My first marathon

I know I know... Took me a whole week to post about it. Sorry :)

Step 1 was to cram a bagel and banana in my mouth... Way more than I normally eat but I knew I needed it. 

So we drove to Sioux Falls, with me alternating water and Pumpkin Spice coffee on the way. No major jam music which is unusual for me but I didn't want to get too much in the zone too early.

We got there and geared up. Yes, I was very strategic with my pocket loading and yes I was very jealous of Kendra's running belt. We hit the bathrooms (twice- I did not want to take a potty break) and walked around a little bit.  I decided to force another protein bar in my stomach because I was feeling shaky and couldn't differentiate between hunger and nerves.

And then we lined up! 

I wasn't sure where to go since they didn't organize us. I saw the 10:30 pacer and was going there but Kendra recommended staying away from the big pacing groups. Since 2:15 was my secret goal, we put ourselves in front of that over. I figured if he didn't pass me, I was good!

The one bummer was that we couldn't hear the pre- race announcements at all. So we had a bit of a false start which resulted in me resetting my Map My Run app twice. 

And then we were off... Fast. I know everyone says not to start fast but it was feeling good. By Mile 2, I ditched my long sleeve shirt. Perfect running weather- I didn't sweat at all! There were a few big hills right away so I started searching my pockets for my motivation.

Thanks Mom & Mike :) 

I quickly realized that my GPS was not matching the course. It started about 2-3 minutes off and got progressively worse as we went on... 

More motivation kicked in when I got passed by one of Mike's good friends... This ensued some taunting about Iowa vs. Minnesota and motivation to pass him... On a hill no less. For the record, I beat him by 10 minutes.

I felt great until about mile 12 when I started to go all out way too soon.... My bad :) I didn't realize we still had a long ways left to go, not just a short dash to the finish line I could see. 

I spotted Mike and Lucas and briefly

Had an ugly cry moment which made it hard to breathe but Kendra told me to take off my headphones and listen for my name and sure enough they said it and I flew across that finish line.

2:08:30 

Walking like bosses still....

And then the collapse! Ok it's called stretching!

Lucas kept handing me my Gatorade. He knows how important hydration is. 

Lesson learned from watching Kendra- when running through water line, grab cups near END so you don't have to run down entire line with a full cup splashing all over yourself. Took me a few trials to learn that one! 

In the end, I am incredibly proud that I did this. I know Lucas won't remember this day, but I want him to know that his mom was healthy and active and was able to keep up with him!

I'm not sure what the future holds for my racing. I felt really good during this race but also recognize it was very time consuming to train for and I would be hitting the treadmill a lot if I continue. I've got a 5K next weekend with my sister in law and that might be my race for awhile. 

On the other hand, this guy does look lonely....

We will see. I hurt really badly on Monday and swore I'd never run again and was recovered by Wedneaday and thinking about my next race... I took this entire week off and need to come up with a plan for this week.

All things will happen as they should.... Just going to give myself some time to think :)