WE DID IT! We finished the race and all our hard work paid off. I have to say that this was the most enjoyable race that I have ever ran and I think it is because we were able to take the whole weekend and stay over at a nice hotel just a couple of blocks from the start of the race. The weather was beautiful, (sunny with a little chilly wind), I loved running on Valentine's day with my honey and I finished strong and felt great.
We woke up on Saturday and went down to enjoy a great continental breakfast where we had muffins, banana bread, apple juice, toast, bagels, cold cereal and fruit. The race did not start until 11:00 so we got to stretch and chill until then. We loaded up on pain relievers and got all of our gear on and we walked the 2 blocks back to the ferry terminal which was the actual start of the race. I loved how everything was so convenient and that we could walk everywhere. The weather was 35 degrees and a little windy. The sun was shining the whole time. We ran the first 10 miles together which takes you right along the coast and I had put together a "Love song" playlist on my Ipod and listened to love songs the whole time. Kevin thought I was a little crazy, but I thought that it was so romantic. All that was missing was us holding hands. :) At mile 10 Kevin said that the arch on his right foot was bugging him too much and that I should just go ahead without him. He needed to be able to walk it out and stretch it when he needed to and did not want to hold me back. I felt bad leaving my honey on Valentine's day, but decided that it would be better for me to be able to run my own pace. At that point I felt really great and had a lot of energy so I started passing people. It was fun to just keep someone in my sites and pass them and then go on to the next one. I finished the whole race doing that and did not have one person pass me the rest of the race. I finished around 250 out of 500 runners, right in the middle of the pack. The last 3 miles I have Kelly Clarkson to thank. I had just downloaded from Itunes her new song, "My Life Would Suck Without You" and I just put it on repeat for the last 3 miles and she took me all the way to the finish. I was singing the song out loud the whole way. I had a really fun time and it made me forget about all the pain I was in. My IT band on the upper part of my right leg was really giving me fits. It makes me really sad that I felt so great otherwise and could not go faster. I finished at 3 hours and 16 minutes (I wanted to finish around 3 hours) and I felt great. I did however have to limp to the t-shirt pick up and food line. Kevin came in around 3 hours and 45 minutes and said that he was not going to get on the sag wagon no matter what. His arch in his foot really gave him a hard time and I felt bad that he had to endure all of that pain. But he finished and that is all that matters.
The hot tub at the hotel afterward was fabulous. I had to ice and heat my leg for the evening but it felt okay enough to walk to our Valentine's dinner at the Black Dog Tavern. What a great restaurant. The whole trip was fabulous. I have made a posting on my family blog at marriedtoatriathlonnut.blogspot.com about the entire trip. I will add the picture of us running when I receive it.
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