Marathon

The big day I have been training for started at 4:30am for me. I was actually surprised at how well I slept the night before because I was so nervous! I was so afraid my alarm wouldn't go off, I checked it 4 times and had D set his alarm also.
Darren took me to the start so I wouldn't have to deal with parking. We left a little later than planned and with traffic being horrendous, I almost didn't make it in time. Luckily, even though the start was at 6:15, my corral didn't get across the start line till 6:50. Thank goodness for cell phones, I would've never found Mandi and her cousin in the sea of 27,000 other crazy runners. I took at pic of Mandi and I at the start, but it didn't turn out so great. I will tell you it was so dang cold though! I ended up wearing thermal bottoms under my running capris, gloves, and a thermal shirt over my running tank. All of which I kept on the entire time. Although, I had to take my gloves off early on because they got wet from my water bottle, and I ended up taking someone elses gloves from the ground. (inside out)
I felt pretty good for the first half, and we made pretty good time. I was able to call and text Darren throughout to update him as to where we were and to find out where he and the fam were.
Here is my awesome family waiting, and waiting for me.

Can you tell they were bored?

Matt and Jodie and their kids came too. Which was such a surprise to me. I was so happy to see them!

We weren't quite prepared for the hills.(you never are) My quads started cramping up pretty badly around mile 14 or 15. Mandi even had to try and massage em' for me. (what a friend)

Then, she started having stomach problems and cramping. We had to slow down a bit, and even walk a little here and there. Once I got to mile 23 I was feeling pretty good. The adrenaline was pumping through me. I kept hearing this would happen and was pretty skeptical about it.

This is mile 26.1 where we saw my fam and the Melton's. I knew I was gonna cry, but didn't expect it to be before I finished. I looked at Mandi and we were both tearin' up. It was the best place possible for them to be!

Here we are getting ready to cross the finish line.

WE DID IT!! 5 hrs 13 min. A little longer than we hoped, but dang it, who cares, WE DID IT!!

My mouth is full of bagel right here.

This is a bad pic but I had to put it on. Luke was so cute! He was just so proud. He couldn't stop hugging me and looking at my medal. I asked him if he was as proud of me as I was of him getting baptized and he just smiled.

Luke really loved the emergency blanket too. It was still so cold out!

Me and D. I'm sure he is so glad this is all over with! I took a lot of time away from home to train. I am so grateful for all of his support and help!

I loved every minute of it. (maybe not getting up at 5 am every Saturday)

I can't even explain the the feeling of crossing that finish line. I am so proud of myself and Mandi. We were a team through it all.

I felt good until I got out of the car at home. Everything had stiffened up. I went right to the bathroom with my big bag of ice. I am pretty sure the ice bath was worse than running the marathon. It really helps though, and I had a really long warm shower after that.

I ate and had a pretty nice nap after that. Darren and my mother in law spoiled me that day. It was nice to just do nothing. By Wednesday I was feeling pretty normal again. Not too bad of a recovery!

I would love to do another full someday. For now I need to focus on other things though. I will probably do a few halfs this year, because shoot, what's 13 miles now? haha I am excited to get back to taking classes at the gym also.