Marathon

So Jon and I just ran our first marathon last sunday in Portland. What a rush! We had quite the experience and both finished! The skies spared us and and the race was completely dry- not always the case this time of year in Portland. We started the race at 7am, in the dark, in a pack of 10,ooo people in about 3 city blocks. We were pretty much packed in like sardines. We had these little clips on our shoes that tracked our time, so our race time didnt start until we crossed the start line, which makes the chances of getting trampled much less. We both started off feeling strong- Jon at about a 6:45- 7:00 pace, and me at about an 8:30 pace. We thought we were doing so well... until about mile 15. Looks like we went out a little too fast, because we both found ourselves feeling like death. It took everything I had in me, to keep running the last 5 miles. I mean everything. I'm not sure what I was thikning it would be like, but it was much harder than I thought. When your body shuts down and you have no more to give- its amazing that our mind can will our bodies to keep going. The feeling of conquering that race though, is priceless, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to put in the time an effort to train for it. Fully worth it. Heres some pictures from mile 21- if you look at Jons face in the picture you can tell that he's just about at his limit. Not sure why I'm smiling but my best guess is that I was extremely happy to see Patti and Mark cheering me on- I sure needed that!