Marathon Done

Well, I did it. My finish time was 5 hours. I have to say that I think I under estimated what it would be like. I felt really good up through 15 miles. Once I hit 19 miles I started having more of a mental struggle. The furthest I had run up to that point was 18. I started thinking "why didn't I just pull off at the 1/2 marathon"? I was sure no one would begrudge me that. From 19 to 23 it was a struggle, alternating between running and walking. My thighs were starting to really get sore. They stopped working very well as shock absorbers and my back started hurting. Once I hit 23 I started to win the mental battle. I figured that all that was left was a short 3 mile run and I could do that. I started running more and walking less. At 24 miles I stopped walking with one exception of a small rise up the freeway overpass. I finished running strong, even sprinting (if you can call it that) past the person directly in front of me at the finish line.

At the end of the race my family and one of the doctors who helped to save my life were there. I hate to say but I did get a little emotional. I'm sure that it was only because of my weakened state that made me so.

In fact, I'm sure that it is.

Dr. Laura Boomer was one of the many doctors that were instrumental in saving my life. Because I was moved so quickly from UMC to Kindred and because of the heavy drugs I was on at the time, I don't truly remember all of those that were at UMC. So this was a special chance to meet with Dr. Boomer. She was the one that gave me that great scare down the middle of my stomach.
We must have sat there for an hour and just talked. Which was good for me because I was pooped. Unfortunately, since we couldn't drive from our hotel to the marathon we had to walk back another mile. In all, I had to walk a mile to the race, 26.2 during and another mile after. So I really did 28.2 that day. Yuck.

Now it's off to the next phase of my goal, the triathlon. I just have to get a bike, start swimming and biking, and find the race that will work for me.