The Big Day

The alarm goes off at 4:00 am on Saturday June 27, 2009. I hit snooze, Jon makes me get out of bed. Somehow I managed to get a few hours of sleep that night with all the nerves...

We headed out around 5:15am, here's me all dressed and ready

My handsome chauffer kids are barely awake
Jon ended up dropping me off at an exit off of hwy 405. The start line was in Tukwila, we weren't sure exactly where, so as soon as we saw the stream of people, I jumped out of the car and Jon and the kids drove away. I walked down the off-ramp sort of freaking out but super excited. Also, I have NEVER in my life seen so many port-a-potties. I wish I had a picture of it. There were runners everywhere. I never found my running friends until right before the start. I hung out all by myself in the bathroom line a couple times, then bag check, then just looking for my starting corral. They let groups called "corrals" start within like a minute of eachother. Your time starts when the timing chip attached to my shoes crossed the start line, then ends when you cross the finish line. Pretty high tech stuff.

Jon and the kids actually found a parking spot and found me waiting at the start. Nice suprise since we were told there would be no parking and said I would just see them at the end.

waiting in my "corral" and still not sure where Lacy and Melia are...

Here they are, they found me a little after the first gun when off. This is a funny picture, I am not really sure what they are talking about. Look behind them and you can't see where the line of people end. 25,000 runners is more than I have ever seen at a start. my running buddies, Melia, me and Lacy

Jon was running and taking this pic so it is blurry, but this is us after we crossed the start line.

Funny that my husband took a pic of these belly dancers here to cheer us on...


Our corral starting.

After the start, Jon & kids, plus Lacy's husband and their kids, plus Becky who was watching Melia's kids went out to breakfast, then went to meet us at the finish line in Seattle outside of Qwest field.

Here are the people waiting at the finish line.

Look! Here's me nearing the finish line. At this point I was feeling pretty awful. Everything hurt. I was crying from the pain in my body and from the emotion of accomplishing such a huge goal. I was honestly thinking "I am either going to pass out dead or cross the finish line...it's a 50/50 chance either way"


My first marathon I ran was Nov. 2006...my goal was just to finish and see what I could do. It was the most fun I've had running a race. I finished in 5 hours and 3 minutes. This time "I left everything on the pavement". I ran like never before, hardly stopping to walk at all, just kept pushing myself and knowing that I did not want to regret that I didn't give it all I had. Running with friends sure helps too. They keep you going when you want to walk. It was so amazing. I feel like I have reached a new level in running. Not just surviving my run, but commanding it. I was pretty excited to knock 30 minutes of my last time.


At the finish line with my medal

Thanks to my family for their support, my runner husband is the one who introduced me to running. He inspires me.

Sister-in-law, friend and running partner Melia. I am bummed that we did not get a pic of Lacy with us at the end.

Walking (or hobbling) to our cars.

The runner's high is strong...and so is the exhaustion that set in a bit later...



And if that isn't enough for one day...we all loaded up and went to the Fathom's of Fun parade downtown Port Orchard that night. I told Jon I would go as long I didn't have to move much. I am still so thrilled about the race. A week and a half out and I am still recovering, but able to run again, this time because I want to, not because my plan says I have to. Taking a little break is nice, but I am starting to think about what will be next.