I DID IT!

I am still processing everything....and I don't have time for a full-out post and wrap-up of last weekend....

But I'll say this....
I FINISHED!

I finished in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 4 seconds (and yes...those extra 64 seconds past the 4 hour mark will forever plague me!)...but...

I HAD A BLAST!

...and YES....I WILL run more marathons! Where will #2 be?! Stay tuned!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from the weekend....
My running shoes, geared up and ready to go the night before! Chip in place, and "speed bead" in place....a good-luck gift from my good friend Jillian!

Silly fleece ear thingie! So it was FREEZING that weekend....and so we went to Dick's to get some of those hand warmer packet things...and I realized I didn't bring a headband thing to get my ears warm...this was on clearance for 98 cents, so I snagged it up...expecting to throw it away after a few miles. I ended up wearing good ol' Shootin' Hoops the entire race! Best 98 cents spent ever ;)

Here I am around 7am before the race...a little nervous...and lookin' LARGE in my many layers!

Jeremy snapped this photo around the 20-mile mark, where I saw him for the 1st time. Here's what I wrote about this photo when I posted it on Facebook:

"I should probably be embarrassed by how terrible I look here...but I guess I am not ;). This is right by the 20-mile mark, where I saw Jeremy. Please note the piles of clothing that are still in place...as it was FREEZING. I am wearing a size XL long-sleeved shirt that I got for free at the marathon expo the day before...apparently they had gads of XL shirts leftover at the Chicago half marathon in Sept...so they gave them away to expo-attendees. I grabbed one, thinking it would be a good shirt to wear and throw away once I warmed up. I never really did warm up, so it stayed on. I was rather disappointed that I never got to sport the cute green Lake Run Club tank I was wearing underneath!You know you're getting OLD when you DO sacrifice fashion for comfort...(let's not even get started about the blue "shootin' hoops" headband that is on, with pink hat over that....)"

And, here I am after successfully completing my first marathon! I was not even thinking about photos, but thankfully Steve (a good friend who accompanied us) offered to take a picture...thanks, Steve, for thinking of it!!! You are awesome! I LOVE this photo :)

And there you have it! More details on the actual race later...

going cuuuurrrrzy

Yeah, I am kinda going crazy. I don't like nights that I don't work out. I feel like a waste of space. However, I am listening to mr. hal higdon and taking two nights off...tonight and tomorrow...and running 2 miles on Saturday...to get me ready and RESTED for the lovely marathon on Sunday. We'll see about that. ;)
I just wasted like 90 minutes on facebook. Disgusting!! HA!
I DID do a whopping 4 miles on the treadmill last night. Yahoo for taper down weeks :)
3 days til go.....

milage

Ok, this is probably way off...but I tried to go through past posts and compile/add milage from the beginning of June. I realized I really did a crappy job of keeping track like I wanted to. Not counting running in the pool....and only counting (I think) what I recorded here...I have run 309.2 miles since the beginning of June...so basically 4 months. Honestly, I don't think that's accurate....since I did 20-40 miles per week. If I were to average it down to, let's say, 28 miles per week....we'll say 15 weeks of training to be on the safe (low) side....that would be 420 miles, which is probably still conservative. WOW. That's a lot of stinkin' miles. I am kind of disappointed in myself for not keeping better track. I just added up the milage on Hal's website...I typically ran MORE than he suggested each week for the Novice 1 plan....so at a minimum, I completed 435 miles he suggested pre-marathon. WOW! That's a lot of freaking miles!!! Add that to the half I ran in April...the actual milage of the marathon I'll run Sunday (cross fingers/pray that I do finish!!)....and that's not even counting training I did pre-half marathon or from after the half til I started training for the full at the end of May-ish....and we're EASILY over 500 miles for the calendar year. WOW!!!!!!!

5 days til judgement day!!

Well I've been feeling great lately...which is a wonderful feeling. Lots of ibuprofen, rest, ice, ion/steroid treatments, prayer, swimming/aqua jogging, stretching, and new shoes have really helped my knee out a lot I believe.

After the half marathon last week, I took Mon/Tuesday off, ran 4.5 on a treadmill on Wednesday (and felt awful...afterwards, I met a friend for dinner, and then when I got home I took my shoes off to discover a blister on my left ankle had basically exploded blood all over my sock/shoe/foot, AND a new hugER blister had formed underneath. Nice. Thanks to Jillian and Band Aid brand blister pads, though, that is all cleared up ;))....took Thursday and Friday off, and then ran a 5k on Saturday: Run the Woods, a fundraiser for Easter Seals (my place of employment!) It was a great race. I got 26:12, which is a decent time for a trail run...it was muddy and rainy! I got 2nd in my age group, which was good. Last year I got 3rd in my age group...with a time that was about 2 minutes slower! This year's winner for my age group got 25:35, so really I wasn't too far behind her. Next year I'll dominate ;). It's a small race, so it's a nice ego boost since it's not too difficult to place in my age group ;).

I ran 8 miles outside on Sunday...it was beautiful! Last night I did some aqua jogging for 45 minutes with Jillian. It was wonderful to have company. I plan on taking tonight off and running 4 or so tomorrow. In case you haven't figured it out ;), I am tapering wayyyy down (per Hal Higdon's marathon training plan and the advice of all of the other marathoners I've talked to!!) in preparation for Sunday. I. am. SO. EXCITED!

Not sure if it was a good idea or not ;), but I realized that I (as of Sunday) will have run races 3 weekends in a row! Sept 27: Quad Cities Half. Oct 3: Run the Woods 5k. Oct 11: CHICAGO MARATHON!

Have I mentioned lately that I am excited ;).