I finished!!!!!

Note--that's the Capitol behind me! The race had some awesome scenery! Although I had to force myself to look up from the pavement and try to enjoy it at times.... I had to promise myself I was never doing it again by mi. 23......but am already planning the next. I came in at 4:03, beating my goal time by 17 minutes! So I was pretty happy about that. Towards the end I heard someone yelling out, "beat Sarah Palin". I didn't even know she'd run a marathon, but now am a little ticked to know she beat me by 2 1/2 min. That dang Sarah Palin. At least I beat Oprah by 27 min though. And she's African-American.

I had a great time hanging out w/my friend Ellen, who moved a couple of months ago. It rained Sat. night, but was fabulous weather Sunday morning for the race. Yes, I KNOW my outfit doesn't match, but are my favorite running shorts and the only shirt I have w/a pocket on the back for my phone. I was disappointed Adam wasn't running it w/my like we'd planned, technology is amazing though---he was able to track me every 5k and called me a couple of times to cheer me on. It was great.
I saw things this race I'd only heard about or seen in mags before: 2 men w/BLOODY nipples---so gross---It gave me a good laugh though thinking about the episode of the Office when they had that race, a girl who crapped her pants--hello, she was barely in front of me---no Olympic time! I can see doing if you're running under 3 hrs or something. But truly at that point in the race you're in so much pain you don't care much about anything. And lastly, a man running w/a prosthetic leg--so incredibly humbling. And he was keeping good time. It sure made me forget about my aches and pains for a few minutes. I can only imagine the rubbing on that thing. Some people are so inspiring.

There were a lot of spectators at the race, probably covered about 1/4-1/3 of the route. Not as many as Tokyo though, where they covered about 98% of the route. There were a lot of Marines in uniform helping along the sidelines--drinks, crowd control, etc, and I decided about 1/2 way through that I was going to "OORAH" each that I passed on my side, and I did. I got lots of "OORAH" 's back. It was a lot of fun. I was wishing I'd worn a shirt that read, "My husband's a marine, in Iraq, and we have FIVE kids". Not for sympathy or anything, just for something interesting for spectators and runners to read. I know I sure read other runners shirts, anything to make the time pass. I did see one poster that read "Becky is a Rock Star" and decided it must have been for me.

I felt like I might puke for about the last 10 miles of the race. Then again later that afternoon it hit me and I had to throw my head between my knees, but still never did. But I got a nice delayed reaction on the metro on the way to the airport the next morning! Luckily I had my race drop bag handy. And it was clear, so nobody around me missed a thing! Actually, not too many had to endure it, I was trying to switch trains--but because of the puking I didn't get off in time--train ended there-- so doors shut, lights out--but someone heard me yelling thankfully, and the doors opened back up. And after a little more puking by the garbage can, I felt much better and was able to move on. Better the train than the plane I figure.

A HUGE thank you to Jeannie, my mother-in-law, who flew in to watch the kids for me. It was so nice having the break, and knowing I was coming home to a clean house and laundry done too!!!

If anyone's interested in seeing more stamp-sized photos of the race, you can check them out at:

http://www.marathonfoto.com/order_assigned_photos.cfm?BFI=rz2mix9u7s&OID=13692008F1&BibNumber=19822&CustomerNumber=S03J99&Currency=USD&Language=en