I did it!

The marathon was SOOOOOOO AWESOME! I would *totally* do another one someday!

I decided at the race expo on Saturday to sign up with a pace team. Basically it's a very experienced marathon runner leading a team of people who hope to finish in a certain time. The pace leader helps keep the pace steady so you don't go out to fast or lag too far behind in the later miles. I think that was a great decision because I know if I hadn't done it I would have started the race a lot faster and probably had an empty tank by the end.

I ran for the pace group until about mile 21, then I just had to slow it down a tad. My pace group was the 4:30 (four hours, 30 minutes) and I ended up finishing in 4:34.

My family was at mile 13, 22 and the finish. Here's some pics that Alex took of the day:


Mile 13.....that surprised look is because my grandma, who I had NO IDEA was coming (apparently she called my mom at like 6am this morning to see what time they were leaving) was there and she drove over 2 hours just to watch me run. I was so shocked and so happy to see her!


Mile 22....feeling a little tired by then.....go figure!


A few steps from the finish....what a GREAT feeling!


My medal. :)


My new tattoo. LOL! They were handing out pace tattoos at the race expo that showed what your time should be at every mile marker to finish in a certain time.

I just can't say how cool it was. There were tons of cheering crowds along the race course. People were out playing all sorts of music along the sidelines (I saw a tuba player, a few trumpet players, a harpist, some guy playing bongo drums, a couple of violin players, several bands, a drum corps and a few groups of cheerleaders!). The leader of my pace group was running his 143rd marathon!!!!!

The kids had signs that said "Run Mom Run" and they gave me five when I passed by. That really kept me going, especially at mile 22 when I was feeling pretty darn tired.

My hardest miles were mile 22 and 23, once I hit 24 I knew I was almost there and from 25 to the end went by in a flash.

I ran every step from start to finish.....no walking through the water stations and no port-a-potty stops along the way.

I'm dang proud of myself!!!!!!

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Here's a start-to-finish recap of the race including weather conditions and how I felt during the run:

The weather was GORGEOUS (at least for us Iowans.....I was telling my friend in Florida about the weather and she thought it sounded a tad cold!).

When I got up at 5:45am the temp was 49 and I think by the time the race started at 8am it was about 51. The weather people called for a "breezy" day which had me worried, but the course was through a lot of older, residential areas with tons of trees so we were very sheltered from any wind for a lot of the course.

Honestly, the first half was a breeze. At mile 13 me and the girl you see running with me in the first pic were about a block or so ahead of the 4:30 pack and we both commented that it felt like we were running slow. Again I'm so pleased that I decided to run with the pace team because I felt in the first few miles like I was plodding along, but it was a nice gentle warm-up for the long hours of running ahead of me.

The course was pretty hilly from miles 3-8 but our pace leader did a great job of talking us through the hills. He'd run this course several times before and knew how many hills were in front of us and would encourage us by saying "only 1 more hill to go!" and things like that.

At mile 12 we took a lap around the Drake Stadium track....very cool since lots of famous runners have been on that track during the Drake Relays. I think we all picked up the pace during that lap on the track.

From miles 13-15 there were some nice long, gentle downhills which were great for a breather.

I chatted along with my pace group and cheered on other runners (there were several out & back spots on the course....one at mile 8 where we got to see some of the elite runners who were at about mile 14 or 15 and man was it fun to see them fly by!) until about miles 18-19 where I finally felt too tired to talk much anymore.

I stuck to what I had done for my entire training long runs which was to drink every 20 minutes and start eating 90 minutes into my run and eat about every 30 minutes after that. It was a little hard to remember to drink in the beginning because I was so caught up in the excitement of the day.

At mile 20 I was still feeling pretty good but remember thinking that every step after that mile marker was the furthest I'd ever run before. Mile 21 was where I fell back from the 4:30 pace group just a bit. I wasn't sure if I should push myself to stay with them and risk running out of gas the last couple miles. In the end I decided it was my first marathon and really my goal was just to finish and to run the whole thing. So I decided the best thing was to slow my pace just a bit and keep running versus trying to run faster and then maybe having to walk some near the end.

Also miles 19-21 took us around Water Works Park which was the most open area the course had been on and we had to run into the wind for a bit which was around 15mph and enough to feel it at that point.

I was getting pretty tired by mile 22 but seeing my family there was a huge pick-me-up. Also shortly after seeing them was another water station and they had gummi bears there. I took a HUGE handful and munched on them.....they tasted sooooooo good!

Miles 22 and 23 were definitely the toughest mentally/physically. My feet hurt, my legs hurt and I could tell that I had missed a spot under my one armpit with my body glide and it was rubbing raw against my sports bra. The crowd was really thin in those areas so there wasn't much to think about except running. That's when I cranked up the volume on my iPod and found a couple fast-paced songs to keep me moving.

Once I hit mile 24 the crowd started getting bigger and I just thought "I can run 2 miles in my sleep, half-dead and there's no way in HELL that I just ran 24 whole miles to take a walk break now."

Once I saw the mile marker for 25 I knew I was going to finish the whole thing without walking. That last mile was the hottest one to run, it was about 12:30pm by then and the course took me from a loop around a lake onto a 4-lane road into downtown. No trees, no shade and the sun beating right down on my head. It was about 68 degrees by then, but felt a lot hotter to me.

I turned the corner and could see the finish line and my family right near it. I got teary-eyed when I saw the huge finish sign. I was just so tired of running and happy that I did what I set out to do.

Honestly, I felt I trained very well for a first marathon where my goal was really just to finish. The fact that I finished within minutes of my "I think I can do it in this time" goal was just icing on the cake.

When (notice I said a definitely "when" not "if") I run my next one if I'm shooting for a better time I will probably try to get in some longer runs (maybe instead of topping out at 20, try to do 23-24 miles at least once before the race) as well as some hill training. I live in the FLATTEST area of the world, we seriously don't have any hills in our town and I know I could benefit from running bigger hills during my training.