I am officially...

A Marathoner!

On Sunday, May 6th, 2012

I joined an elite group--

a group that has gone where many have never gone before--

26.2 miles!

I am so excited that I am now officially a marathoner!

Here are some pictures from my marathon weekend:

On Saturday, May 5th, Keith and I went down to the 

Flying Pig Expo to pick up mine & Nicole's racing bibs.

Seeing all of the people made me so excited for the race the next day!

Saturday evening we hosted our Pig Out where family and friends

brought Nicole and I carbohydrates and wished us good luck!

We are so very lucky to have such supportive family and friends,

and I am sad I did not capture any pictures from the evening!

Saturday night I also surprised Nicole with a DVD pictures of us

I had taken on our training journey

(and I even snuck some old pics in too! hehe)

Sunday morning we woke up at 4:15 to start our preparation.

Maddy giving her mama good luck kisses!

Keith dropped us off downtown around 5:20,

and we had to walk to our "corral."

On our way we passed a drunk lady singing Lady Gaga

(What is the saying--the freaks come out at night? Or is it the early morning?!).

The race began at 6:30 but Nicole and I did not cross the starting line until 6:45.

Random fact of the day: Nicole and I passed a news camera around 7 A.M. and ended up on the news!

Woohoo!

The first 13.1 miles went quite well.

The weather was cool, we were in the shade, and enjoying 

the company of all the people around us.

Thank you to Keith, Noah, and Andy who met us at mile 5

and provided us with a Luna bar and Ibuprofen!

Thank you to my mom, Troy, Lisa, Johnny, and Jaida

for being at mile 10 with Chomps!

Unfortunately, the second half of the pig was not as wonderful as the first half.

The temperature rose, there was no shade, and the half milers split from us around mile

8 so the people around us were few and far between.

Thank you to Keith, Griff, Noah, Thomas, and Sarah

for your support at mile 15!

One stretch of the marathon is on Wooster Pike.

I have never minded Wooster Pike before,

but now every time I drive by it, I think I will flip it the bird!

This stretch of the race is straight highway,

no shade, no protection from the sun,

and it seemed to go on FOREVER!

At one point in the race, I looked up at a screen

and the temperature read 85 degrees!

Ouch!

It was so hot, the black top was sticking to the bottom of our shoes!

How did people run the marathon barefoot?!

Thank you to Anne, Jim, Melissa, Kevin, Charlie, and Ben

for cheering us on around mile 20.

We needed that more than you know!

Thank you to mom, Troy, Lisa, Johnny, Jaida,

Carolyn, and Bill for cheering us on around mile 21.5.

Also, thanks for begging people for Ibuprofen!

We finished the race, hand in hand,

stride for stride,

after 6 hours and 5 minutes.

Not our fastest time,

during training we were averaging about 11-12 minute miles,

and this was a 13-14 minute mile,

but it was so dang hot,

we were just happy to survive.

Getting ready to cross the "Finish Swine!"

Marathoners!

The sign that is in my front yard!

Balloons from the WONDERFUL O'Connor family!

Proud Marathoner

Now that I'm a marathoner,

I get to add this to my car:

Thank you Savannah!

I also need to take pictures of the signs my mom made us that people held up throughout the race,

and of the flowers Keith bought me. I will show you those in another post!

What an incredible day!

I now see why people get addicted to marathons!

So when is the next one you ask?

Find out soon...