I lined up at the 3:40 pace area and saw the pace group, but decided I was going to run my own race, and if I saw the 3:40 group passing me, then I'd stay with them. I never saw them after the start. The initial gaggle slowed me down some, but once I weaved through a bit, I was good to go. The first 5 miles literally FLEW by, they felt so easy, and I had to dial down the pace a few times and kept telling myself--you don't want to meet the wall, do not push too fast. I saw my folks at the 5 mile mark and that pumped me up! I kept on rolling well up to the 10 mile mark and we started hitting some hills--I just kept telling myself, quick cadence, quick turnover. I started my nutrition, as always at the 2 mile mark. Starting at 2 miles I drink GU2O from my Nathan Speedbelt every mile, and take a GU at every 5 miles. I did grab water in there starting at 14 I think. Once the Half-Mary folks split off the hills started and I seemed to stay with kind of the same group of people. Some of the hills looked worse than they were and it seemed like we always hit the steepest ones after coming off a great downhill. I just kept telling myself, it's all downhill from mile 18. My folks were at 13.1 again pumped me up! I really tried to give thumbs up and waves to the fans, and it not only made them happy, but then they'd cheer by name, and that encouraged me. I loved any spot that had fans and music! I truly was feeling great the whole time. I did pop two excedrins at mile 15, like I did on my long training runs cause my knee can get a little sore--that must've prevented it. I saw my parents again at mile 17 and got to high five them and I was just having so much fun! My favorite sign out there was "Release Your Inner Kenyan!" That one just made me smile like you wouldn't believe! I loved the violinist they had out there too, an gave some big HOOAHs to the Army water station guys. Throughout the race I had several things running through my mind, "Run and not grow weary;" "I can do all things through Christ;" "you dodged rockets while running, this is nothing," "thank God for giving me a strong body," "I feel great, I trained right, I am on pace, I'm going to BQ!" I also said some prayers for my buds racing today: KathyG and Bworkman, and I thought about all the encouragement I'd been given from friends (including all mine on here especially!), family, co-workers, etc. At mile 20 my swim coach cheered for me. My right achilles was slightly tight the whole time, and I was hoping it would bother me, and it really didn't, thankfully. Once I passed mile 22 I repeatedly told myself, "This is the furthest you've ever ran, this is the furthest you've ever ran." My right quad did start to get tight, not cramp, just tight at 21 and I took one more excedrin. I also took an additional gel at 23 cause I felt like I needed the food to push hard the last 5K. As we started weaving back towards down town I think a permanent smile got stuck on my face- I got a lot of "You go girl" and started picking out some folks I wanted to catch up too. Once we got to Longhorn Stadium I knew we were nearly there. Then, the last mile, there were people all over and I started pushing more. I was right near one other guy, and then I saw my parents and they were ecstatic, and that made me ecstatic and raise my arms in victory, and after seeing them jumping up and down with my BF, I totally sprinted off the last 200-300m towards the chute and passed the guy I was near who had just moments before said good job. I mean I SPRINTED! I can't believe I had that type of kick at the end--and this time I actually heard the announcer say my name and I had a permanent smile on my face because I was now a marathoner! The training had paid off, the taper had paid off, and I had just completed one of the hardest things I have ever personally set my mind to do. I told my Mom as we walked to the car that this was the hardest thing I'd ever put my mind too because it was just me. Sure, I had a running partner in Iraq, and he was a huge motivator, but I had to get out of bed and do it, and when he got hurt when I hit the long run phase of training, it was just me training for something I had never thought I could accomplish. The entire journey was amazing and self-revealing. It made me more confident, it increased my confidence, it made me learn new things, and it made me reach deep inside and reach out and up to my Creator to keep on going. Going to West Point, going to war twice, that was hard, yes...but I had tons of EXTERNAL motivation to keep me going...this thing, this was all me. The most satisfying piece of it is that the hard training, the early mornings, the long Sunday runs, and the taunting taper equaled an incredible marathon where I felt INCREDIBLE (and still do) afterwards. I don't think I can say the race today was easy, but coupled with adrenaline, all the fans out there, and the training I did, it wasn't as hard as the training was. This is a day I will never forget. In college I emphatically stated I would never be able to run well because my legs were too short--how much did I short myself then. Now I proudly call myself a runner, not because I'm fast (which is still unnatural to say), but because I LOVE IT!

Final standings:
628th of 4815 total runners
91st Female
19th AG (25-29)
1st Women's Military Division
6th Overall Military Division

Not one thing. I think I executed this first marathon almost as perfectly as I could...I did have over a year to train, learn, and mentally prep for it. One toe is a true casualty of war, but I didn't feel it during the run, but yeah, you know those t-shirts "Got ToeNails?" I probably should buy one.

I got my medal, got my finisher photo, got the chip off, grabbed a half bagel, some water, some Powerade, banana and PBJ Crackers and then picked up my clothing bag and went over to the side to wait for my parents and friend to find me. I just did some light stretching and keeping my legs moving and just smiled ear to ear while I ate my stuff and downed my drinks...then of course we took pictures and I then went to the results area to see what they had as my time--they had the same as my Garmin- 3:34 (I just had it at 26.46 miles), and then asked if they could see where I was in the military division...that's when I found out I had WON the women's military division by 7min 50secs. Apparently I should hear something from the marathon in the next day or two--how incredible!




Nothing, I executed as I trained.


The expo wasn't as good as Houston, and I liked the wave/separate start locations at Houston better. This wasn't bad at all, the clothe check was great, volunteers were great along the course, and I enjoyed the course scenery. Of course, the weather was perfect for me, and having had an awesome day...this race is AWESOME. And if I live in Austin someday, it's one that I'll do the half or full in several times again! I'm a little partial to it right now I think! :)