Marathon 7

78 degrees for the high. a lot warmer than my last marathon two weeks ago where we were scraping car windows! most of the morning was in the 50's - perfect.

i started with the 4:50 pace group. i wasn't sure how my I T band was going to be, since i had taken the whole week off from running, but i'm forever an optimist.

i first noticed some pain at mile 3. not a good sign when you're trying to run 26.2! i managed to run through it and stay with the pace group until mile 13. after that, i walked and ran a little. by mile 16, i couldn't run on it anymore at all. my right leg started hurting too because i was using it more due to the pain in my left.
ugh. huge bummer!

around this same time, i saw a guy drop out of the race. a race official on a motorcycle came to get him. i thought really hard about doing the same thing. i kept seeing golf carts too, and i was so tempted to ask for a ride back. so many people around me were walking. i was surprised to see that, since it seems like it usually happens around miles 18-20.

i walked the entire last half of the race. wow. the miles seemed to go forever. thankfully, God sent me a friend. a lady that had a similar injury was walking to the finish too, so we decided to walk together. misery loves company, i guess...

a lady at an aid station gave me some advil, but it didn't really seem to help. i just really wanted to be done.

it was my worst finishing time, but i think it's the marathon that i am most proud of because of what it took to get to the finish line.