The 26 freakin' 2 follow up. Part 1.

I DID IT!!! I FINISHED!!! 

I AM A MARATHONER!!!

So I will start with picture from after the race...the proof...me with all my I ran a marathon gear on and devil eyes.

Me, my medal, my beanie, my shirt and most importantly my beer.

Holy crap. That was long. That was hard. It hurt.

There is so much to say and I have been thinking about this for a while. I am not sure I will get it all out in one go or I may post things as they come to mind and if they seem worthy of posting.

We got to the beach Friday evening and got settled. All told there were 16 people in a house that sleeps ten representing 6 different states. It was chaotic and crowded and noisy and wonderful!
If any of you have ever done a long race that involved a taper before you may know what I mean when I say I was a ball of energy. Not just nerves but all of this pent up stuff. I had been on my taper for almost two weeks now - meaning my amount of running had been greatly reduced in order to allow my body to recover and build up glycogen stores for race day. Taper was strange. I was twitchy and edgy and restless and I felt good. I wanted to get a good nights rest so I actually went to bed fairly early.

Saturday was expo day. The expo was crowded and crazy, but very nice and I got my bib and goodies and even got a twentysix.two shirt and yes I bought one of those stickers for my car. OBX 26.2. So now it is getting real. The gauntlet has been thrown and I have to earn the right to wear my shirts and put that sticker on my car. After the expo we headed over to one of my favorite breakfast joints ever...Stack Em' High. Carb loading with a waffle was devine! The rest of the day was strategizing and planning. We found the start line...which I thought was MUCH too far from the finish line - like 26 miles too far.

The start line the day before race day. Also made note of porta potty locations!

After a lovely spaghetti dinner and getting my gear together, it was off to bed early. Like 9 something early. That is seriously early for me. 

The prepped race shirt.

I slept okay and was up and getting ready by 5 something. It was a beautiful sunrise and the crescent moon and venus hung lazily over the ocean.

The moon and venus with the sun rising over the ocean.

Off to the races! The race starts at 7:20 and of course we need to find parking and use the facilities and all that fun stuff.

And I am off for what will turn into my longest and farthest run ever. It was cool and clear and beautiful.  Me and over a thousand of my closest running friends start this journey to join those few who can say they have completed a marathon. Have I mentioned in my previous posts that I am slow?

And we are off!

Since I have more pictures than I thought I am going to do this in two parts and since I am tired I will post part deux shortly.