Marathon fun!! (well, I don't know about fun;) )

The Dallas White Rock marathon.....

a marathon I trained for for 23 weeks....

According to our USAfit coodinator, I ran close to 500 miles

by the time my training was over....

Scott, the boys and I headed to Dallas a couple of weeks ago after

our visit with family in Bryan.

On Saturday after checking into our hotel and before dropping off

the boys with Aunt Pam and Nana, we went to the expo.

At the expo....

Scott, Brian (our cousin) and I ate at Campisi's.

Our original plan was to eat with my running group, but we were late.

After we were seated I found my group....

we could have still sat with them, but decided not to so we could get our food faster

(what can I say, we were hungry?).

After dinner at Campisi's, we went back to the hotel and crashed.

I did not hardly sleep the entire night.....

why you ask?

Because it was raining the entire night....and I was thinking

about having the run in the cold, wet weather!!

(and I was just naturally nervous)

Turns out my 'fears' became reality and race day was a VERY cold, rainy and windy day!!

Scott took the pic of the start line, which he and Brian beat me and my group to--

they drove and found parking, while the group took the DART.

Empty starting corrals just about 45 minutes before race time.

My AWESOME, BIGGEST fans for my marathon!!!

They endured the cold weather (in the 30's/40's with 'feel like temps at 27/28),

winds (which I have heard were up to 12 mph)

and rain (I mean pretty heavy rain most of the race) just to cheer me on!!

Scott and Brian found me 7-8 times on the course!!!

He may not run another full marathon (although I have begged him too),

but he's been the most supportive husband during my entire training and during the race!!!

I could not have completed my training or my marathon without him!!

I may not have ended up with my best time, but I could not be more proud of the accomplishment of finishing this race. The weather was brutal....

and so were my shine splints that started at mile 1....

and the leg cramps that started at mile 6/7 and never let up!!

I am proud to say I stuck with the 4:30 pace group (meaning they were on pace to finish the marathon in 4 hours and 30 minutes) until mile 9, when I had to stop to walk out/rub out leg cramps--which didn't happen.....:)

My time by the way was 5:05:??, which is about

7 minutes slower than my first marathon.

I know from my training runs I can beat my first marathon time of 4:58:11....

So I guess this means, I may be signing up for another marathon soon....

After the marathon, Scott, Brian and myself headed to Nana's (Brian's grandmothers)

where she had hot soup, which was DELICIOUS, and a hot shower ready for me!

Blaine and Walt had a blast with the Piner clan while we were gone.

Thank you guys so much for keeping the boys!!:)

What a great 2nd marathon!!

I seriously can't believe I completed another one!!