Never.again.

I know, I know, never say never right? Well, this time it just might stick. I just completed my first (and probably last) marathon today. So you want the full story with all the gory details? Read on. If not, here it is in a nut-shell. First half was great. Second half sucked. Finished in 5 hours 10 minutes, 33 second. The end. :) 

OK, now for all the gory details:  We left the house at about 4:10 and got to the shuttle down-town at about 4:30. No traffic whatsoever. Hurray!! We loaded the bus to get to the starting line. Everything was great, we were all chatting having a good time. I look up and hear the bus driver say, "Whoops, I just took the wrong exit." Umm, you have GPS right there. Seriously? So we drove around for a while (about 1/2 hour) trying to get back on track. We finally made it to the starting line around 5:30. Whew. It was nice to get down there early and relax and take our time. Finally it was time to start lining up (around 6:45). Let me tell you, it was crazy! There were people everywhere. But it was very well organized thank goodness. The guy next to us was so inspiring. He was pushing his son in a stroller who had some kind of mental and physical ailments. And he was doing the full marathon!! I looked at him with tears in my eyes and told him how inspiring he is to me. The gun finally went off and off we went! The first 10 miles FLEW by. Mile 6 was the most memorable for me because there were a bunch of military guys holding huge American flags on the side of the street. It literally brought tears to my eyes (what is WRONG with me?! lol). It just made me think of my awesome brother who is about to start flight school flying Apache Helicopters. Anyway, I thanked them for their service and ran on. The next 3 were pretty quick as well, but it all went down-hill from there. Around mile 13, I started getting some bad cramping in my stomach. I also thought my pelvis was ON FIRE!! Seriously, it was the strangest thing. I tried using the bathroom, but nothing seemed to help. And I wasn't about to ask the medical people what I should do because I'm sure they would have just guessed I had an STD or something. Nice right?! Anyway, around mile 17 the cramping got REALLY bad. It literally felt like I was in labor. I doubled over and tried to keep walking. Then they would subside so I would start running. All the while, my pelvis is still burning like crazy. I tried to use the bathroom again, and actually sat in there for about 10 minutes, but to no avail. So I kept on run/walking for a couple more miles. Around mile 20, one of the medical people was pretty worried about me, but there was nothing he could do for me. He just followed me on his bike for about 1/2 a mile. Finally at mile 22, someone was handing out donut holes (and jello shots, which I almost ate, until I thought to ask them if there was alcohol in them, and sure enough there was! Seriously, who WANTS that during a marathon?!). Anyway, the donuts seemed to help a little and I was finally able to start running more consistently. Although now my WHOLE body hurt by this point of course. Around mile 24 1/2 a guy and I were walking "together" and decided to finish the race together. We talked and ran the rest of the way and those last couple miles went by rather quickly. I finally finished with a time of 5 hours, 10 min, 33 seconds. And even though it wasn't the 4 hours I was aiming for, I still finished, and I'm still proud. So thanks to all who supported me throughout this whole endeavor and never losing faith that I would finish!! Especially Erik and my sweet little kiddos. I love you!

Oh, and those last few miles, all the kept me going was knowing there would be great food at the end to binge on ('cause I was STARVING!). But all there was were bagels, granola bars, bananas, oranges, and disgusting gluten-free chips. Are you kidding me?! Kind of annoyed I paid $100 bucks for that. Obviously the money goes to other things, but still! Last year it was catered by PF Changs, but no, not this year! Not the year I run. Darn recession.