I'm a marathon runner!

I did it! I ran a marathon. I started training in February for the June 1st San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon. I trained and ran it with with 3 awesome friends here in Winslow who helped me push through all the grooling long runs on Saturday mornings. Leann, Susie, and Christal I love you guys! Here are some of the memories I have of the day.

2:10 am - Woke up freezing cold and needed to go to the bathroom.

2:13 am- Got back into bed, checked the clock and the anxiety kicked in, tossed and turned.

3:00 am- Still awake, heard the alarm clock from the room next door. Told myself if I fell

asleep I could still get another hour. Totally didn't help! Only made the anxiety worse.

3:45 am- Still awake! How annoying! I guess I'll get up and run a marathon now. Got dressed, put on some mascara for pictures, went down to the lobby to catch my shuttle to the start line.

4:30 am- Got on shuttle to start line.

5:00 am- Ate part of a bagel. Drank some powerade.

5:15 am- Got a massage. This was awesome! There were about 15 tables set up with volunteers to give massages to the runners. The lady who worked on me worked out a kink in my butt. Yes, my butt. I was having some syatic pain. She totally helped me.

5:30 am- Met up with the girls did some stretching, took a few pictures, turned in bag at the UPS trucks.

6:00 am- Stood in line for the porto-potties. No T.P. by the time we got up there. I grabbed a piece that I found on the grass just outside of the potties. No doubt it was on the bottom of someone shoe at one point. Yuck!!!

6:37 am- Crossed start line. One step down, 26.2 miles to go. I kept a 10 minute mile for a little more then 7 miles then I decided not to push it. I don't know if it was the humidity or what but I couldn't keep up with the girls. So i put my head phones in, turned on the ipod, and did my own thing.

Around mile 12- I was feeling down, struggling with not seeing my friends for awhile, I looked up at the people cheering us on and there was a woman holding a sign that said,

"GO JEN

JESUS ROCKS

YOU ROLL"!

So this sign was totally not meant for me, but I got really emotional and even cried. I told myself Jesus is my rock. I can do this! Ya cheesy I know! But it got me through.

Just after the Half Marathon point- I recorded myself with my phone, and if I can ever figure out how to put the video onto the comp, I will share it with you. I was pumped and I didn't realize it but I was only like 3 minutes behind my friends.

I think it was around mile 14- I saw Christal coming out of the porto-potties. I got so excited! We stayed together for about 3 miles. We both stopped to get some water, I started running again and I looked back but I didn't see her.

Mile 19- Called Burr, asked if he was waiting at mile 21 like we planned. Not there.

Mile 20- Called Burr again still not there.

In between mile 20 and 21- Burr in route to mile 21

Mile 21- Talking to Burr waiting at mile 21 to run with me. Oops I passed it but didn't realize I had passed it until I saw the mile 22 sign.

Mile 22- Called Burr and told him to sprint to catch up. This wasn't to hard, I was going so slow by this point an old man, I mean really OLD man passed me he was speed walking. But in my defense he had really long legs. Lol

Around 22.3 miles- I was sweating so bad that the sweat was poring into my eyes. I couldn't see a thing and the salt hurt so badly that I had to go to the side and try and blink the sweat away. I had nothing to wipe it away from my eyes. My clothes were soaked with a combination of sweat and water that i had poured down the front of me and my arms were completely sweaty.

About mile 22.5- I saw Burr. I was so excited! I got a burst of energy for about a mile. Then I really needed to focus. It was great having him run with me but I think it threw me off focus.

25.8 miles or so- Almost there! The finish line was on a military base. Just before we got onto the base they told Burr he had to get off of the running course and go through security. Well that sucked! I was envisioning holding Burrs hand running over the finish line. I quickly told him I loved him and that I would call him after I had finished.

5 hours and 5 minutes after I started running- I crossed the finish line. I turned to my right and this random guy gave my a high five and yelled, "WE DID IT"! That was awesome. I was going to cry but no, I held it back. I did it!