I had every reason to sit this one out...

...but I didn't! Yep, that marathon that I kept going back and forth about? I just ran it and PRed by 15 minutes! (If you remember my first marathon recap, you'll see that wasn't really that hard to do.) As we were driving home from our week at Disneyland Friday night, I still wasn't sure that I would run yesterday morning. After all, I was exhausted from walking around the parks everyday and still having some heart palps. I was worried I wouldn't be properly hydrated and my legs wouldn't be fresh. We got home at about 11 o'clock Friday night and I finally just decided to go for it. No more excuses, I just needed to do it and take it one mile at a time. Run, walk or crawl, I knew I could finish. Plus, I know myself well enough to know that I would regret not at least trying to run, even though I was under trained. I left the Garmin at home and headed to the race at 5 am yesterday morning.

The race started out well. I decided to run without music until I really needed it, which didn't happen until around mile 20. I just listened to the sounds of the race and took my time. I was running by feel and just focused on finishing instead of a specific time goal since I knew my training didn't support it. The legs felt pretty good until about mile 14 when they just started to ache a bit. My lungs were strong. No huffing and puffing. Mentally, I felt strong and knew I would be ready to gut it out when things got tough. I was really enjoying all the people cheering along the course. There was even a "Temptation Station" where a guy was handing out beers and shots of liquor. Another of his signs read, "Anyone can run sober." Haha! I got a good laugh out of that. I declined the alcohol, though. :)

Around mile 20, my legs really started to ache. I was walking through the aid stations and trying to stretch out my quads and IT band as well as I could but they were just HURTING! Oh well, I thought, sometimes you just have to run through the pain. And run I did. Well, if you could call it running. It was more of a shuffle at the end. The last 2 miles my left knee was in serious pain and I was getting discouraged but knew I was almost done. "Ow, ow, ow." "You knew this would hurt." "Just finish!" were my final miles mantras. It was all mind over body by then.

My goal was to finish and I did! I walked a little but never crawled so that's good. :) Marathon #2 is in the books! It was ugly but it counts!

My final time- 4:50:32

Pace- 11:05

Time to get in shape for Utah Valley Marathon, only 8 weeks 'til marathon #3! I will be ready for that one. Guaranteed.