Life to-do list: Finish a Marathon...

CHECK!

I did it! I finished on Sunday! Not fast, but I finished, and I wasn't last, and I wasn't close to being cut off at the checkpoints, so I'm pleased!

I honestly did have fun. The R&R series of races does a lot to make all those miles fun. The bands obviously. The water stations were themed. Lots of folk coming out to cheer for us. Plenty to distract you as much as possible from the miles and miles you're running!

My favorite water stations:

• The Girl Scouts in the area (I didn't notice if it was a troop or a council) did a jungle theme - music like "Welcome to the Jungle," "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," etc, all the girls in animal prints, even the balloons were decorated as animal prints. The leaders stood near the start of that water station with "Beware of the Animal" signs :)
• A church manned a station that was "Back to the 1980s" (the sign was a take-off of the Back to the Future Logo). They had a DeLorean parked out front as you approached the water station, and guys dressed as Marty and Doc. There was someone in a Rubick's Cube costume, and everyone else was in as stereotypical 80's fashion. Probably had tons of fun raiding the thrift stores for some of those pieces!
  

My favorite bands:

• A band of sailors early on was a punk band with a female lead - was playing a couple Paramore songs as I was running past. Could tell they were sailors because they were in uniform :) The lead singer's voice was pretty good really, and it just made me smile seeing the guitarist getting into the music and headbanging, with the standard military buzz cut (no long rock-star hair allowed on ship!)
• Mile 22 - a Dave Matthews cover band. For a good little VA girl, I've grown up around a lot of DMB (the band was founded at UVA, if you were not aware) His shows were always really big in Va Beach where I grew up. So it was definitely a boost hearing one of my favorites starting up as I'm struggling up the last hill on the course. The drummer saw me singing along and smiled - would've paused and cheered more, but if I'd slowed down on that hill, I don't think I'd've made it all the way up!
  

My other favorites about the course:

• The weather! It was humid and overcast and cool - all the things our weather here in the desert ISN'T! I'd forgotten how much easier it is to breathe on a run when your lungs are drying out inside you! And the clouds were wonderful - between a high of 67 on race day, and all the clouds, it was really comfortable running weather.
• The course was really pretty. Some less scenic parts, of course, but it wound by the water and past several San Diego landmarks (Petco Park, Balboa Park, downtown, the waterfront...)
• The course was also convenient for spectators. The trolley routes came close to the course at several points, so spectators could move around the city and cheer for their runners at several locations. Zach came along this weekend as my cheering section, and he found another guy cheering for his girl, and the two of them hopped on and off the trolley several times to cheer for us along the route. It worked out really well, because the other runner was about 3 minutes ahead of me, so the two guys would cheer for her, then for me and then back on the trolley to the next point! (I do have to say, that the finish line being on a military post was inconvenient for viewers - Zach said a lot of people were turned away for not having proper ID, and he even saw some runners being held up because though they were still wearing their timing chip on their shoe, they had taken off their shirt which had their race number on it)

My time was slower than what I'd hoped for, but considering how few long runs I was able to do while training, I'm not upset. I still finished, right? I also fell down at about mile 18.5 and scraped up my hands and a knee. Had to walk a couple miles after that, just to let myself settle back down. Still, the stinging in my hands did distract me from how tired my legs were! :) Thankfully, my fall was just a little from an aid station and from the second check point (just about the same spot), so (1) I could get band-aids pretty quickly, and (2) my unexpected walking was all done after the cut-off, so I knew I would be able to finish! Once you're past the cut-offs, you are clear to finish. If you don't make it to the cut-offs by certain times, you are rerouted, so that the city can make sure the roads will open up on time.

I'm hurting like crazy today, but it's not as bad as I thought I'd be hurting. So I guess I wasn't as totally out of shape as I felt yesterday? :) It's also helping that I'm in the water a lot this week, so can stretch out and stay active without having to run.

Oh, and if you want to see more pictures, check them out here! And yes, I am holding my hands funny as I'm waving at the camera in several pictures. I told you I fell, right? :)