It only took 40,371 steps …

.....for me to find my happy place. I used to believe I was a competitive person. I am slowly learning that I am competitive in areas of my life that I have been overtly blessed in. Growing up I was fiercely competitive with my music, and I still have that little voice in the back of my head when I hear a pianist perform that says “you could totally do that better…” I continue to work hard at it and see results. (I won’t even begin to go into my violin lessons… grrrrr) Many other areas I have that same little silly voice pitting me against others. Oddly, running is the one thing my in life that I am not the least bit competitive. It’s a strange sensation, but one, especially during this marathon training that I’ve come to embrace and love. I run for the pure love of running, because it makes me happy, makes me feel good, lands me the best friends in the world, and makes me constantly think of my Dad.

That is what made my marathon on Saturday one of the very best experiences of my life. I talked more about the spiritual side of it in my random thoughts on my family blog. As you ladies know I went out with the mantra “Enjoy. Float.” I truly embraced the “enjoy” part of the mantra. After saying goodbye to you at 1.5 miles I just ran the way my body wanted to run. Fast or slow, I just listened and enjoyed the natural rhythm of my body. From miles 2-6 I ran with an old friend from growing up, from miles 9-11 I ran with a good guy friend from high school. By the half marathon mark I was feeling great. I PR’d at 2:08. GREAT. I stopped to stretch and put on the Icy Hot, grabbed an orange and was on my way. While I was struggling up mile 14, I had the thought “hey, I might actually get this done in 4:30.” LOL. By mile 16 Jeff Galloway’s 4:30 pace team passed me and my 4:30 time was ancient history. Hee hee. From that time on, I flipped my watch over to time of day rather than the timer. I made the mental shift (again….) that I was here to enjoy the marathon not kill myself to hit a goal. I took a big gulp of air and continued on. I cannot TELL you how much I loved coming around the dam and running to The Oaks where they had The. Best. Station. Ever. Looooooved it. Least to say the rest of the marathon went slowly but surely… and happily. I stopped to help out a fellow runner, and I chatted with random peeps, gave the crowd high fives, giggled at miles 20, 22 and 24 (cause I kept thinking “I just ran 20… I just ran 22…. I. am. Crazy. Hee hee) made people shout and cheer my name at mile 25 whilst pumping my arms, and made a new friend on Grant on the way to the finish line. One of the best parts of the run was grabbing my cute kidlets at the end and running to the finish line with them. I loved it. It made everything so worth it.

I had two goals going into yesterday and I feel like I achieved them.
-Enjoy the run. Be happy.
-Don’t walk longer than 60 seconds at a time (oookay… on mile 24-25 I would walk about 90 seconds…so kinda achieved that goal)

I was so happy at the end, I didn’t even care my time was 20 minutes slower than my last marathon. I was so much happier and had enjoyed the marathon exponentially more than I did last time. Yes, I was (am) sore. Yes, it hurt…bad. Yes, I wanted to quit at mile 24. BUT I laughed and smiled my way through an unforgettable 26 miles. Thank you ladies for making this possible, totally 100% honored and ecstatic to have completed this with you! I am SO proud of both of you. SO Proud!! The only negative to Saturday was that I couldn't be at the finish line to cheer YOU on. Love you girls, yes yes I do.

and yes... i couldn't resist posting this picture.....

(pretty sure that's what our faces looked like this morning after rolling out of bed....)