Chicago Marathon

(Not my pic -- I stole it off Instagram)

A full marathon.  26 miles and 385 yards.  It's something I always said I would do.  Who knows why.  I especially don't know why after actually just completing one, but it's always been on my "bucket list."  My friend, Angie, and I have talked about it for years.  In fact, we missed signing up for the Chicago Marathon in 2010 by just a couple of days.  (I was secretly relieved, haha!) But this year, 2013, this was our year.

It had been 4 years to the week since I last ran a distance race.  My one and only half marathon was in October of 2009 in Kansas City.  And I said I was never going to do another one after that. Oh how time makes you forget.  Apparently it only takes me 4 years to forget why I don't especially care for running any farther than 10 miles...

Well, I somehow managed to miss signing up for the Chicago Marathon again this year - even though Ang and I had recently talked about it.  But, lucky for me, there was a glitch with the registration process, so everyone could sign up again and there would be a "lottery drawing" to see who got the remaining spots. 

Ang lucked out and got in.  I, however, did not.  Bound and determined to do this crazy race with her, I found out my only other option to get registered was to fund raise for a charity -- which actually was perfect!  After a quick glance through the list of charity partners, I saw Team World Vision down at the bottom.  Heck, yes.  Water for kids in Africa?  That's kind of my thing, so raising money for them AND getting to run in the Chicago Marathon with Ang was a no brainer. Sign me up!

That was back in March. Or maybe April?  A long time before October 13th, I'll tell you that.  I printed out the World Vision training plan, as well as a Hal Higdon one from the internet, and kind of combined the two to come up with my own mix.  And I followed it every. single day.  (Well, except for those 10 days in August in India - also with Angie - where we did absolutely zero working out.  Oops!)  Other than that, I rarely missed a workout.  Some might of been a mile or two short, but I generally got the miles in.  And it was all by myself.  No coach.  No running group or partner.  Just me and a piece of paper I crossed a box off on every (most) days.

September was by far the worst month as far as training went.  My long runs were always Saturday mornings, so all summer long I got up around 6am and set out as soon as the sun came up.  My Saturday runs in September were 18 miles, 14 miles, 22 miles, and 12 miles.  Yuck, yuck, yuck and yuck.

My 22 miler was only supposed to be 20, but I really wanted to make sure I could go farther.  I wanted to feel confident going in to Sunday that I could do the full 26.2.  For some reason, adding those extra 2 miles gave me the confidence.  Whatever works, right?  I felt ready.

Oh, and you know what else worked through all the training?  My absurd music playlists I listened to for countless hours.  Seriously, I don't think you could come up with a more diverse group of songs.  It went from a slow Christian song to old-school rap, and everything in between.  One second I would be breathing slow and humming along to "I am a Friend of God" and the next second I was picking up the pace to the dirty lyrics of "Smack That" by Akon.  Who does that?  At one point, I went from a classical song (how did that even get on my phone?) to Sandstorm by Darude (techno).  It was just crazy and always kept me guessing what was coming up next.  Like I said...whatever works, right?

Anyways - back to our quick 48 hour trip to Chicago for the 34th Bank of America Chicago Marathon...

Driving to the airport (L) and the sunset when we got there (R)

Per the usual, Matt tried to sleep on the plane and I refused to leave him alone  

Matt and I left KC Friday evening and got in to Chicago late.  We grabbed some Thai food before we left, so when we landed in Chicago, we just hopped the Orange Line train down to the Loop and walked the three blocks to our hotel.

Photo op at the airport!

On the Orange Line train to the city

  

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Our train stop (L) and the view as soon a we got off (R) 

Matt snagged a great deal on Priceline just a couple of days earlier for a nice place on Michigan and Wacker -- pretty much the perfect location!  Our room was so tiny, but all we needed for the weekend!

Our hotel, Club Quarters, (L) and the view from out front (R)

  

Our tiny hotel room

We crashed early that night and slept in until 9:15 on Saturday.  I don't even remember the last time I slept in that long!  It felt so good!  We finally go up and moving and set off to meet Ang and Luke and the Running Expo to get our race information (bib, t-shirt, free stuff  etc).  Along the way, which was a nice walk down Michigan Ave in perfect weather, we stopped at a Walgreens for a box of Nutri-Grain bars, some yogurt, and smoothies for our breakfast. 

Breakfast on Michigan Avenue

Deciding it would be best if I rested my legs the day before the race, we grabbed a cab to take us the few miles down to the expo.  Which happened to be the biggest building I think I've ever seen.  And with more runners than I've ever seen. 

You could feel the anticipation in the air in that place.  It was all so exciting!  And they've got the whole registration process down pat in Chicago.  I showed them my participant guide that they emailed to me and my photo ID, and they told me to go to counter 24.  When I got there, the lady already knew my name and had my stuff up.  Crazy.  She also wouldn't give me my stuff until I told her with confidence that I was going to ROCK IT on Sunday. :) 

That's my "nervous" smile ;)

Once we were through that, it was on to the FUN STUFF.  All the free samples and shopping!  First stop first -- NIKE!  All of their stuff was so cool.  I seriously wanted one of everything.  Once I narrowed it down to just a couple of things (it wasn't cheap!) and headed for the check-out counter...I saw the line.  Wrapped around and around.  No way, not happening.  The stuff wasn't THAT cute!  So I reluctantly put it all back. :(

The whole front / middle part of the building was all Nike stuff!

Ang and I walked around some more - with the boys dragging their feet.  I eventually settled on a New Balance t-shirt, since the line was shorter than Nike.  We tried lots of energy chews and bars, took lots of pictures, and eventually, after a couple of hours, decided we should leave for some food.  

The boys -- holding all of our stuff for us!

Signing our names on the giant "CHICAGO" wall

 We hopped on a free bus (think old-school yellow school bus) which dropped us off by the Roosevelt train stop, not far from the corner of Grant Park. We were all ridiculously hungry by that point, since it was almost 2pm!  We stopped at about the first place we saw, which happened to be Pot Belly.  I hadn't ever been to one before, but the boys had.  We had hot sandwiches and the best shake ever.  Perfect place to stop -- no wait and delicious food!

At Pot Belly for lunch

Even though we knew we should be "saving our legs" and staying off of our feet, we decided to walk all the way up Michigan Avenue...from the corner of Grant Park, past Millenium Park, over the river, and kept right on going to all of the shopping!  

The famous bean sculpture in the background!

(The boys were mapping out their plan for the race Sunday in the pic on the left!)

We were on our feet all. day. long.  But it was worth it, because I finally got my Nike stuff that I had to put back at the Running Expo!  The Nike store on Michigan Ave had all the same stuff and wasn't near as packed. 

One of my three new shirts from the weekend!

I also got a new North Face puffy from the North Face store a couple of blocks away from Nike!  (Ang's fiance works there and gets half off, so it's actually reasonably priced stuff with that discount!)  It was definitely a successful day of shopping. :)

We had to part ways relatively early (5ish) because Matt and I had to get to the team dinner/event for Team World Vision.  We stopped at the hotel to drop our stuff off and change clothes, hopped the train down to the Roosevelt station, and then walked the last mile to the event. 

The train was so full I had to sit on his lap!

Changed clothes in the room (L) and heading back to the train station (R)

Waiting on the Red Line train

The view while walking to the event

It was a much bigger deal than we were expecting.  There were hundreds of people there, big screens set up, and tons of food!  We grabbed great seats right up front and center with a girl who works for World Vision (and was running), her husband, and her parents who flew in from the east coast to cheer her on.  

It was a cool event and I was really glad we decided to go to it.  I only raised $1,400 (which was more than my goal!), but the top fund raiser raised over $50,000!  That's nuts!  All together, Team World Vision raised $1.3 MILLION!  That's clean water for almost 27,000 people!  

I asked the people selling t-shirts out front if they had anymore "Team World Vision" running jerseys, but they were sold out...just like they were at the running expo that morning. :(  I ordered one on-line, but ordered a small...and it barely covered my belly button!  Not going to work to run in. Thankfully the running shirts we got at the expo were cool and fit well, so I decided to just run in that.

With all the people leaving the event at once, finding a cab wasn't going to be easy.  So we decided to just set off on foot again.  In flip-flops, haha.  Seriously.  So much for staying off my feet and resting my legs!  We tried and tried to get a cab, but there just weren't any out where we were!  

We eventually got to a train stop and took that the rest of the way back to our room, where I got everything ready and laid out for my early morning!

At the World Vision event, they told everyone to be there by 5:45am in the morning!!  Ang and I were planning on 6:45 or 7!  So I frantically text her and told her to meet me earlier. We decided to leave my hotel at 6am.  But neither of us could sleep and we were both up and ready to go earlier...so I ended up leaving around 5:45 to go meet her...with an old grey sweatshirt I could just toss when I got warm, a pb&j for breakfast, and my all natural drink to wake me up!

"I'm really doing this!?"

6am at Grant Park.  What were we thinking, getting there so early!?

Matt was so funny in the morning.  He was trying to be awake and helpful, so he started asking me question to make sure I had everything before I walked out the door.  Eyes half open, he said, "Do you have your...sports bra?"  Umm, yea buddy.  I didn't forget to put my sports bra on, haha.  Clearly he wasn't awake. It was a nice gesture to try and help though. ;)

It was pitch black and cold out at 5:45 in the morning.  But Michigan Avenue was a pretty steady stream of marathoners walking to Grant Park.  Cool to see.  :)

There was absolutely NO line at the security check or bag check.  We walked right through and were left shivering in the dark, trying to figure out what to do for the next TWO HOURS before the race started...  The best thing we could come up with?  Sit in the corner of the Women's Changing Area tent to stay out of the wind.  

  

We chatted, talked about how crazy we were, ate our breakfast, and waited for the sun to come up.  Around 7:15, we were tired of sitting and decided to go to the bathroom.  Man, good thing we went when we did.  You can't even imagine the lines there were for the port-a-potties.  And there were TONS of them, too!  We were shocked.  

Yes, ALL of those people are in line for the long line of port-a-potties!

We weaved our way down to the far end where the lines were shorter, and we still had to wait almost 30 minutes to get in to one!  We barely  made it in to the start corrals by the 7:45 closing time!  No time to warm up or stretch for us.  We were in Corral G, and we immediately saw the 4:40 pace group.  Ang was pretty determined to try and finish in under 4 hours, so we kept pushing our way forward until we got right behind the 4:10 group.  That was all we could do.  There were too many people and the 4:00 group was waaaay further up front.

4:40 group (L) and the 4:10 group we ended up behind (R)

Those feet were about to carry us over 26 miles through the streets of Chicago...

We weren't too terribly far from the actual start line.  It only took us a little over a minute to cross it.  There were so.many.people. trying to run that the pace was a little slow.  I kept telling myself it would thin out...but it never did.  It was shoulder to shoulder for a looong ways.  I guess with 45,000 runners, that's to be expected.

In what seemed like no time at all, just past mile 4, we briefly saw Luke and Matt.  I knew where they were going to be because I had called him a couple of times and he had text me, too.  Ang and I were really excited to see them, but it was so anti-climatic when it happened!  All of a sudden, there they were, and 3 seconds later, they were gone!  Matt snapped a pic of me, and I got one of him, and that was it.  If you could see my mouth in the one of me, I was yelling at him, "Hey!  Where are our signs!?"

I turned around once we ran by to sneak one more look, and Matt got thispicture of me:

(The zoomed in version is on the right.)

The first, I'll say, close to 10 miles or so literally flew by.  Like, I couldn't believe we were that far already.  I wasn't feeling a thing.  There was so much excitement and activity, you couldn't even think about running! There wasn't one foot of road that didn't have a person on it yelling for you.  There were bands playing, people dancing, loud music blaring...I didn't even know I was part of a race!

The 1.3 million (yes, million) spectators really brought their A-game.  There really were too many amazing signs to even remember.  I wish I would have taken more pictures of them...but I already took about 50 picture while I was running!  Here are a few I can remember right now...

*Smile if you're going commando!  (Check!)
*Smile if you peed a little!

*I bet this sounded like a good idea 4 months ago!

*Just because the government quit, doesn't mean you can!

*Touch here for super power!

*Go, random stranger, go!

*Today you are a Kenyan!

*You are a Kenyan in our minds!

*You look better than you feel!

*Run like zombies are chasing you!

*Your feet hurt so bad because you are kicking so much ass!

*One day you will not be able to do this.  Today is not that day!

A little after mile 8, I got a text from Matt that said, "Just past Broadway, mile 8, on the left."  So we weaved our way over to left side of the road...and then realized we had already passed mile 8!  So I called him and told him, and he was so sad!  They had literally ran to and from train stations (barely missed one train) to try and meet us at mile 8 after seeing us at mile 4 and had JUST missed us. :(

So we continued running.  The 4:10 pace group was slowly pulling away from us.  Ang's knee really started to hurt her so we slowed up a little.  And was too busy bouncing around like a crazy person -- pointing and waving and high fiving with everyone to care.  (Looking back, I definitely could have shaved some time off if I stuck with the group and focused more on actually running...instead of having fun, haha!)

Right around mile 13, I knew I couldn't hold it anymore.  I had to pee!  I had been holding it for miles - literally.  So I ran ahead of Ang a couple of blocks and finally saw a sign for toilets just off the course a little ways.  I sprinted over to the row of port-a-potties and had my pants down before I even shut the door, haha.  While I was hovering, one of my water bottles on my belt fell out top down on to the nasty floor.  I jut picked it up, wiped it off with some toilet paper, and shoved it back in.  I don't even remember which one it was, so I definitely used it again, ha.  Sick, I know.  But all I was concerned with was getting back out there!  I was so mad I had to stop to pee!

While I'm on that topic, numerous people told me before the race to not "pee your pants" or worse off, poop your pants.  Come on.  Is that a thing?  So many people told me that, in fact, that I had to google it.  Apparently it is real, but I mean, who actually does that?  Maybe if you're a hard core runner and completely focus on running?  (Which I'm not.)  I've only heard of people saying it happens -- I don't know of anyone it's actually happened to in real life.  So maybe it's just a myth.  Do you seriously lose all control over you bodily functions just because you are running?  I just can't fathom it.  I had to pee.  It's not like you can't feel that.  So I did what any normal human being would do and stopped to pee!  I can't for the life of me figure out a scenario where I would think it would be okay to just relieve myself and continue on to save, what, 30 seconds?  Maybe if I was about to break a world record or something?  Just so weird to me...  I'm just out to have fun, so thankfully I don't think I'll have to worry about this one!

Anyways, after that stop, I picked up the pace for the next mile or so to try and find Ang.  I never saw her.  I've never been part of a race with that  many people that never thinned out!  I guess it's possible that my stop was so fast that she never passed me?  I don't know.  We were both looking for each other, and it didn't happen.  I gave up after weaving around people for over a mile with no luck, and settled in to a slower pace to conserve some energy.  This being my first marathon, I really just wanted to make it across the finish line.  No real expectations for time.

Nothing else too exciting that I can remember for the next 10 miles or so.  Just kept running.  And running.  And running.  It wasn't as much fun without Angie by my side.  I grabbed some Power Gel packets and tried one while I was running.  It was warm and runny and about made me gag, so I tossed the rest on the side of the road and stuck with just drinking.  I was holding out for a banana or something I knew I liked...

I think these pics below were around mile 19?  I was definitely heading east back towards the city.  I remember this spot because there was lots of shade from all those trees and it felt so good to be out of the sun!  It looks like I was still having fun and not actually trying to run from these pics...

I briskly race-walked / half jogged through a several water/Gatorade stops throughout the race.  It's near impossible to drink out of those paper cups while you're full on running -- unless you want to end up wearing half of it.  Which actually towards the end is what I did.  Splashed a little on my face with my mount open, hoping to catch some drops, and just dumped the rest on my neck and chest to keep cool. 

The only time I really stopped was between mile 21 and 22 when I saw Matt holding a sign for me and cheering!  I had grabbed half a banana about a mile back and had been holding on to it until I stopped to see him.  (I called him and knew he was close.)  So I stayed there for about 30 seconds to eat my banana and steal a kiss.  He and Luke were so cute and such great support for Ang and I. :)

(I'm taking a picture of him...the one that's above, actually)                                                      

Stopping to re-fuel  (Thanks to Luke for snapping the pics!)

These were running through China Town between miles 21 and 22...  I had already stopped to eat my banana and see Matt by this point.

These two pictures, below, were at some point after China Town and before the finish line.  I remember taking them, but I don't remember what mile it was.  I think around 23...

(You can see I'm holding my phone in my hand in all the pics.  I actually held it the entire race, even though I had just bought a new arm-band at the race expo the day before, and had headphones dangling from my shirt.  I never used either!  There was too much excitement going on all around to block it out with music.  That, and I was too busy taking pictures and texting/calling!)

I also stopped somewhere around mile 23-24(ish) -  shortly after the above pictures - because my legs were cramping up, my hamstrings felt like they were ripping out of my leg, and my poor toes were throbbing.  So I jogged over to the sidewalk  touched my toes a couple of times, stretched out my calves, and then took off again.  I was stopped for maybe 15 seconds, tops.  It didn't help inspire me too much that people all around me were walking by this point in the race...

The last few miles were the hardest.  I was really just ready for it to be over.  People were holding signs and yelling that said "only a 5K left" -- well, that's still 3 more freaking miles! 

This next pic was on the home stretch - around mile 24 - and I was starting to feel it...but not bad enough to stop!  I had checked my watch and phone and knew I was cutting it close to the 4:30 mark.  (So much for under 4.  I wasn't even paying attention!)  I don't know how many times I turned around to make sure the 4:30 Nike Pace Group wasn't coming up on me!

I never saw that pace group, because I crossed the line at 4:20. 

They were a full 10 minutes (over a mile) behind me!

There I am -- crossing the official finish line!

I'm right behind the F in "PROOF" in the pic on the left, and right in the middle on the right.

Here are two of the pics I took while coming up on the finish line.  I totally mis-judged the distance to the actual line and started to pick it up way too soon.  I didn't know you had to turn right, go UP the one and only hill in the entire race, then turn left, and THEN cross the line.  I was so pissed when I realized that! 

Anyways, I did it.  I actually ran a full marathon -- 26.2 miles in the books.  Well, technically it was much closer to 27 miles according to both GPS systems on my phone and watch -- which take in to consideration me constantly running from one side of the street to the other to high-five every single kid and every sign that said "Touch Here For Power."  And the occasional Elvis or man dressed up like a sandwich.  They all needed some love, too! 

Distance according to my Nike watch

As soon as I crossed that line and saw my time, I took a screen-shot of my phone and sent this out to a few people: 

3,349 calories burned!?  That's insane!  

Not a very impressive time, but hey, it was my first one.  According to my training runs, I should have done it closer to 4 hours or under, but I had no idea how slow I needed to go in the middle to make sure I actually made it to the finish line!  And I was way too busy having fun to pay attention to my splits until the last couple of miles.  Maybe some research/coaching would have helped, but I'm not really that serious of a runner for all that nonsense! ;)

Once I was across the line, I was ushered through lines with everyone else like a heard of cattle.  First things first.  I got my medal!  It was definitely earned.  

 

Then they were handing out some sort of shiny trash-bag looking cape thing to put over you to keep you warm (I passed on that), then through all the food an drinks.  And beer.  I couldn't believe how many people were actually drinking beer after that!?  I went for a protein shake and banana instead. 

That is a LOT of bananas!

 My legs were really starting to feel it by that point, so I sat down off to the side along a fence for just a minute to give them a break.  Didn't last long.  Security came along and asked me if I needed medical attention.  When I said I didn't, they said I had to get up and keep moving!  Jeez - I just wanted to rest for a second!  But I got up and kept going.  Next up was the official finisher picture!  I asked the lady behind me in line to take a pic on my phone so I would have one that I wouldn't have to pay for! :)

 

I finally  made it out of most of the madness and went to gear check to get my bag of snacks and dry clothes.  I called my mom on the way to let her know I had finished (she already knew from the Facebook posts).  She cried!  I guess this marathon was more emotional and significant to her than it was to me! I didn't really think it was that big of a deal!  

I also checked my phone and facebook, which was blowing up by that point, and saw two of the sweetest pictures I think I've ever seen.  Two of my favorite little people cheering me on from Kansas!  I love them so much, and it made me feel so good to know they were thinking of me! :)

I finally had a few minutes to sit down (ie lay down) and relax...

(Note to self:  SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRETCHING!)

After trying to coordinate with Matt where to meet, I got a hold of Ang and learned that she had finished not too far behind me.  So I waited for her, and then we made our way to the post-race party / runners reunite area to try and find the guys.

The weather seriously couldn't have been any more perfect.  It was such a beautiful day in Chicago!

The "party" was a little bit too much for us, so after numerous texts and phone calls with the guys, we finally decided to just meet them on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Jackson...which was hard enough!  A nice lady got this picture of us, and it's one of my favorites!  Definitely a framer! :)

From there, we decided to head it home.  We hobbled (seriously) up and down more stairs at the train stops - where the stupid escalators were broken.  Come on!  Of all weekends to have the escalators be down, it had to be this one when thousands of tired and sore runners needed them!?  Neither of us were happy...

 

(Stretching and/or icing our legs really would have been a good idea...)

Anyways, we made it back to Ang's friends place where they had been staying.  Matt had already dropped my bag off there that morning before the race.  I laid down for a little bit, but the adrenaline was still too much and I couldn't sleep.  So I showered and cleaned up and just hung out on the couch watching some football.  I didn't care what we did as long as my feet were up!

Trying to sleep...

Off my feet and happy!

 

I absolutely love these two!  Hoping to make it out to Boston to see them again soon!

We had to say our good-byes around 5pm that evening.  Ang and Luke packed up and left for the long train ride out to O'Hare for their flight home. Matt and I walked (slowly) a few blocks to Lou Malati's pizza - the best deep dish Chicago style pizza around, if you ask me.  Since it was still early, we got seated right away.  About an hour later, the line was out the door!  

We ordered a big salad as an appetizer, which we both ate so much of we were practically full before the giant pizza even came!  Needless to say, we didn't come close to finishing it, but it was delicious!

I didn't feel much like walking, and it was getting dark and cold out by the time we left there, so we took a cab to the closest train stop, and took the Orange Line back out to Midway.  

A couple of stops before we reached the airport, a guy got up and waited at the door to exit.  A women across the aisle hollered at him that he "forgot his package."  He said it wasn't his...and exited the train.  And then took off running as soon as he got outside.  Matt didn't see him run, and didn't think anything of it.  I, however, started freaking out.  A "package" left on a train?  And a guy running away from it??  Ummm....  

Once I told Matt, he kind of freaked out, too.  I said I was going to go look at it.  He said not to, haha.  I don't know why that would have mattered.  We were going to die if it was a bomb no matter if it was in my hands or two aisles up.  I decided if it looked suspicious, I was going to pry the door open on that train and toss it.  Right?  Isn't that the logical thing to do?  So I quickly got up and held my breathe as I walked over to see what it was.  Well, thankfully, it was just a bag of half-eaten food, haha. But it gave us both a rush!  

The "suspicious package" on the train

We had planned on getting to the airport plenty early because we thought it might be crazy busy with all of the runners trying to leave.  Wrong.  The place was dead.  Apparently every one else knew how NOT smart it was to leave the same day you run!  I thought I was walking pretty good - my legs had loosened up some - but the TSA who I walked up to laughed at me and said, "You ran the marathon today, didn't you?"  Ha -  must not have been walking so good after all. ;)

The empty airport Sunday night

I really wanted another strawberry shake like we had at Pot Belly the day before, but had to settle for one from Ben & Jerry's instead.  And a bag of "Gummy Pandas"...which I promptly consumed in about 1 minute.  :)  We sat around and waited for our flight (it was delayed, of course.)  I went through most of my pictures on my phone, which made the time pass by quickly.  

Once we got on the plane and realized it wasn't a full flight, I spread out.  I put my feet up on Matt, who was against the window, and laid down in the other two seats.  And slept the whole flight.  We got back to my house right as 12:25am, and I was exhausted.  For the first time I can ever remember happening in my life, I woke up in the exact same spot in my bed that I fell asleep in.  I only remember because I laid down in a kind of weird position, stretching my legs and had my arms up above my head.  And I woke up 6 hours later in that exact spot.  That is exhaustion!

Monday was rough.  I barely made it down the stairs at my house - certainly not without cringing.  And I waddled like a duck when I walked, haha.  My legs were tired and sore, but more than that, it was like I didn't have any muscle left in them!  I mean, I could barely get up off the toilet!  It was such a weird feeling.  (For the last time, I was definitely kicking myself for not stretching before or after the marathon.)  

Thankfully, that mostly went away by Tuesday, and after my  massage on Wednesday, I was back to normal.  The only thing not back to normal by then was my appetite!  I wasn't that hungry on Sunday, but man, Monday and Tuesday, I ate everything in sight!  I had the equivalent of about 4 breakfasts before noon on Monday, haha.  I guess burning 3,300 calories in a few hours will do that to your body?

I was feeling so good I even mentioned the Kans City HALF marathon coming up this weekend.  If it wasn't going to be so cold, I might do it.  I'm sure I could seriously destroy that 1 hour and 54 minute time it took me to run it 4 years ago...  Maybe next year... ;)

Overall, it really wasn't THAT bad.  I'm pretty confident now that anyone can finish a marathon.  For real!  I'm not really a runner!  And I went from basically zero to 26.2 miles in about 5 months.  Matt had a pulled muscle in his back last year, and we had both really let ourselves get completely out of shape before I decided to do this.  Honestly, there were days when 3 miles was too much without walking.  And Angie hardly even trained for it, and didn't finish too far behind me!  So if we can do it, anyone can!  It's not that hard.  It's just a matter of if you really want to put the time in to run the miles...and pay the price after you do it, haha! ;)

Several people have asked me, what now? What's next? Maybe an ultra-marathon or 50k? (Slightly possible...)

Will I keep running? Yes.  I've always enjoyed running, and I think it's a good / easy way to stay in shape. 

Will I do another marathon? No. 

But ask me again in another 4 years. :)