[cross posted to Ed's Room, sorry if you read it twice]

I am in an utter state of shock and happiness. So, I was freaked out for months about not being able to finish in 6 hours. Lucien, LBP, and sxoidmal can tell you how worried I was; I talked about it a lot a lot. Originally, my strategy was to run around 5 miles, then walk a mile, and repeat as necessary. Yeaaaah, that didn't happen. We started off and the miles just flew by. I thought we were still on mile one when I saw the 3 mile marker. I saw sxoidmal at his water station and gave him a huge hug. Next thing I knew, it was mile 5 and Lucien, Kevin, and Scott were there. It felt like a minute went by and it was mile 7.5. Then another water station came up and I asked a woman next to me where we were and she said "Between 9 and 10." I almost died.

I didn't stop running for the whole first 13 miles. AND I ran it at a 9 minute mile pace. My dad and the kids were at mile 13, and then LBP, GoU, Scott, Lucien, and Kevin were all at mile 14 with a huge kickass banner and beer. (Love love love.) I hit my first wall around mile 14. My back started to ache, a dull constant ache in my lower back. By mile 17, where Lucien, Kevin, and Scott were waiting for me, I was in BACK AGONY. It felt like someone had kicked me, hard. Really hard. Also, at about 15 or 16 miles, my left knee felt like it exploded. That went away after 3 miles or so.

There was awhile here between 17 and 20 that I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

Made it to mile 20 with very little walking. After mile 15 or so, I only walked the hills. Every now and then, I would walk for 200 yards or so after a powerade station. Mostly I was running. LBP and GoU (and warthog? Was he there yet?) were at mile 20, and it was good to see them.

Miles 20-25 were rough. Really rough. It's cliche, but I took it one mile at a time. I stopped every mile or so and stretched. I felt like I was made of broken glass from the waist down. It hurt more than anything has ever hurt, ever. My back pain mysteriously disappeared after mile 22, but then my feet hurt and my knees hurt. I got a cramp in my thigh at mile 25. That hurt.

I told myself I would run the last mile.2 because I needed to do that. I knew I was on an insanely fast pace still, but I was so close to finishing sub 4:30 and I had to do it. I wanted it so bad. SO. Bad. I got a side cramp, a bad sharp side cramp at 25.5. I kept pushing through it. Fuck it. I could almost see the finish line.

When I got within about 200 yards, all my old training, my cross country and track training, kicked in. I sprinted. I sprinted so fast I heard people on the sidelines exclaiming about it. One woman yelled "Holy shit, look at that pink girl go!" I passed about 25 people on my way to the line, and when I crossed the line, the big clock said 4:25:??.

This pleases me so fucking much. My birthday? 4/26. Official marathon time was 4:25:37. I think that's close enough to count.

After the race, wrapped up in foil, trying not to cry and failing, I found my mom and she took me to my friends. Kevin, Scott, Lucien, sxoidmal, 433, GoU, and Warthog were all there, drinking and smoking and cheering for me. It was awesome. I liberally applied the many Ben-Gay patches we had collected and then somehow got to my feet and made it to the car. Today I can barely walk. My knees, especially the right one, feel like they're broken. My hips are incredible sore. and I think I have a stress fracture in my left foot. I can't really breathe too well this morning. My mom thinks it's from running 13 miles before the temp rose above 50.

The lady in front of me at the start was talking to her friend. This was her 6th marathon. The friend asked her what time she was shooting for and she said "I'm *hoping to run a 4'30." !!

I'm so fucking proud of myself. Also: I'm never running another marathon again. It could never feel better or be better than this. Nothing could ever feel better than this.

Thank you to everyone who showed up, who wished me luck, who gave me support, who said I could do it. It meant more to me than I can ever express.