26.2!
Well I survived my first marathon. I had no doubt that I would, but it's still scary going into unknown territory. Here's the recap!
Marshal and I headed to Duluth Friday morning. We stopped in Rice Lake at Walmart and had lunch at Subway. Luckily the rest of the weekend went a lot better than lunch at Subway did. That Walmart was the most assbackwards place we had ever been to, and Marshal and I both got sicker than hell from the Subway. Mental note to not stop there next year on the way up.
We got to Duluth and went to the Expo. By far the best race expo I've ever been to. It was a little better last year, but we were there later this year so maybe they ran out of a lot of the stuff they had last year. Who knows. It was still awesome. I met up with the fam and we went to Famous Daves for the all you can eat down south spaghetti, yuuuuum! We then went back to the hotel which was about 20 minutes away from Duluth at the Black Bear Casino. Wow it was a great place to stay. They had a sweeeeet hot tub/pool area, you got $5 free every day for gambling (I just cashed mine in, cha-ching) and there was 24/7 restaurants etc.
At the Expo
My brother and nephew sharing some corn on the cob at Famous Daves
Me, Marshal, Paul, and April were in my room. My sister and her family along with my mom were in another room in the hotel. We had a poolside suite so I heard "marco... POLO!" until about 11:30pm when the pool closed. Not ideal conditions the night before a race, but who am I kidding... I wasn't going to sleep that night anyways. I was up at 4:00, laid there till the alarm went off at 4:15, and then got up and the madness began. A big thank you to everyone in my room that morning. They were troopers. Up at 4:15 and at least pretended to be awake.
I met 2 ladies on the Grandma's Facebook page that wanted to carpool from Black bear, so Marshal dropped the 3 of us off at one of the pickup spots. We got on the bus, and it was almost an hour bus ride to Two Harbors, the start of the race. The race actually goes down alongside Lake Superior on the highway from Two Harbors to Duluth. This is the map of it from my Garmin.
The bus dropped us off at the start line. It was in like an old car lot or something. We headed to the porta porties along with the other 8,000 runners. By the time we were done with the porta potties it was almost start time. I hopped in the crowd and waited. I was so far back I didn't even hear the gun go off. There was supposed to be an F-16 jet flyover, but I don't know if I missed it or what. I crossed the start line at 7:20ish on the clock for the gun time. The first 2 miles flew by. I don't even remember them. Amy and I were running together for the first 11-12 miles, so I think maybe that made it go by faster.
Self portrait at mile 6
My family split up. My brother and his family were together and my sister and her family, my mom, and Paul and April were together in another group. Sister and Co. were at mile 3. I had my phone with me so I could text them where I was, etc. The rain had stopped so I was warm, so I gave them my long sleeve shirt and cap at mile 3 when I saw them. It was so exciting knowing they'd be at mile 3, and then every other mile spot they were at. I ended up having supporters at miles 3, 6, 9, 13.3, 14, 16, 24, and then finish. It was faaaabulous! 
Brother in law and nephew, in the rain, watching Auntie run!
I actually took this pic on my phone while running by... April and Paul, handing me a raspberry truffle lol
Risk of Hypothermia... lovely!!!
So then I was texting them trying to get my long sleeve back at the next mile I saw them. Then by the time I got to that mile to where they were, the rain stopped again and it was pretty nice out. I ended up running the rest in my tank and shorts and the weather actually did get okay. At mile 6 I think I stopped to pee. I went behind a van, because I wasn't standing in line at the porta potties. After I got done, I stood up and realized I had peed behind a van full of KIDS! whoops. Well I guess they learned something new that day? ha. 
Mile 3, handing my family my shirt and cap
Mile 16. This is my giraffe look.
At mile 13.1 there were a million porta potties because that was the start for the half. It was weird being there again since that's where I started last year. I hopped in a porta and peed again. Then I was on my merry way. I saw my sister and co. at mile 16, and then after that I kinda felt like it was going to get rough going forward since I wouldn't have anything to look forward to till mile 24. It wasn't a "hard" 16-24, but it was strange. Mile 20-21 I had this uneasy feeling. I fully expected to hit the "wall" like everyone says they do after mile 20, but I never did. I stayed hydrated and fueled perfectly. I didn't walk once. Not a once!!! :)
Later on they were handing out bananas and oranges which was a great mix up from the sport beans and water. YUM. At 21 there were tons of people yelling "you're almost done!". Really? Cuz I'm not, and unless you got your butt out there and were at mile 21 out of 26, you can't say "almost done!" at me. At about mile 23 or so I looked over and saw this girl I went to elementary school, jr high and high school with. I chatted with her for a bit which was pretty cool.
Mile 24 was finally there. I was searching desperately for any familiar faces. I saw Paul April and Marshal and was so relieved! I made them each give me a big hug as I ran by and then kept on my way. (Right after that I saw ANOTHER kid I went to school with growing up.. so strange!) 2 miles left! That was it. The last 2 miles curl around town sorta down into Canal Park. I felt great, I was cruising, and I finally reached 25. I turned around the corner down into Canal Park. My brother texted me that they were standing by the big boat and I knew exactly where that was. I hauled it and saw them, and he was in the road taking pics of me. One more corner to turn and I was on the homestretch :)
Mile 24, needing hugs!
I crossed, got my medal and shirt, tried to find a warming blanket but they were all gone since it was freezing, adn then went directly to the Dippin Dots tent lol. I stocked up on Dippin Dots, bagels, chocolate milk, and found my family. It was so flippin' cold we didn't really stick around and take many pictures, so thats a bummer. We did get a few, though.
Showing off my medal with a mouthful of strawberries.
With one of my nephews, Eli.
My medal
We made our way to the chocolate store where I got a caramel apple with marshmallows, chocolate chips, and a bunch of other stuff on it. I split it with the fam, but it was amaaaazing. Then we made our way to the Duluth Grill where I had a yummy Blueberry pancake. It suuure hit the spot. We then went back to the hotel. I took an ice bath and it felt great. Then we ventured down to the pool area, followed by the casino buffet. First casino buffet experience... UFDA.
The ride back to the hotel. Exhausted and happy.
SWIMMING!
I can honestly say I've never been so exhausted in my life as I was yesterday. We left about 9:30 for the cities to meet Marshal's parents at the Twins game. I literally couldn't keep my eyes open, and then got a migraine. Not to mention my legs weren't feeling great or working, so the stairs at the game were pretty brutal. But, the Twins won, so thats a bonus :)
It was an awesome weekend. I can't believe I ran a FREAKING marathon, but it was the greatest time of my life! I can't wait to do my next one. People keep asking, "was it hard? did you want to walk? did your legs/feet/whatever hurt?" The answer is : Yes. If it was easy to run a marathon, everyone would do it. Of course I wanted to walk, why wouldn't you want to? And yes, after 20+ miles of running, something is bound to "hurt" or be sore... but it's mind over matter, and you just gotta keep pushing through it. That's what I've been doing the past 19 months... why stop now? :)
"Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count."
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