This was my first marathon and it went pretty well! I'm excited that I can now say I've completed a marathon. It was an early, brisk arizona morning and my toes and fingers were cold. I had to slow myself down so that I wouldn't completely run out of energy at the end. So I started jogging along and found myself smiling for at least the first five miles! Phoenix is a nice city with a lot of friendly spectators - made a huge distance. My parents came out from Orange County, CA and cheered me on; saw them at mile 9-10 followed by a long time family friend, who was volunteering at the race. There were a couple ladies who I saw maybe three times and they were awesome everytime - they told me I was lookin' good (even though I know I wasn't!). Ran out of juice at around mile 23 but gathered enough energy to push through although I was walking a lot more than I would have liked. My husband walked back to mile 25 and ran me in at the end - what a guy! He had done the half and wanted to make sure I was alright. Saw my five other friends at the end line - that felt really good too.

Not much - I just wish I hadn't needed to walk so much towards the end.

TIRED!!!! Ate some snacks, drank some water and asked for my medal and proceeded on to family reunion. My husband took care of me and then went to go find my folks. So I just sat in the grass, enjoyed the sunshine and feeling of accomplishment and ate a bag of cheetos. Too tired to stretch much but damn - what a great day.


My perpetual lack of athleticism.


Elite racing does an amazing job organizing. The corrals make sense, the cheerleaders make a difference, the reunion area make it easy to find loved ones after the race, the food is plentiful and appropriate (I once ran a race where they had snickers and donuts at the end!). Really enjoyed this race but a marathon is no joke!