26.2

Happy Dance, *do the dance, do the trance, do the hump/ oh do it baby!*

Not sure why that song is in my head, but who cares! I just ran a marathon :) I have joined the 1% of the population of the WORLD that can say that! I have been wearing marathon t shirts and accepting congratulations for 3 days now, and I still feel like I need to broadcast it more, lol! Perhaps fashion the race bling into a belt buckle, or a sweay band! (Now there is a money maker!)

Ahh, how to keep this short... Well- I can't- so if you have the patience to train you have the patience to read- stay with me!

Predicted weather was 85% humidity, 70% thunderstorms and all rain... Great- we are off to a great start; and my knees are hurting (bleep bleep bleepity bleep!!!) Hubs and I woke up at 5 to get ready and leave for the race. We were about an hour away, my mom was with us so we left her and the sleeping kids at the hotel. D got me as close to the start line as possible and dropped me off. The whole ride there the words, "what made you think you could do this??" kept running through my head. I didnt feel all that nervous, just doubltful. (However my last minute potty trip complete with wobbly tummy and shaking legs maybe meant I was a bit nervous!)

Onto the start line, rain was holding off. I met up with my pacer and checked out the runners I would be staying with for a while. Good looking bunch, ready to go! Had to laugh when for about 2 seconds we could spot sun and I swear a collective gasp of 3000 people could be heard for miles :) BTW- sun never did come out, but neither did the rain, so all good!

I decided early on that I was going to run the 1st 10 with no headphones, just take it all in. I quickly found out around mile 5 that I was just thinking WAY too much. So I decided to push play and go; Ahhh- nice tunes make for a nice stride. Hangin in around 9:15, perfect. A little ahead of my group, will afford me some walking time later.

This strategy worked until mile 15-17 when I started drifting behind my 4:15 group... I knew I had to let them go and just focus on myself. So- I did. Not gonna lie- miles 17-20 were pretty rough. I was feeling fine but having no clue where I am on the course was getting too me as was the wind... 25mph gusts are no joke! Legs were tiring and walking breaks were coming more frequently. I made sure to keep drinking and stayed on track with my nutrition...

Mile 20- a 10k left, Till I Collapse is on and I am feeling pretty good and able to run mile marker to mile marker with only a short walk at each; but my pace is mega slow- I didnt think it was possible to run that slow! And oh- Elvis is not dead- he is at mile 21 singing his heart out :)

The signs totally distracted me through mile 25... Did you know Giraffes can lick their eyes? And that fish cough? and that the couple with the "you are not almost there" sign found a way to beat traffic and keep reappearing along the course! By now, the super friendly people of Fargo are handing out beers (which some have already drank too many of ) and popsickles. So nice! Batman is really a traffic cop, and local kids give the best high fives! I am staying on task and doing well! 4:30 (goal 1) is looking not too bad!

Mile 25- I would like to say knowing I am at the end gave me a boost. But sadly, it did not... I had to stop twice and empty dagger-like rocks out of my shoes and I was tired! But the crowd picked up and I had to forge on, I was doing this!! I was really doing this!! Shortly I could SEE the Fargo Dome. (Unfortunately a gazillion turns made it farther away than I wouldve liked!) The race ends IN the Dome, (oddly enough the couple are HERE now, but have mercifully scratched out the not in their sign) it is kinda cruel to reach the dome and find you have about a .25 mile of snaking around to get the the back entrance to run in. But oh well, I hear someone calling my name! My friends from home- who trained with me for their 1/2 are waiting for me- oh God- dont cry!!! I pick up the pace and amazingly enough have the energy to "sprint" into the finish (if you call 8:20 a sprint, lol!) Lo and behold~in the seats just above the finish sign~ is my family!! Screaming and flashing their signs and just smiling away! I look up to the sky, and now the world is mine, I've known it all my life- I made it, I made it!