DONE!

All right dudes, yesterday I ran the marathon! It was great! I honestly didn't even feel super tired! I had asked the pacer who I should run with and they suggest I run with the 4:30 finishing the group. My final the was 4 hours 26 min because I left the group in the last two miles. Last week I had squeezed in another 20 mile run on Wednesday before getting violently ill with a stomach flu for a few days.  This week I only got a four mile in on Wednesday.

I am ecstatic that I did it! I teared up a little crossing the finish line because I was so happy. :) I ran with two different people during the race, a woman who was in the Army Reserves and a man who worked for the military for his whole life.  My pacer has run over 200 marathons! The crowds were really fun, handing out water, candy,  fruit, paper towels, and even balloons!  I have so many memories and not enough time to write about them all!  I saw a blind runner with her helpers, I learned how to eat while running, listened to a talk by Hal Higdon (the person who wrote my training program), got a really cute headband for running, and so much more!  I also used the app called "Glympse" so that my friends and family could watch me finish.

Some cute headbands that were only $5 at the running expo.

Running past my family at mile 3.

 Running up to the finish!

 My family watching me finish using the tracker.

 Being sassy after the race!

 My boyfriend watched the second half of the race and meet me at the finish!

Thursday & Today

I did my run on Thursday. My Wednesday morning run just didn't happen.... :(. My run today was kind of a fail too. I asked my boyfriend to bike with me so that I could run through some of the "not so safe" neighborhoods. However, he had to use my bike (because his has a flat tire) and was miserable the whole time. I felt really bad that I had dragged him out to run with me, so after 11 miles, we went home. It was terribly windy but otherwise the weather was fairly nice. I have my 24 mile rescheduled for Wednesday and I think it will actually happen because after Monday, my schedule frees up quite a bit. So I can at least finish my training strong. I think if I do another marathon, I will find a training buddy with whom I can do my long runs. I would be much more disappointed in myself, but I know I could have finished my run today. Mostly it just sucks because everyone is asking me how my run went today, so I keep having to re-explain it.

Traveling

Last week I ran on Tuesday  and Thursday. I ran the correct distance each day. Wednesday and Sunday l didn't get a chance to because I was traveling. I ran yesterday but probably won't get a chance to today. I wanted to go this morning but couldn't get myself out of bed.  :(  Saturday it's my last long run! I'm getting a little disappointed in my current track record  so it's good that my training is almost over. I've learned that the middle of the week runs are much more likely to happen. I have missed very few Tuesday & Thursday runs. So next year I will try to plan my workouts for the middle of the day.