Check it off the list...I DID IT!

I am just going to gloat about this for a day or two because I was not sure I was ever going to accomplish this goal of mine or not but........ I did it, I did it, I did it! Saturday morning I ran the St. George marathon. My goal was to first, finish and second, try to do it under 5 hours. It poured rain, and wind blew the entire time but I ran the whole thing (I only stopped once for a quick potty break), my finish time was 4 hours 26 minutes. Not too shabby for my first one but nowhere near some of the amazing runners ahead of me. The top finisher ran it in 2 hours 22 minutes (unbelievable, especially since he's not Kenyan). 

My Mom and Dad were there to cheer me on along with my awesome husband and my friend Kim. Thanks guys it was so much fun to share that experience with you and RD I know you sacrificed a lot for me to train. I can not even explain what a mental challenge it is to run that distance if you have done it before I am sure you know. I thought I would "hit a wall" at some point but I really did not. I do remember seeing the 24 mile marker and thinking "are you kidding me..." sometimes 2 more miles feels like asking your body for 10. I think the worse part of the whole thing was sitting in the ice bath for 20 minutes afterwards. I met a lot of great people along the route and I am just plain pleased to be a finisher. Don't get me wrong...I have been popping the Ibuprofren since yesterday and I am sure it will be a day or two until I can walk normal.

Here are some of my strange random thoughts and things I think about that keep me going during the marathon & training:  

I'd like to have a sign on my back that says "Yes these are love handles but they just passed you!"(ha,ha,ha) or I think about how a dear friend found out I was training for a marathon and said "You just do not look like the running type." My body structure is not Olympic caliber material but I am the little engine that could.

(this one is a little weird but it works for me) Sometimes when I really feel like stopping I think about the poor Jewish people that were in concentration camps and how the Nazi's made them work or they would die. So basically I pretend I am in the camp and being chased...strange I know but it is a good motivator.

Of course I think about RD and other awesome people I have met that live with  Multiple Sclerosis everyday, and how they have to fight to move, fight pain and fatigue constantly.