I survived 26.2 and I can't wait to do another one!!!

I packed up my multiple bags on Saturday morning getting ready for the drive to Iowa and I made sure to wear my running shoes so I would not forget them! (Thank you Chris Hankins for being my reminder...) I packed two pairs of running capris, cold weather gear, hot weather gear, like 4 pairs of socks, a jar of peanut butter, many bananas, clif bars and GUs, and an extra pair of shoes just in case I had a tragedy with the ones I was wearing...I was ready to go and a little nervous!

I rode with my parents, sister and niece and tried my best to zone out on the 2 hour ride, unfortunately, traveling with a 2 year old means constant entertainment that you don't want to miss, so there was no zoning out for me and many rounds of camp songs...

My grandparents and aunt Beth were at the hotel when we arrived and it was so nice of them to join in the festivities!!

Liz, Katie and I met up and headed to get race packets for Katie and I, check out some of the route, and browse around the expo. It was so nice of Liz to make the trip (and for Nicholl, Chris, and Katie's mom to come too!!) - Katie and I had awesome cheerleaders throughout the race!

I vegged out in my hotel room thinking about what I've been through in the last year and how amazing it is that I was even at this point - going to be at the starting line of a marathon in the morning! It was only a year ago this October when I ran my first "official" 5K and now here I was, going to attempt a marathon.

I was really done being nervous by Saturday and just ready to get the show on the road. There was nothing more I could do to prepare, so now it was just a matter of going out there, doing my best and seeing where it would take me!

My parents took Katie and I to the start line and we decided we should go to the bathroom before hand. A word to all of the race planners out there - if you have an event with 2,500 runners - you should probably have more than 10 bathrooms at the start/finish line...just a thought!!

Anyway, as most of you know I have a bit of an obsession with being late for things. 5 min. early equals late to me - it drives me nuts and I get a little crazy. However, the race did not start with out me and I was able to make it into the bathroom which was awesome since I didn't want to have to stop on the route! (I know that you were all dying to hear about my bathroom issues for the day!)

Katie and I squeezed into the crowd in between the 4:15 and the 4:30 pace groups as we started out - crossing the Mississippi river for the first of 4 times. I was feeling awesome and stayed between those pacing groups for about 18 miles. I fell back a little bit - with the 4:30 group and chatted with the pacer who had completed 24 marathons and a couple of Ultras (50 milers)!

The first 20 miles could not have been better - I felt amazing, I had awesome notes from people with things to think about - and think I did! It was an emotional roller coaster for me though - at times feeling that this was totally absurd and laughing to having mini melt downs with tears that I didn't want to expend for fear of dehydrating, but they came anyway and it was ok. It was part of the experience. It was a wide range of emotion but I never once felt like I hated it or like I wanted to stop and that in itself was awesome.

Coming across the Mississippi for the last time at mile 20 I saw my family and I don't know if they'll ever really understand how much I needed them at that point - or how much I needed my dad to walk out onto the course and give me a high five - it was awesome and it gave me a boost of endurance - that lasted you know until mile 21.

People have said that the last 6.2 miles of a marathon are the hardest. You train up to 20 miles, if you're lucky to get it in (which thank God I was!) so you know what it feels like to run for a long time, but nothing but running an entire marathon will prepare you for the hell that you face at mile 21.

I'm not even joking, at the mile marker, my right foot cramped up and then my right calf just tightened to the point where I had to stop and stretch it out. I walked a little ways and then would run until my foot cramped again and I continued this run/walk theme through out the rest of the race. I didn't feel bad about it though because it seemed to be a common theme with people all around me.

Those last 6.2 miles I focused on nothing but getting to the finish line. I was hell bent on getting there as fast as I could without injuring myself or having to crawl. I wanted to run across that line and do it with as much strength as possible.

The last 3 miles I started chatting with a guy who has run marathons before and even did an Iron Man in Brazil once and he really helped me get through. I hope he knows how much I appreciated him. He could have left me in the dust, but he stayed with me and would run with me as far as I determined and then walk for a little while and we ran the last .2 miles in.

As I crossed the finish line I thought I was going to cry and have all this emotion since I went through it all during the route - but I didn't. I laughed. And I hugged my family (I think my mom took all the emotion from me as she was sobbing!). And I said I was ready to do another one, and I am! I'm looking forward to checking out my options and doing it all over again.

My official chip time was 4:41:45 - not the 4:30 I was thinking I would hit, but ultimately, timing didn't matter for this one. I achieved my goals. I finished. I didn't die. I want to do it again.

A big thanks for all the support everyone has given me through this last year and especially in this last month as it came to be crunch time. I could not have done this without the support of my awesome friends and family...