I always way overestimate my finish time so the start was a little bogged down by slower runners. I finally got clear and ran at a comfortable pace. I really enjoyed the area and kept my mind occupied with the scenery and the unique runners. Ran through the water stops but grabbed a cup and drank while I ran. Went down through the Audobon park which was really pleasant. Is we came out, my left foot was pretty painful as usual. Started taking some small walk breaks. Heading down St. Charles arounnd mile 10 I started looking for a portapotty. Found a set but "ugh" no toilet paper!! Wasted time looking in all 3. Went down to the next set which were luckily next to a 1st aid station and they had paper towels to use. I was good for a bit until I got down into the French Quarter. I was getting a blister on my left foot. I'd gotten the same blister on my last 20 mile run but that was about the only blister I'd ever had from running. Decided to stop at first aid to put some vaseline on it. This didn't help much. Kept on down another beautiful road toward the park. Made it to the park and decided to stop and get rid of the blister. Now I knew I only had the run out to the lake and back. Was around mile 19 and was really have a hard time focusing on a goal beyond the next 1/2 mile so I ran to that point and walked a bit for most of the rest of the course. I was very concerned with the 20 mile "wall". That really didn't seem to happen but had a mental struggle at mile 21 when I saw the mile 23 sign on the other side of the road. The out road from the park had seemed pretty long at that point and I could see that I had another 2 miles before I could even get back to that point. I took a breath and cleared my mind and knew I could finish and decided not to stress. Made it to the lake, which was beautiful, and knew I had this in the bag. Came back into the park, worked the various roads in the park and knew I was almost there. Saw a familiar shirt ahead of me and saw FB friend Robbie ahead. Spoke to her and felt good about my time because she had expected to finish 30 min ahead of me. Then I could see the finish line. I was focused on listening to the announcer calling my name when I heard my name being called from the sideline. My family was there, My mother, aunt, brother and cousin. Holding signs for me and cheering me on. As many races as I've done, I've never had family there to support me like that. It was so special to have that at the end of my first marathon.

Get a little more mental toughness and walk less.

Nothing other than walk back to the car.