We lined up for the start only to hear, "The race will be delayed for 15 minutes due to a haz. mat. alert. It may have to be CANCELLED," Yikes!!!
So we went back inside the Hall of Fame to wait another 15 minutes. They called for us to go out again and we were off and 'running!'

This was NOT a walker-friendly course. The first mile or so, there were people behind me. It got hot fast, I was sweating up a storm. Then there were about six of us in front of the SAG van. I finally went introduce myself to Billy, in the SAG van and asked if he was going to follow us all the way. He said yes, so I asked him to carry my fanny pack so that I could go faster-he very willingly agreed. (I pack enough for a couple of days, I have got to learn to pack lighter!) I saw BEAR and took his picture.

The course did some really weird stuff. We went in circles in parking lots, at one point the 1/2, 10K, and 5K people were altogether. Steve and I ended up walking, running, and shuffling together about mile 4. We got to a cross section where everyone went in different directions, and thought we were lost. Luckily, we were on the right route.

At mile 10, we went on a bike trail. Well, that's when we lost the SAG van and my fanny pack. I worried about it way too long. The 1/2 marathon marker said 2:49-which is great for me. Billy, in the SAG wagon, caught up with us at mile 14 and I took my pack back.:) Took BEAR's picture again, he checked to see if I was okay. I was fine and excited about my 1/2 time.

Then Steve and I crossed the river and did the rat maze. It was beautiful along the river, I took pictures. We did the twists and turns and finally got out of the park.

Back on the route and the mile markers were crazy and off. It was funny. Steve and I thought we'd really speeded up to a 10-minute mile. We were amazed with ourselves, and it was way too early to be 'brain dead' which usually kicks in at mile 20. We figured out real soon that the markers were off. The course was hilly at times, but we just kept moving FAST.

The rest of the route, Steve and I paced each other. We walked, ran, and shuffled while encouraging each other to go FASTER. His wife met up with us twice and took pictures, she was really nice. Another man walked with us off and on-we'd met him at the beginning of the race when we were trying to stay ahead of the SAG van. :)

The last half mile, Steve picked up the pace. I saw the stadium and was happy to be under 6 hours. (I was hoping for 6:15 and would have taken 6:30.) I walked up to the stadium, took more pictures and took some while going into the TUNNEL. It was sooooo..... cool!!! {This is marathon # 8 for me.}

Then I get to the finish line. BEAR is there trying to take my picture, so I slowed down on the finish line. I was so happy to have finished under 6 hours. The BEAR tells me he has some bad news, 'they were out of medals.' Well, the lady was very nice about it and gave me a 1/2 marathon medal. She told me to email them and they'd send me a marathon medal later. So we walked around, talked to others, and congratulated the 3 men who came in behind me-I wasn't last! We ate, drank, and took some more pictures in the stadium.

We got on the last shuttle bus to go back to the car. We sat a while and grumped about waiting. The nice lady, who was giving out medals, came meet us on the bus and gave me a MARATHON MEDAL. She'd found some while packing up. So I ended up with 2 medals. It was worth the wait/grump time.

We ate (Steak N' Shake), swam in the pool at the motel, and took a much needed nap.I had a great time!!!

P.S. Dylan and BEAR set up my new IPOD last week and the new "music" helped to speed me up, too. I guess it's good to have a teenager around to download new music for his ole' MAMA. Thanks ya'll!!!

Train more.

I should have been wearing a singlet, it was HOT.

Walked around, visited, ate, drank, and took pictures.


RUN, ANGEL, RUN!!!


Billy was a great SAG van driver, but I would really like to have the SAG van way behind me. I guess I need to speed up.

The water station volunteers were great, they stayed until the last person passed. We thanked them at each stop and the police who did a good job with the traffic for us BOP.