St. Jude Marathon - #2 down and no more to go! :-)

Well- It is over and we did it! There were 14,000 people entered in this race to find a cure. As you all know my life has been crazy with building, packing, selling, teaching classes at Group Fit, and life in general with two WONDERFUL kiddos and an amazing husband so I did not have a lot of time to train for this marathon. My longest run was 16 miles and I would run every now and then through out the week or sometimes every other week. Well- let me tell you LESSON has been learned. Training is a neccesity and I am not made of steel!!!! God, my angels and your prayers carried me through the last 10 miles. My right calf got tight at mile 13 and then both of my calves started seizing up at mile 16 but I kept praying and thinking of all of the people on my shirt who fought so hard to battle cancer and somewhere deep down inside I was given strength. I saw my sister three times and many other friends that helped to push me along the way. I have NEVER wanted to quit something so bad in my entire life. The pain was horrendous for the last 10 miles but at least I knew at the finish line my battle was over. By mile 25 I could hardly flex my feet to run and a sweet man told me to stretch and walk it in because I had come to far to give up. So I made myself walk, stretch, run, walk, stretch, run. And for those of you who know me you know how hard it was for me to walk but by golly it helped and God gave me a special boost at the end to finish strong. At the end I was so full of emotions that I collapsed into a ladies arms as her friend took off my time chip. I cried and cried and she asked me if this were my first marathon and I told her no that I was just crying for my grandmother and the angels that carried me through to the end. I am finally able to walk a little better. Matthew has been amazing and he has massaged my legs and taken over the household chores and boys. He has won father of the year in my book. Thank you Leslie, Rodney, Liz, Becky, and Andrew for helping me in the end when my legs finally gave out at the finish line. You were God sends and I will repay you one day. Nurse Leslie kicked in and took great care of me. You rock sis, and yes this is my LAST! I love you all! My final time was 3:55:23. Like I said before- my angels carried me those final miles. Now- I am going to limp around and pack up my house!!!! :-) Attached are some pre-race pics.