After 5 months of training, yesterday I completed the LA Marathon, something I have wanted to do for the last several years. I went through a training program with my friend Holly. We met 3-4 times each week and worked very hard to get ready for the big day. Sunday began with getting to Dodger Stadium at 6am, waiting with our pace group, and then lining up in the mass of people at the start line. It was exciting to see how many people were there, and they were all so different. Some old, some really young, some dressed up, such a range of people all there to accomplish the same goal. Once the race started it took about 15 minutes to actually cross the start line, and even then it was a challenge to get through the mass of people that were ahead of us.

While I was running the girls were at home getting ready to come to the finish line. What I didn’t know was that they were trying to meet me along the route as well.

I felt reasonably good until mile 15. That is when I started to doubt if I would be able to finish well. My whole body hurt, my brain told me that I should stop..who’s dumb idea was this? Holly was so encouraging, and so loyal. She didn’t run ahead. She walked when I needed to, reminded me to eat, gave me small goals to work toward. At mile 18 I knew that I was slowing her down and holding her back from what she could do. So I encouraged her to go ahead. She didn’t want to go, but I knew that she would be better off to go without me so she could finish strong. Reluctantly she left. It was like she was moving away with as hard as it was to see her leave. Who cries during a race…me. Not too long later I saw my kids and that lifted my spirits.

Not long after that my friends from church showed up to run the rest of the race with Holly and I. They couldn’t have shown up at a better time. Holly was a mess because she left me, I was just a mess. So they did their best to put us back together and press on toward the end. 8 miles is a long way to run with someone who doesn’t really want to run. So I owe V a huge something. She was my lifeline. Just her being there somehow got me to run when I really didn’t want to.

The last 2 miles were tough, but the adrenaline started when I could hear the finish line noises. It was so wonderful to see the finish line in the distance. I wanted to run faster so it could be over faster. My goal was to finish in under 5 hours and I crossed the finish line at 4:56:47. I got to see my family and eat my hoagie. It was a wonderful feeling.

Holly finished in 4:48:26. Well done friend!

Fun facts:
– out of 25,000 runners, i finished in 8,420 place
– i was ahead of 54% of the male finishers
– in the last 4.5 miles i passed 492 runners
– i was at mile 10 when the winner won