Last year, I asked Rachel and Hayley if they wanted to run a marathon this year. Hayley had been thinking about doing it, and Rachel surprisingly said, "why the heck not", so here we were, several months later actually running a marathon. Since I will never be a serious marathon contender, I took my camera along to document the excitement. Here's our journey!
At the start line, showing our numbers. That's right, we're official!
Lining up at the start we were thinking optimistically when we joined this time group. (Actually, it was the last time they posted, so we entered here and kept walking back...)
Getting all ready to go. There's no turning back now!
Yep, we're smiling because we're so cold our faces are frozen like this.
And we're off!
Notice the enthusiasm! Also notice that we are still on the bridge, which means we are still in the first mile. That pretty much sums it up.
Still notice the high levels of enthusiasm...this is in mile 2.
This sign pretty much summed things up perfectly.
The best t-shirt of the run.
As the run progressed, spirits were still high, but unfortunately IT-bands were not so cooperative.
The Viterbo University mascot was cheering us on around mile 16. Pure awesomeness.
We were lucky to have quite the support squad. My mom, Denise, and Evan biked all around the route, and my dad drove to different places to give us food, clothing, and support. My mom even rode about 3 of the last miles with me on her bike, without even telling me once she was going to fall over because I was moving so slow.
Rachel and Hayley showing high knees at their finest.
By this point in the run, the traffic was blocked off for me and about 10 other speed challenged individuals. It was like my own luxury lane!
Yes, I am trying with all of my mite to at least look like I'm running.
4th marathon down! I ran with the guy behind me for a little bit, and asked him what number marathon he was on (generally guys like him are seasoned veterans). He said 143 and he's done one in each state. He asked me what other states I'd run in and I said all of my marathons so far were done in Japan. He was impressed that I have two continents covered.
Rachel and Hayley in the home stretch of the first marathon!
They even got a police escort!
Crossing the finish line all together!
We all made it! Congratulations on your first marathon ladies!!!
Headed home through beautiful northeast Iowa.
On the way home we stopped at Pike's Peak (the Iowa version). My mom was going to park illegally so we would be closer, to which my dad said, "If they choose to run that far, they can walk the 20 extra feet from a real spot." Nothing wrong with a reality check.
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