It's End-A-Thon

Finally, the big day happened. I got married! Oh wait, I did that already. Oh, what happened yesterday? Oh ya, duh the marathon! First off let me tell you, your mental capacity is at a critical stage at the end of it. Basically, you can't really comprehend anything because all your smarts went to your muscles to explain in great lengths why you are doing this. It sucked. I'm still rebuilding my smarts so if you see spelling errors and such, just dismiss it.

I had no problems waking up on time (4 am) since I didn't really sleep anyway. I felt good and ready to go. I walked outside and was glad I had chosen to run in a long sleeved shirt because, as Justin says, it was colder than a witches tit.

They lined up our training group up right behind the elite athletes. Which I thought was great until I realized about 10,000 people were behind me! I really didn't want to get passed as much as I did but I had no choice. So the buzzer sounded and I got to take one step, then stood still, then the crowd started moving. I moved with them for about 3 steps and they all took off! I was kinda freaking out because people were just buzzing by me. I kept thinking "go your pace, not theirs." But the peer pressure was on. And so, for the first 3 miles, I was blazing like a hot wing down the strip.

The first 13 miles were great. I had a lot of fun once I found the people I'd be with the rest of the day (us 'easy runners'). After the first half it was a different story. The winds were very, very strong. It was really cold even when there weren't any winds. So that took some life out of you. Plus being in the neighborhoods was kinda boring. But I pushed through it.



The last 6 miles were the toughest. I ran down the hills, taking advantage of gravity. And walked up them. Everything started to hurt. I realized this is why only 2% of the population runs marathons. It hurts and then you are stupid. What kinda torture was this? But if I wanted to get in my car and go home, which was parked at Mandalay Bay, I had to finish.

So I came around the last corner and people were still there cheering everyone coming in. I heard my name everywhere, "Go Jessi!!" "You can do it!" For a second there I thought I had some fans, but then I remembered my name was on my bib. See the smarts were gone. One voice I did recognize was Justin's. He was standing on something that made him look like a giant. For all I know he could have been on Todd's shoulders. I sprinted towards the finish line and thought, "I'm never doing this again." I don't care about my time, I just wanted to finish.

I don't know that Bear's fan, but he looks happy to be in my photo.

I got my medal, my silver blanket (wow, that kept me warm) and met Justin and Todd. I took a finishers photo then J and T took some photos. By now, I couldn't think or walk very well. But I knew I was done.

So thank you to all the well-wishers and fans along the route. Thank you Todd, Laura, Carly and Diahanna for waking up early and coming out in the cold (or for partying all night and then coming out. Either way works!). To both sets of parents for the basket-o-food (much needed carbs) and the beautiful roses.



And of course the man who drove me there at 4:30 am, Justin. Who told me that he'd never run more than a mile with me, but ended up doing 6.5 one time. You rock! And I didn't forget all the other people who wished me well and in the same breath, told me I was crazy. I wasn't crazy before I ran, but I sure was afterwards.