Three beautiful words...

I DID IT!!!!!

Which I'm thrilled to pieces about, considering Friday afternoon I figured I would die if I walked up a flight of steps, let alone run 13.1 miles. Saturday I felt better--my Friday night prayers had consisted of promises of not worrying about a goal time...I just wanted to finish the race and have fun doing it.

Saturday we went down to the Health Expo, and Ted and I were both thrilled to have the honor of meeting Sarah Reinertsen in the American Express VIP Tent. As Amazing Race fans, the event meant that much more, and I practically had to pull Ted away from all the questions he was asking her (but she was such a nice person). After collecting the race packet and browsing the expo, we headed back home. I felt pretty good--I guess being out and about helped, but I stopped at CVS and purchased nasal strips and the new cough strips to carry with me.

Sunday we were up at 5:30, and out the door at 6:00. Dave came along to cheer with Ted, and we got down and parked and up to the art museum with an hour to spare. I positioned myself back in the end of the pack, so it took me almost 10 minutes to get to the start. We didn't hear the start gun or anything, we just started moving.

Bottom line is I finished and had a great time doing it. My goal time always was 2:30, which I felt was generous. My chip time ended up being 2:32, which isn't bad considering 48 hours prior I was curled up in a ball on the couch and felt miserable.

Ted and Dave saw me off at the start, then met me at 30th Street and ran a few blocks with me before turning around and heading back. That meant a lot.

A few observations throughout the race:
1) Thank you to the two female marathon runners whose T-shirts read "26.2 miles--not as easy as your boyfriend was last night". A good laugh is helpful during the race.
2) Congratulations to the elderly man wearing the "50 State Marathon Club" shirt. I told him he was my hero.
3) It's amazing how Saturday night on South Street is still present at 9:00 Sunday morning--I think I got drunk from the smell of stale beer.
4) I never thought I would need body glide. Right now I have two red, raw, sore areas from the elastic on my sports bra that are yelling otherwise.
5) Thank you to the frat boys cheering along 34th Street (how I remember those frat houses). I cheered as I ran by, which made them cheer, and which made the elderly man next to me turn to his wife and say "I don't think they're cheering for us." But it's amazing how college boys look so much younger than they used to...
6) I was surprised at the lack of water tables from mile 10 out...maybe I just needed the water more, but I thought there would be more. Same with the people--if you are a spectator...go to West River Drive (Martin Luther King Drive) and cheer there...it was a very lonely and hard few miles.
7) The Finish Line caught me off guard. From the map I studied, I figured I'd run up by the art museum and back around the oval before finishing. So I wasn't expecting to continue in front of the art museum and do a hard U-turn to finish. I would have kicked it in sooner had I realized that.

I saw a lot of marathon runners opting to finish the half instead of the full--Congratulations to everyone who stuck it out and went on to Manayunk. I'm not sure I would have had the will-power if there was an end right in front of me.

The finish line wasn't as exciting as I thought it might be, either. I guess they wanted to move the "chip removal station" and medal distribution on down to minimize congestion in the shoot. I honestly wasn't sure the race was over--if racers weren't stopped in front of me, I may have kept running. But I'm honestly not quite sure why that was so confusing for me.

Anyway, so once I figured where the chip removals were, I took care of that, got my medal (bless her heart, she asked me if I finished the full or half, and I wanted to hug her for thinking I looked like someone who could have run a 2:30 marathon), and my foil blanket (which I was very, very thrilled and excited about--always wanted one of those), and met Ted. He gave me a hug--and I broke down in tears. He and Dave were both "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" I just shook my head no and smiled...I was just tickled pink.

It's funny to think back to last year this time--I did the 8K. At that point, it was my longest race to date. And I felt like I had moved mountains. Now here I am, with a half marathon under my belt. And I enjoyed it, and I felt great (up until about mile 11--then I hit a wall and was very slow and had to stop many times and stretch to keep going). I felt a ton better than I did when I finished Broad Street (I chalk that up to shoes that were broken in and the gels, neither of which I had at Broad Street).

This really was my favorite race. Congratulations to everyone who ran yesterday--the marathon, the half, or the 8K. It is an accomplishment to do that, and you should be proud of yourself--regardless of the distance.