I really can’t believe that I ran 26.2 miles.

Seriously.

It was intense.

Intensely hard.

Harder that I expected.

And not what I expected.

At mile 13, I was tired.

Around mile 17 I wanted to quit.

When I hit mile 19, I cried.

I said ugly things to my coach at mile 22 (but quickly apologized – I really didn’t hate her at that moment- it was the exhaustion!).

At mile 25 I cried again.

And then….mile 26 came.

And the 0.2 felt like a whole nother marathon.

But then I heard a voice from the crowd.

And my husband gave me the encouragement I needed to keep moving for another few seconds.

And the 4 hours and 46 minutes of constant pavement pounding came to a heavy halt as they placed the medal around my neck.

Then I cried again.

I didn’t realize it beforehand, but running a marathon is an emotional experience.

Months of training

Hours of dedication

Sore muscles

Smelly laundry

Injury

Hefty grocery bills

Fear

Doubt

All these things slowly culminate, and then you finally put yourself to the test – you get up at the crack of dawn with thousands of strangers to find out if you really can do it.

And then you do.

With your help, I raised $2,316.20 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

My friend and teammate Mary said it best:

"I was a part of a team that raised over $340,000 to fund lifesaving cancer research...I could NOT have accomplished any of that if it weren't for the support that I received through YOU, my family and friends. Whether it was a monetary donation or words of encouragement, you made this weekend possible and I am honored to have experienced it!"

Thank you.

To see more pictures, click here.

Jumping jehosaphat.

Butterflies abound when I think about how close my marathon is.

And these aren’t any ordinary butterflies – these things must be the gigantic, mutant kind with a kajillion wings because my stomach seriously turns when my train of thought stops in Cincinnati.

This past Saturday, my Team met at Rails to Trails in Elkmont for our final 18 miler. I can’t believe that we now begin to taper – or run significantly shorter distances on our long run days.

Next week, 14.

We follow that with 10.

And then…

Gulp.

26

Point 2.

Here’s my Saturday in pictures:

The Rails to Trails starting point.

Dana and me after finishing this....

Yup.

Not really how I felt --- at all. :)

Post run meal composed of all things brown. Hellooooo carbs!

And I ate every single bite of that deliciousness.

I never really post about it, but curious about what happens after a long run and big meal?

Nothing.

Seriously- nothing!

I try to stay as still as possible. ;)

I had an absolutely terrible run tonight. It was sloppy, slow, and overall really sad. Even though I enjoyed spending time with my teammates and we left laughing, I still felt pretty down about how poorly I had performed on a measly 4 mile run. I grumbled to no one but myself as I made my way to the much loathed Wal-Mart for dog food--- which they did not have. I heaved a different kind into my shopping cart and grumbled yet again as I darted and swerved through the isles of the store. I decided to console myself (and muscles) by getting some chocolate milk - very much a treat for me. Just as I was wheeling around to make my mad dash to check-out, I noticed an older couple giving me the stare down. I ran through a quick checklist: I didn't stink (too bad), my hair was in place, no articles of clothing were hiked up. It was then that they asked me about my shirt - why I had The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society plastered across my chest. As I explained TNT to them, they shared with me their grandson's story -a fight against Leukemia.

As we parted ways, they both thanked me for what I was doing.

They wished me luck with my marathon.

They said that they appreciated it.

But what they don't know is how much they made a difference in me, how thankful I am for their kind words. :)

My honored patient, MaKenzey, has been had her rought days, too - but she's putting up much more of a fight than my bad 4 mile run. Please send good thoughts and prayers her way. Here's what her mother had to say on Wednesday:

Clinic today didn't go as planned. MaKenzey's counts are too low for chemo so that is being held. She wasn't feeling well this morning and has been having a bad cough and headaches since the surgery and LP/IT. So she got fluids today and an X-ray to make sure everything was fine in her spine. Turns out she has pneumonia! They gave her a round of antibiotics and want to see her back tomorrow. As long as she has no fever she won't have to be admitted. It is very scary to have pneumonia with a compromised immune system. No fever is a good sign. Please pray the antibiotics get rid of the pneumonia and that she has no fever and no sickness. She has planned to go to the last cheer competition this weekend in Destin. It means the world to her to be able to go! Thank you all for your prayers, love, support and always Cheering for MaKenzey *\o/*

For the second weekend in a row, I ran a half marathon.

And it was awesome.

I was super excited to be heading back to the homeland - Tennessee.

There's just something about Tennessee, y'all...

Anyway, we headed out early Saturday morning and arrived quicker than I had expected. We popped out of the car to the smell of sour mash and the brisk 40s. Ahhhh, Tennessee.

We were there to conquer Lynchburg, TN - home of the Jack Daniels Distillery - and mostly to run the Oak Barrel Half Marathon.

Packet pickup.

Port-a-potties.

Preparing our minds.

Photoshoots.

Pre-run stretching.

Then it was racetime.

I headed out pretty fast - trying my best to warm up!

By mile 2, I was feeling great, keeping a good pace, and was enjoying the scenery.

As we breezed by some fields, I noticed that lots of people were coughing and complaining about the smell. What? Cow manure bother you? City mice. Sigh.

At mile 4, I met the fabled Whiskey Hill - a 278 ft climb (I think!). It seemed like it took an eternity to climb, but after 11 minutes, I was at the top. And as they told me, it was all downhill from there.

I got tired.

My hair fell out of the braid.

My nose was sunburning.

I was hot.

But I was running downhill!

Before I knew it, I was crossing the finishline was another Personal Record (PR).

Last week, I pulled a 02:07:08 finish.

This week - even with the monster hill - I managed a 02:04:12 and I couldn't be happier. :)

For more pictures, click here!

I’ve been taking it easy for the past week or so – what with my old lady achy calf muscles and all.

Last week, I finally (wo)manned up and scheduled a visit with my trusty physical therapist. He thought that, based on the location and description of my pain, it was mostly likely tendonitis rather than a strained muscle. Either way, he had me take a week off from doing my training runs, perform some ridiculously normal exercises each day, and keep icing it each night.

So, I can’t lie - I was kinda excited to have a legitimate excuse to come home, eat popcorn, and be lazy. Let me tell you, Monday was amazing. I stayed in my elastic waistband pants all stinkin’ day and didn’t even look at my Mizunos. Lazy was awesome.

Tuesday evening rolled around.

Our Facebook TNT group page began lighting up with posts about meeting to run.

That’s when I started to get jealous.

I actually wanted to be out in the snowy night running.

That’s cray cray, my friends. Pure crazy.

By Thursday, the pressure had gotten to me, and I finally cracked. I hit the trails with Dana and Karen to get in a nice 4.5 mile run before our half marathon on Saturday. (!!!)

The time off seemed to ease the pain a bit, because I felt great yesterday at the Scottsboro Half Marathon.

We all met at 6 a.m. to make sure we got there in plenty of time. It was a bit nippy out at that hour, but I knew that it wouldn’t be very long until I warmed up.

Compared to the only other half I’ve done, a Rock ‘N Roll series, this one was tiny. Country Music had roughly 33,000 people, while Scottsboro had a cap of 500. I enjoyed being able to find my Team easily, and I even ran into a few other people that I knew.

At 7 o’clock, we were off to pound out 13.1 miles of rolling, Goosepond Colony hills, and I couldn’t have been giddier. I love a good challenge, and I had one against myself: beat my previous half time…by a lot!

Last year, I ran the Country Music Half in 2:39:43.

And I crossed the finish line at the Scottsboro Half in…. 2:07:08!

I couldn’t be happier. :)

Next Saturday, we have a training run in Lynchburg, TN. I hear there’s a killer hill!