Marine Corps Marathon Race Weekend Report

The Marine Corps Marathon Weekend was AWESOME! My parents and I headed down in Friday morning and checked into our hotel. We quickly got ready and headed over to the Expo to pick up my packet and Bib! I was so freaking excited! There was plenty “eye candy” (code for cute men in uniforms!!!)!
After picking up my bib we headed into the rest of the Expo and the shopping began! I got lots of cute MCM gear….I’m a serial shopper!

After that we headed back to the hotel for dinner. The restaurant at the hotel (Finn and Porter) was excellent! From there we headed up to our rooms and before I knew it was asleep! Next thing I knew I woke up around 7am…yipppeeee I actually slept through the night!!!
Saturday morning we headed off to Georgetown to some shopping! Back when I lived in Maryland I used to love going to Gtown on the weekends, it was so nice to be there again. I did some SERIOUS damage and this great store called “Cusp” (it’s a boutique-y store by Neiman Marcus), absolutely fabulous! Next door was Juicy where I picked up the cutest freaking boots….love them!
Keep in mind, all day it was POURING down rain….but the forecast kept calling for “clear sunny skies” on Sunday, thank GOD!
I headed back to the hotel to wait for the rest of my friends to arrive. Once everyone was there and settled in we got ready and headed to the Team in Training Pasta Party over at the Crystal Gateway Marriott. Before we left I got a call from our TNT leader letting me know that she had special shirts for all my 7 “guests” (aka my Posse!) to wear. Once we arrived they all pulled on their white TNT T-shirts, and we got new Gray TNT shirts to wear, very cool!

We took the escalators up to the ballroom, we were then greeted with a crowd of TNT volunteers with cowbells, whistles and clapping! They formed a “tunnel” that we went through, it was so amazing, totally gave me chills, and of course got me all teary eyed!

From there we got our food (which was amazing) and headed into the ballroom. The guest speakers were amazing, we even got to hear “The Penguin” speak, he was great!
After the dinner I headed up to my room and hoped to get some sleep….

Thankfully I drifted right off to sleep and the next thing I knew the alarm was going off at 4:50am!!!! I hopped up and started getting ready. My friend from Maryland, Charlene, stayed with me that night, so she helped with getting me ready (and keeping me calm)!!! Our team met in the lobby at 5:45 and headed for the metro station and off to the race!

It was all so exciting, there we all were, we each had raised at least $2,600 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, we had trained together almost every weekend over the course of the past 6 months, for many of us it was our first marathon, but for all of us we were on our way to an unforgettable experience. Walking from the metro to the race was very surreal….it was dark and cold, we were walking down a road that was blocked off, and there were so many people….it looked like a scene out of a movie. Once we were there we had time for the porta-johns and then made our way to the start!

I started out in shorts with sweats over them, my TNT tank, the Adidas socks on my arms, and a sweatshirt that a teammate gave to me (seriously, totally saved my ass from freezing!!!). I ended up ditching the sweatpants just before we got into our corrals. It was so exciting!!!!
The coaches went over our strategies with us the night before the race. I decided I was going to start in the 4:30 or 4:45 corral, hoping that would allow me to get started at a decent pace.

Once the gun went off it took me about 6 minutes to cross the start line, and from there I would say that it took about 2 miles before you could even get a chance to work on your pace.

I was really worried about starting out too fast, but that was never even an option! That was fine by me though, I really enjoyed taking in everything in!
Around mile 3 I ran into Coach Mike, we ran up the GW Parkway and crossed over the Key Bridge into DC.

We stayed together until about mile 8, from there I ran with Coach Chris all the way through Georgetown which was AMAZING!!!! Here I was running in the Marine Corps Marathon down the same streets that I was shopping on the day before! The crowds were awesome!!! We headed down M Street and then turned onto Wisconsin, then onto K Street. There were oranges right after Mile 9, they were great! Then right after we passed the 10 Mile Marker I saw my friends and family!!!

It was a great feeling to hear them all yelling my name!!! Coach Chris stayed with me until about mile 12 or so, then he headed off to meet up with 1 of our teammates that was hoping to qualify for Boston (and she did!!!!).
I was feeling great through 13, but somewhere between 13 and 15 I started to get major pain in my knee. This was pretty new to me, so I wasn’t sure what was going on. Up to this point my running 2 songs walking for 1 minute had been working great. I was able to make up for the slow start and stay on track for a sub 5 finish. Once the knee thing started I had to stretch and walk a little more. While I was stretching at one point I saw 2 of my teammates coming up behind me, I was so glad to see them! I picked up and started running with them, they asked if I was ok and I told them about the knee thing, thankfully they had Tylenol with them, so I chewed up a Milky Way and wedged the Tylenol in there and swallowed it down. YUMMY! I knew I would be seeing my “posse” around Mile 16, so I knew they were coming up soon. When I finally saw my parents on the left side of the road I was so happy!!!! I ran over and gave them a hug!! They told me the rest of the group was across the road, then I could hear them screaming!!!! As you’ll see in this video, they were AWESOME!!!! It was like a NASCAR pit crew!!! They hooked me up with Bio Freeze on the knee, Propel, Jelly Beans and a Milky Way stuffed in my top!Don't be scared by the "painful" face below...not sure why that's the still image for the video...can't get it to change!

Miles 17, 18, 19 were pretty much the same….run, walk, run, walk, stretch, walk, walk, walk, run, run, walk, stretch, drink powerade, eat anything that anyone was giving away, walk, run, stretch, run past my friends again and grab a handful of oranges out of the baggie! Obviously somewhere along these miles I realized that sub 5 wasn’t happening, and that was totally fine by me! In addition to it feeling like someone was trying to steal my knee cap off of my left leg, it now felt like someone else was trying to steal my right ankle! But then I saw someone with little Snickers bars….and I smiled!
During all of our training for the MCM you hear a lot about “Beating The Bridge”. “The Bridge” is shortly after mile 20 and you have to maintain a 14min mile and get across the bridge by a certain time, if you don’t….you’re out. They open the bridge up to traffic and your race is over. Don’t worry, that didn’t happen to me, just needed to throw that info in there because The Bridge was coming up next.
So, around mile 19 as I switched from running to walking this nice older man on the side of the road made eye contact with me, I’m sure he could tell I was struggling, he looked right at me and so convincingly said “In less than 3 miles YOU WILL BE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE, JUST 3 MILES AND YOU’LL BE OVER IT”, I started to run again. I made it over part of the bridge and seriously felt like I no longer had an ankle, just a bone coming out of my knee that went straight into my foot, it was time to stretch….again. So I pulled over on the bridge and stretched and these 2 girls were there cheering everyone on, they were awesome. The one girl saw that I was struggling and poured me a cup of Gatorade, seriously, talk about crowd support! There was a lady holding a sign that said “This Bridge Sucks But You Rock”…it was classic!
Once I was over the bridge we made our way into Crystal City. I met up with Coach Chris again and ran with him for a little while. At about Mile 23 I told him that I was fine, and to head on out to round up some others. I was pretty confident that I knew what I needed to do (run, walk, walk, run, walk, walk, run)! There were great crowds in Crystal City, so that was pretty cool. 24-25 felt like they took forever, but I was getting so excited because I knew I was almost there and I knew that without a doubt pretty soon, I was going to finish my first marathon! Coach Mike ran with me for bit through there and told me that one of the mentors, Dave, was “catching us” at 26 and seeing us through to the finish line. As I got closer to the 26 mile marker I could hear the crowds, my heart started racing, I just wanted to be able to finish the race running. Then I saw Dave and we headed up “THE HILL” to the finish, it was the most amazing experience ever! Just as I was getting closer to the finish line I saw my parents and friends in the front row of the bleachers on the left, my eyes started to tear up and my smile was beyond huge! Before I knew it I was crossing the finish line, and I was a Marathoner!

">
"
">
">

Race Report Coming Tonight!!!

Sorry for the delay, I tried getting it up today but was having issues with the video and then lost part of the post...I will get it all working tonight!!!
Also, sorry I'm behind on everyone's blogs, I promise I'll get caught up soon, jsut trying to catch up on work!!!
Thanks!!!

I did it! I did it!!!!

Just a quick update to let you all know that I did it, I am officailly a Marathoner!!!! It was the most amazing, life changing experience of my life!
I finished in 5:16! That was my "good goal", I missed my "dream goal" (sub 5), guess that gives me something to work for!
Thank you to all of you for everything, you have made this even more of an amazing journey!
I will post a full report tomorrow evening with pictures and videos!

Getting Ready to Leave!

Well, I'll be leaving around 9am today and heading to DC for the Marine Corps Marathon! Thank you to EVERYONE for all of your Good Luck wishes, advice, support and encouragement! You have all been an amazing part of my journey, I feel very lucky to have found such a great group of bloggers!

Contest Update - Erin, Aron, and Jess - your prizes will go out next week, sorry for the delay!

Check this out - The girls over at Twenty Six Point Two have chosen me to be their "Weekly Pace Setter"! The post should be up on their site later today!

**IPOD SHUFFLE QUESTION - I usually use my Nano, so this shuffle thing is a little new to me. When you connect your Shuffle to your computer and pull up ITunes, should I be able to click on "shuffle" (under "devices") and see what songs I have on my Shuffle? If so, mine isn't letting me do that. Under Devices my Shuffle shows up, but then the screen to the right just says "Itunes Store" and is blank....any thoughts? I just want to see what songs I have on there. Any help would be appreciated!!!!

Well, I better finish getting my stuff together!!! I'll be updating from DC, so be sure to check back!!

Days of the week - Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Marathonday!

It's getting closer!!!! I totally couldn't sleep last night, I went to bed around 10, was awake from 1am-3:30am and then slept until 6:15.

The weather is looking good for Sunday, high of 66 low of 50, 20% chance of precipitation. I think I'm sticking with wearing my shorts....any thoughts on this? Do you think my legs will be too cold? I'm figuring that the temp for most of my run will be between 50-58.

And finally, here is a picture of the sign that my "Little Neighbor Girls" made for me....

How awesome is that?????

Final Run!

Well, I can't take it anymore, I'm leaving work at 2:30 and heading to the gym. I've decided to do my last run on the treadmill, I'm still dealing with this cold and figure that it would probably be best to keep the "chill" off of me. After that I'll head home and really start packing!

It's Almost Time for The Marine Corps Marathon!!!

Wow, I so cannot wait! I don't have too much more to post, other than....yipppee!!!
Last night I got a massage, and worked on getting a few more things together. We are leaving on Friday, I just want to get there! I just want to be where all of the excitement will be. Sitting at work is getting harder and harder as the time gets closer....I have watched more MCM videos on You Tube than I can even count....thank god my last name is on the building here or else I would totally be getting fired!!! LOL!!!
That's it for now, I'm sure I'll post some more randomness later!

Tuesday Taper!

So as many of you have said before, tapering feels weird! I'm feeling pretty good though, went our for 5 miles last night, just enjoyed the time on the trail. I had the overwhelming urge to tell EVERY person that I saw "Hey - I'm doing a Marathon on Sunday!!!!", however, I controlled myself!
My "Little Neighbor Girls" had me over their house on Sunday night and made me THE BEST sign! One of my friends that is going to the race will be in charge of holding it for the race. I will post a picture of it as soon as I download it from my camera, but it says -
"Hey Margo You ROCK!", how freaking awesome is that??????
I am driving to the marathon with my parents and my Mom got magnets for the truck that say "Good Luck Margo" and "On Our Way To The Marine Corps Marathon"! I'm hoping to get some "beeps" on the highway for our drive.

Now onto CONTEST NEWS.....we have 2 more winners!
1. Runners Rambles (Aron)
2. Run Girl Run (Jess)
Email me your full names and addresses and I'll get your prizes out to you! mcicci76@yahoo.com
Woooooooo hooooooooo!!!!

TGIF - My TNT Race Shirt!

I haven't kept up on the TGIF Photos, but I've got one for today! See NikeMom if you're interested! So, here is my Team in Training shirt that I will be wearing in 9 days at the Marine Corps Marathon!!!!!

We Have Our First WINNERS!!!!

Sorry I didn't get to post this last night, I totally fell asleep (thank GOD!)!!!
Today I have drawn 2 winners and they are.........
1 - JAHOWIE
2 - ERIN LEIGH

Woooooooohoooooooo!!!! To claim your prize you just need to email me your "REAL NAME" and address! You can email me at mcicci76@yahoo.com !
As for what you have won.....there are "Girl Prizes" and then "Boy/Girl Prizes", a have a couple of each one, I don't want to say what it is yet....but Erin is getting the Girl Prize and JAHOWIE is getting the other!
Congratulations winners!!!!!

Feelin' a bit better!!!

I'm definitely feeling better today! Still congested, sneezing, coughing, but overall MUCH better! I am also finally getting caught up on reading everyone's blogs!
I am still home from work, so I decided to do a "Dress Rehearsal" for the Marathon! It was VERY EXCITING!!!!! I went with JAHOWIE'S suggestion of wearing the knee socks on my arms like long gloves.....LOVE IT! Of course I had to buy a pair of black Adidas Soccer Socks so it would look cool, LOL!!!
Up next, I'm heading to the craft store to get some fabric paint....I need to put my name on my race shirt! SO EXCITING!!!
On the schedule today was also 5 miles....my plan is to go to the gym and do between 3-5 on the treadmill. It's rainy, damp and cool here, I'm thinking staying inside would be a good idea.
Now for what you have all been waiting for....CONTEST INFO!
For everytime you have commented on my blog since October 1st I will write your name on a piece of paper and enter it into the drawing. There will be a few different drawings for different things.....first drawing will be tonight!

Still Sick

Ok, I'm home sick again today. I was supposed to leave for Chicago (for work) on Friday and come back Monday, but luckily another co-worker is going instead. That is a huge relief, the last thing I neeed was to be on another airplane and running around all weekend. Now I've got more "down time" to just rest and get better.
Thank you to everyone for your advice, I'll keep pounding the fluids and getting rest.
Also, I'm working on the "contest details"....more to come soon...

I'm Sick!

Ok, I'm totally sick, and freaking out a little. I went to the Dr yesterday, they said I have an upper respiratory infection, no antibiotics, just nasonex, clartin d, mucinex dm. I feel way worse today then yesterday....come on!!!
I'm coughing so much, of course I'm worried that I'll irritate the rib, but this needs to end. At least it's taper time but I should be feeling strong! I was supposed to do 5 miles today and Thursday, needless to say I'm not running today, hoping to do something Thursday.
Any advice?

Weekend Report!

The Staten Island 1/2 Marathon was AWESOME! I said it before and I'll say it again, I FREAKING LOVE RACES!!!! This was the perfect race for me to do just 2 weeks before my Marathon. It gave me so much confidence for my race! My plan was to run it at "training pace", not "race pace", but I think I've mentioned this before - I don't really have 2 paces yet (I'm working on that!), so i just went with the flow, stuck to my "Run 2 songs walk 1 minute" plan.

My very first Half that I did in September was pretty much a flat course on a crushed limestone trail (2:13), so I was very interested to see how I would do on "real roads" since that's what my marathon will be. Wait, totally forgetting something -
*Most of you have an idea of the relationship struggle I've been dealing with on and off since the beginning of this blog, and with that whole thing falling apart and making me question everything in my life, I "found" running. Well, that relationship and it's issues came to a boiling point on Friday. Bottom line, I couldn't sleep Friday night (maybe 3 hours), and then was so stressed on Saturday by Saturday night I was getting sick. My throat was killing me, and once again coule barely sleep (probably about 3 hours total again). I almost didn't go to the race. Then I thought - "F THAT! This is FOR ME! I rented that friggin car (around $110) and was looking forward to this until "THAT" happened, get your ASS UP and go!"

I am SOOOOOOO glad I went! I was figuring my time would be around 2:30 (given that I had'nt slept, my throat was killing me, and the roads / hills), and guess what??? I ended up finishing it in 2:18!!!! I was soooooo happy! The course was great, there were some crowds along the route, and the water / Gatorade stops were super organized! And they had this "New York Road Runners Finisher" thing that you could get your picture in front of!


I met up with the NY Team in Training Group before the start of the race, they were awesome! Their coach, Steve, was great! When he would see me out on the course he would say "Go Pittsburgh!!!", totally pumped me up!

I felt awesome pretty much the whole time, I don't think I ever stopped smiling. I ran with my Gu in one pocket and Chloraseptic lozenges in the other other pocket, they worked great!

Now, it's less than 2 weeks until the Marine Corps Marathon (seriously, my eyes are filling up as I type this), I can only imagaine what it is going to feel like. I have loved every minute of getting ready for this. This truly proves that the saying "It's not the destination, it's the journey", although I do know htat this destination is going to be equally life changing and mind blowing as the journey.

Now I just need to get rid of this cold, and I will be all set! It's Taper Time for me!
Thank you all again for the Good Luck Wishes!
PS- Sorry I am totally behind on everyone's blogs!!!! I will catch up today/tonight!
****Stay tuned, I will be announcing a CONTEST soon!!!! Oooohhh, aaaahhhhh prizes and everything!!!!

I've Been Tagged!

Teacherwoman and Run Girl Run both tagged me, thanks girlies!

Read below and Consider yourself TAGGED!
1. Hot Thick Chick
2. Runners Rambles
3. Chrisequious
4. JA Howie
5. Running Wild (NC Runner12)
6. POM
7. Beginning Running
8. Ramblings of a Running Addict

9. Steeve in a Speedo
10. Recast in Iron

So, here are my 6 random things......

1. I used to show horses competitively from the time I was about 9 up into college (rode on the University of Maryland Equestrian Team for 1 year until I decided that it was time for a break). I qualified for Nationals at the age of 15, which was pretty young. I did the hunters and jumpers, I would jump fences that were up to 4' tall and 3.5' wide.....now the idea of doing that scares the crap out of me!

2. I have broken quite a few bones and had random injuries (figure skating age 4 - broken leg, car accident 3rd grade - broken arm, horse flipped over on me age 13 - broken collar bone, horse smashed his face into mine 12th grade - broken nose, age 22 - stress fracture to sesamoid bone in left foot, that bone ended up pretty much "dead" and had to be removed age 27, trying to get sports bra off hurt shoulder age 29 - ended up tearing my shoulder "SLAP" lesion and needing surgery, and last but not least.....broke a rib running age 32).

3. I love all kinds of music, literally ALL KINDS!

4. I have ALWAYS been a "Dog Person", not that I didn't like cats, I always liked them, but I was just a "Dog Person". I got my English Mastiff, "Mister Man" while I was in college, he was "my boy". This past December I came across these 2 kittens at the ARL...they had just come to the shelter, they were both gray, one had long hair and a short tail and had thrown up all over himself, the other one had short hair and a normal tail. They kept looking at me. And looking at me. And looking at me. The next day I went back and got them, and they became best friends with my Mister Man, they learned how to act like a "cat-dog" from him. About 5 months later I lost my Mister Man at the age of 9 years and 9 months. I think those kittens were a gift from Mister, he knew there would never be another "like him", so now I have my 2 "cat-dogs" that greet me at the door, roll onto their back to get their tummy rubbed, and wait outside my bedroom door, just like Mister did. They have been amazing buddies through a rough year. I am now a "Cat-Dog Person"!

5. I believe that unfortunately some broken hearts never heal, and that sometimes all the time in the world won't fix it.

6. Once I believe in you....getting me to stop is nearly impossible.

Staten Island 1/2, Here I Come!!!!

I'm so excited that our running coach agreed that the Staten Island 1/2 would be a good idea! He said to remember to not get caught up in the race, use it as a training run, use it as a test run for my Marathon strategey.....THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!! Wow, I can't believe this is all happening!!

My plan is to rent a car on Saturday, then drive to Staten Island on Sunday morning. According to the directions to the start it looks like parking is about 2.5 miles away from the start, so it says that you can take the "city bus" from the parking area to the starting point, that should be good.

I'm a little nervous about going "by myself" (meaning there won't be an extra person to hold something or deal with my nerves of figuring out where to go), but it will be a great adventure!!!


Here we go again with questions.....anyone ever done the Staten Island Half??? I'm hoping "The Laminator" will chime in here!!! Tell me what it's like, how's parking? The "city bus"? Looks like there are plenty of water stops, so maybe no need to use my fuel belt? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

As always, thanks in advance for your input!!!

19 Days 'til Marine Corps Marathon!!!

I'm at the airport waiting for my plane back to "The Burgh"! Dallas was good, lots of good food (note: that does not help in the "get this fat off my a$$ before the marathon plan!!!)!
Thank you everyone for your comments on my 20 miler!!!
Blister Update - It's popped and drained for the most part, still sort of black/purple looking (gross), but feeling pretty good.
Rib Update - Feeling really good, I think I'm pretty much healed! AMEN!!! My obliques on that side are still sore, but I think that will just take some time. Overall it is 1,000,000 times better than it was last week!!!

Sorry that I haven't been able to get back to everyone that has posted lately, being "on the road" has really cut into my blogging time (damn that job)!!!!! I promise I will catch up soon!!!

Here's where I stand on the rest of my time until "The Big Day" (which I know for most girls my age usually means their wedding, this is my version of "The Big Day")!
My TNT Running Coach was really happy with how my 20 miler went! Originally there was another 20 scheduled for the weekend of the 12th. I am going to be in NY/NJ that weekend, so I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that there. He said that since the 20 went so well (yipee!) I don't have to worry about getting in another 20 (THANK GOD!)! So here's the proposed plan -
Thursday the 9th: do 12-15 Miles
Friday 10th: Leave for NY/NJ
Saturday or Sunday 12th: 8 Miles
Come Home Sunday night
Tuesday 14th: 10 Miles
Then continue with taper plan (pretty much standard plan).

However, I just saw that there is the Staten Island Half Marathon on Sunday....that is about 40 minutes away from where I'll be staying. I'm wondering if I could just do 8miles on Thursday, then Sunday do the Half, and then on Tuesday do 8-10 miles?
What do you guys think? I wouldn't do the Half at "Race Pace", I would use it as a regular run. My hesitation to doing the 8 miles on Sat or Sun is that I'm not sure where I'll run in New Jersey (Meadowlands area), and I don't know that it's worth getting all the way into Central Park on Saturday morning to run with the TNT group for 8 miles. I am supposed to be working on Saturday and Sunday in NJ, with Saturday being the most important day....if I had to skip out for a chunk of the day that would be ok, but better if I didn't have to. It just seems like doing the Half would be so much easier in a way.
And let me just be completely honest with you.....I just think it would be cool to do another Half, and in Staten Island on top of that, what other time would I ever do that?
As always, I'll take any and all input/advice/encouragement!!!!
Looks like it's almost time to get on the plane, can't wait to get home!

20 Miles...CHECK!!!!

Wooooooooo hooooooooo!!! We did it!!! Who is "We" you might ask...that would be me, my Dad, and all of you bloggers! I couldn't have done it without you guys and your support/suggestions, or without my Dad meeting me at various points on my run! Although I am totally in pain right now, I am still smiling, I can't believe that I did it! I'm not kidding you when I say that back in May the furthest I had ever run was about 4 miles, and that was monumental to me then!

So, here's how it went...I got in the truck to drive to the trail and noticed that the trail was 17.2 miles away....I was going to run FURTHER than I was driving?????? I must be crazy! When I got to the trail it was totally raining and my Dad was running late. So I hopped out of the truck and got in a mile and a half to figure out if I was going to need my jacket thingy (it was about 48 degrees), quickly realized I would be too hot, so stopped back at truck and dropped it off, called Dad, still not close. Decided to sit in truck and wait. Good thing I did, he had taken a wrong turn and got there about an hour late, which ended up being perfect because the rain stopped!!! From there I took off and knew I would be meeting my dad at this little ball field about 6 miles away. I decided to stick with my "Run 2 Songs Walk 1 Minute Plan" (very scientific!). My Dad was wearing a bright red Maryland sweatshirt (Go Terps!!! Love that my Dad was fully supporting me, rockin my college sweatshirt and all!), at about 5 miles(actually, I have no idea how far away I was from the tunnel, I suck at guessing that stuff) I could see the tunnel that I would run through and right in front of it I could see a tiny red dot...I wondered if that could be my Dad??? As I got closer I could see it was him, I was so excited that he was there!
He went through the tunnel with me and then we were at the ball filed (Mile 8). I stopped there to refill my Powerade and Water and eat a couple bites of a cliff bar and took off again. I ran up to 10, turned around and saw my Dad again at 12. Took a port-a-john break, and made plans with my Dad to meet at the next point where he could get to the trail (which ended up being Mile 14). At Mile 13 my time was 2:12, so I was 1 minute faster than my Half Marathon time from a couple weeks ago, yippee!

Here is a picture at Mile 14...

From there I headed on down the trail and knew I would see my Dad one more time around Mile 17, that was just a brief passing, we waved and I told him that I was getting considerably slower and not to worry if it took me a really long time to get back to our starting place!! From this point on my walking time increased to about 1.5 - 2 minutes, and my running decreased to about 1.5 songs.

When I got back to our starting point I still had about 2 miles to go (forgot about the extra miles I did in the beginning...duh!!). So I went past the start point, then turned around. When i got to my Dad's truck I was 19.3 Miles,uuugggghhhh!!! I could not run anymore, so my Dad hopped out of the truck and Powerwalked the last part with me until we heard the sweet sound of the Garmin beeping!!! 20 Miles, Holy Shit!!!!!!

Final Time - 3:37:11, I am BEYOND THRILLED!!!!

I did stop my Garmin a few times when "chatted" with my dad for a while, but I wouldn't say that it would any more than 7 minutes to my time.

So, now I'm home, icing the hell out of my knees, feet and left shin. I did get a nasty battlewound on my right big toe....

After the run we went to Bob Evans to eat, so freaking good!!! Now I'm ready for round 2 of food, and then off to bed! Oh yeah, I still need to pack for Dallas....oh well!

Thanks again for everything!!! I hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Getting Ready!

Just wanted to post a quick update, I'm meeting my Dad at 9am for my 20 miler! Looks like I'll have to do at least some of my run in the rain....oh well, at least I'll be able to test out my new hat!
I'll post later on today when I get home!

Seriously, you all are the best!!!

First off, thank you to everyone for their advice!!! I totally appreciate it! The trash bag idea makes sense, and I love JA Howie's idea about the knee socks (and what I love even more is that just from reading my blog, he knows that "cuteness" is still important)!!!
So, I've decided what I'm going to do for the 20 miler.......I'm doing it "by myself" on Friday. After much thought and talk with my TNT Mentor, she felt that the deal breaker for Saturday was that I'd have to be on a plane for about 4 hours afterward and that was not a good thing. So, luckily my Dad has totally stepped up and will be joining me at different points on the trail. He's even thinking about riding my bike for part of the time! Too bad you can't have horses on this trail, my Dad does Team Roping....maybe he could have ridden behind me and tried to lasso me!!! That would be freaking classic!!!!
I think what I'll do is start at 8am and have my Dad's first meeting time at 9:15-9:20, that should put me somewhere between 7-8 miles.
He can bike with me from 7-10 and then back for 10 -13 (I think he can handle 6 miles...it's pretty flat). Then he'll be back to where he parked the truck and can put the bike back in and drive down to 16, then hopefully finish the final 4 miles with me. From there we can throw the bike into my truck and drive back to his.
My Dad will be equipped with fluids and what not (knowing him he'll have some really great snacks too), so that should be pretty good.
Any thoughts on my plan?

Another Marathon Question: This question also relates to the weather. I haven't run much in the rain (been pretty lucky all summer), and when I have it's been "hot summer rain" so my gear needs didn't change. Any thoughts on the "cold fall rain" that we can get and what to wear? Obvious answer is some type of rain parka, I just imagine myself sweating to death. Or do you just run in it with nothing extra? Thanks in advance!!