26.2

"Nobody said it would be easy, they just said it would be worth it."

Back in December I decided I wanted to start running again. But a 5K was too easy and I knew I would be frustrated if I trained for a half marathon and didn't beat my time. After two years off, I needed something different. So I decided to go all out and achieve one of my goals, the marathon.

After months of training, a knee injury, and lots of time on my bike, race day came.

My parents came up for the race. My father used to run when I very very little, so my mom have some experience of trying to find me on a race route. Saturday we went out for lunch, try curling, toured my church, and then ordered pizza and spent the evening in.

I have to say, I didn't have anxiety with all the other races. I slept alright. I think this might be because I live one mile from the starting line, so I knew traffic wasn't going to be a problem for us. Or maybe because I knew I was going to set a record no matter what I did. Or maybe because I just didn't care if I did fail, because I had tried. I dunno.

The start of the race was a 7am. It took me over 4 minutes to cross the starting line. There were that many people.

I decided I would try to run a 5 hour marathon, so I paced myself with the 5 hour team for the first 5 miles. Then I had to pee and that took a few minutes. My parents met me around mile 3 and then I saw them again around 8. My mom carried a bag with all the stuff I might want: extra socks, shoes, Vaseline, band aids, gu, etc. This was very helpful. I think it's what got me through the race, knowing I had support every 3-5 miles.

I ran pretty strong the first 13 miles. The marathoners and half marathoners run together for the first 12 miles. There were much more half marathoners and they would shout things like "3 more miles!" And I would go, "No, it's 16 more miles." At the split the halfers when left and I went right. Wow, that was something. Everything changed. The numbers thinned out and there were less people cheering.

The hardest part of the marathon I thought was between miles 16-19. Those four miles sucked. In my head I just wanted to get to 20. That was my goal. I wanted to get to what they call "The Wall." Apparently runner's hit a wall and just want to quit. This didn't happen to me. Running in 90% mental and I was mentally there the whole time. I wasn't trying to beat a certain time, I was just trying to finish, and this really helped.

At Mile 20 they had a big inflatable wall and there were 100s of people making a tunnel to run through and slap hands. I knew at 20 it was a new race.

There were more people cheering because we started to run downtown.

I walked a lot of this race. My IPOD playlist was set in a such a way that I had a fast song, then a slower song. So I'd run the fun songs, and relax during the slow. I highly recommend this.

At Mile 22 I listened to Journey's "Don't' Stop Believing."

At Mile 23 I thought "I only have a 5K left. If Anita can run a 5K, I can run one too." (How I found that logical after running 23 miles, I do not know).

At Mile 24 I started getting teary eyed. There were only 2 miles left, and really, what is 2 miles after you've ran 24. It's nothing.

At Mile 25 I decided I would dedicate my last mile to my sister, so I tried to run most of it.

When I got to Lambeau Field I still had enough energy to run around the entire football field. My IPod was really working for me because I was running to Todd Rudgren's Bang on the Drum.

Then as I made my way out of Lambeau, the Rocky song started playing. Somehow I had enough energy to kick it in and cross that finish line strong.

When I crossed I yelled, "I DID IT! I DID IT!" To which all the volunteers congratulated me and hugged me.

After I got my medal and t-shirt, and I met my parents and I started crying. I knew I would, because I cried when I ran my first 14 miles ever. I just kept saying, "I did it. I ran 26.2 miles."

I have never done anything like this. Sure, I've done a few halfs and they had prepared me for what to expect and I knew my needs pretty well. But the whole thing was incredible.

Am I nuts for thinking about doing this again next year?

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." -Prefontaine