San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon Recap

Well folks, like I said in my super short post on Sunday, I ran a marathon. It wasn't exactly what I expected or how I planned, but I did it. My final time was 5 hours, 44 minutes.

My Finisher's Medal

When we got to San Diego on Saturday, we headed over to the expo to pick up my shirt, swag bag and race packet. I was really excited about the shirt... these ones were pretty awesome:

Awesome Shirts!

After that, we headed over to our hotel to check in. The girls at the front desk were all excited when they found out who I was (ok, it's really much less celebrity like than it sounds). My parents, sister and brother-in-law had sent me an edible arrangement! It was such a great idea because real flowers would have probably messed with my allergies and this was FANTASTIC after the race!

My "Flowers"

Here's what I look like at 4am the morning of a race... absolutely petrified.

Pre-race Picture

The run started at 6:15am, but by the time my corral crossed the starting line, it was around 6:45am. I could not have asked for more perfect weather - it was cloudy (hello June gloom!) and cool, with a slight breeze once we got near the water. The first 9 miles felt fantastic - I was running my pace, I felt good and I was really enjoying the scenery.

Then, at mile 9, disaster struck. We were running on the freeway (they close down a chunk of the 163 for the race) when my stomach really started to bother me. Like the "you need to stop at this nice blue porta potty on the side of the 163" bother me. From mile 9 all the way through mile 26, I was in serious pain. I visited many of the conveniently placed porta potties along the route. At mile 15, I called Mike. I told him I was sick and didn't know what to do. He told me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's exactly what I did for the next 17 miles. I am so proud of myself for continuing on when I know a lot of people would have stopped. And I love Mike so much for telling me to keep going, even though he could hear how badly I was hurting and knew (from personal experience) how long 17 miles can be.

Now, on a lighter note, here are some of the funny signs I saw along the way:

"Run faster mommy, I'm tired of holding this sign" (held by a cute little boy)

"This sounded like a good idea 6 months ago"

"Don't stop - people are watching you"

"Tomorrow you'll think this was fun"



Believe it or not, I'm really glad I had this experience. This was honestly my worst fear going into the run and it actually happened. But I survived, I kept running and I didn't give up. Yes, my time wasn't what I was aiming for, but I feel like I overcame a lot more than just a time goal. This whole process has been quite a journey and has tought me a lot about what I can handle both physically and mentally. I'd like to send a great big thank you out to everyone who called, texted, facebooked or emailed me encouragement... I read each and every one and appreciate it!

Finally, something I've been waiting to do for a long time... cross this one off the bucket list (and apparently start thinking of some other things to add to it!):

• Own a horse
• Buy a house - completed 2007
• Run a marathon - completed 2012
• Get married - completed 2011