the day before the race. It was very exciting. That night I made several wardrobe changes to decide just which shirt made me look the least pregnant. We decided that once I snapped my water belt around my waist that none of them could hid it completely but the purple one was the best. It has a pocket in the front too which I like because I could stuff sport beans and other goodies in it.

I met my friend Grace and my sister in law Renee just moments before the race started. Renee was holding my spot in line for the bathroom. I used the bathroom and we literally ran to the start line. We got another racer to snap our picture about one minute before the start. And before we knew it we were off! It was fun too. We stared really slow and kept a good pace. It was a lot more fun then any of my training runs because I had good company. We walked about one minute every 15 and Renee was really good to make sure I kept fueling.

Around mile 11 to 13 my legs started hurting like usual but not near as bad as in training. I didn't hit my horrible 11 mile wall. It was painful but bearable. My friend Grace had an unfortunate knee injury about mile 13 and she was out. :( We were sad for her but Renee and I forged onward. The weather was super nice but HOT! We had shade the first 11ish miles but after that... blah it was hot.

If the race ended at 20 miles it would have been awesome. I was done done at 20. With my fantastic sister in law by my side I pulled through. About mile 23 I hit the swearing stage of running, when all I wanted to do was shout out obscenities but I contained myself since Renee was with me. :) Mile 25 I really thought I was going to die and a few tears started to form but its really hard to cry and run at the same time so I pushed them back. That was most definitely the hardest thing I've ever done. Keep running.

Pain, pain, pain. People did take pictures of me at the finish, none with my own camera. Hopefully some day I can post one. We finished, which was my goal, it was right at 6 hours. Not fast by any means, but I got the metal and the shirt!

I think right now I would pick labor over running another marathon although I'm sure there is another marathon in my future. I just have to see what it is like to run one not pregnant.

So here I am showing it off for the first time. It is LARGE!

This is Renee and I after we crossed the finish line. She did a lot better then me I think. She was awesome. I was dead. 2 days later... my legs have honestly never ever been so sore! I went for a small 1 mile run today if you could call it a run. It was more like an old man shuffle. I'm still really really happy I finished!