Keep Moving Forward: 26.2 Miles-Finished

Well, the marathon is now over! Now, this marathon wasn't just a 26.2 mile run but it was a weekend event! My parents flew in Friday and we headed to the Expo! What I loved most at the expo was the idea Bank of America had. They encouraged everyone to sign/write a message on a water bottle that they were going to send overseas to our military. Also, for every water bottle signed BoA was donating a dollar to the Wounded Warrior Project! Anything to support our troops, I'm all about!

After the expo we headed to Tango Sur, which is were my brother, Kevin, surprised me; he flew in from Arizona! It is very rare that my whole family is together, besides holidays, so this was very nice to have everyone together again!

Saturday night we had a large pasta dinner and went home pretty early. I did go down memory lane and read through my blog before I went to bed. It was fun to look at how far I have come and I went to bed with confidence knowing I wouldn't have a problem.

Sunday- Race day. Once I got down to the start, I said adios to my mom, dad, and Joel and I went to the corral and just waited. . . talked to a few people...found out the other runners around me were from: Troy, Denver, Kalamazoo, Farmington Hills, Rochester. . . all significant locations in my life, which was pretty cool and weird considering there are 45,000 runners here...

Then the race began! Everyone I've talked to stressed the point of starting of SLOW! So I did my best and tried to not let the pace get to me. The first 10 miles were a breeze and then I started looking for my family- I forgot which mile I told them to be at :/ so I just spent the next 11 miles looking for them, which kept me pretty preoccupied from thinking about the physical run. Aly saw me and she jumped in and we caught up for a few minutes and then she went back to being a spectator! Around mile 20 I was getting a little tired and seeing my parents would've helped give me a boost of energy but I never saw them so I had to just keep moving(For the record, they were where they were supposed to be! pictures to prove it :)) The fans were awesome - they had great signs- and so much energy to keep cheering for us! The high fives gave me a little smile and a spurt of energy to keep going. My legs were really starting to get tired around mile 26 ha so hell, with .2 left and the finish line in sight it was easy to push through and finish strong!

It is really amazing to look back at all of the training and those dreadful 5, 8, 10 mile runs and to come all the way to 26.2 miles!! I am very proud of the accomplishment and even my time as a first time marathoner! I can't complain! It was an amazing race.

A huge thank you to all of the volunteers!! This race would definitely not be possible without them! They get out there earlier and stay later then all the runners just to help us get to the finish!

And thank you to all of my friends and family who supported me through the training and donated to The Walter and Connie Payton Foundation- your support means the world and I know I would not be where I am today without all of you!