Wednesday, October 14, 2009

I finished!!!
My official time was 5:42, a little slower than I had hoped, but I'm still really happy with it! I finished over a full hour faster than the last time I ran the Chicago Marathon! Guess I'll have to run another one to hit that 5:30 time!

I had some really great help along the way- I'm not sure I could have made it without them! First, I ran into Alicia and Krista at like mile 6, which was so fun and a major pick-me-up. Then, my Aunt Marilyn picked me up at mile 13 and ran to 17 with me, where my cousin Michelle picked me up and ran with me to 24, where we met up with my Aunt Marilyn again and my Dad. The four of us ran together just about to the finish line- it was so much fun!

I also had some really great cheerers! Thanks Wendy, Tristan, Skylar, Lynn, Gladdy, Leslie, Patti, Katie, Ben, Mom, Bill, Megan, and Scott! And everyone else cheering at home!

Here are pictures from mile 11:

Some of my superfans, Skylar and Tristan!
I was SO EXCITED to finally see someone I knew!

Look how reflective I am!
My Uncle Joe was at mile 25 and took some pictures of me and my crew- here we are!

From left: me (in pink), Dad (in black),
Aunt Marilyn (grey hoodie, black pants), and Michelle (white hat)



At the finish! Dad told me to "empty the tank" and I sure did!

More superfans- Katie and Ben

Again with the crew

My sweet medal!
I came home from the race, took a 15 minute ice bath, ate a Beach Club from Jimmy John's, and fell asleep for three hours. I woke up feeling super-nauseous, so I took another bath (warm this time, thank goodness!) and watched tv with Lynn. All of a sudden, the nausea went away and I was STARVING! I had Gladdy bring me back a beef from Jay's and ate the whole thing in probably two minutes. Then, I ate an entire bowl of soup and a king-sized Twix ice cream bar and went to sleep for another 10 hours... but not before taking this picture!

Brixton, Mei, me, Olivia, Grayden, and Skylar
(points of interest: Skylar's sweet volunteer jacket,
my cool Chicago t-shirt, and Mei holding my massage stick)

My prayers went okay. The race was much more mentally demanding than I expected and there were many times that miles went by before I remembered to pray for each thing, I made up for them when I remembered, until I met up with Aunt Marilyn at mile 13. I spent so much time talking with my family and they were so good at distracting me from my pain and stomach problems that the prayers fell by the wayside. I definitely finished praying for them today while I was working, though, don't worry!

2 comments:

  1. We were (are)so proud of you! What inspires me the most is the miles and miles and miles that you ran in order to make it to the marathon. That, I think, is the real accomplishment but no one gives you a medal for that. I hope you are wearing your medal proudly around town in Iron River!

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  2. i love that we ran into you...we only finished 15-20 mins behind you...so it's weird we didn't run into each other again! we had some minor stops along the way...bathrooms, aid stations, crying (me..haha!) but i'm so proud of you girl!!!!

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