You Only Get One First Time....

....to run your first marathon! So, we made sure to celebrate from start to finish. It was an unbelievable experience. You can't accurately describe it, but now I get what others have tried to describe to me before. You just have to do it.

Thanks to Google Earth, below are aerial shots of the start/finish lines and the U-turn at mile 18.5.

We circled at Meg's house Friday at noon to hit the road.

To say that we were showered with motivational gifts, treats and encouragement from our running friends would be a huge understatement!

Candy Gram Posters

Baskets full of candy grams and giant DUDE bunny

Beverages to CRUSH it!

And Celebration Treats!

Of course, we were starving when we left, so we

stopped in Joplin for Butterburgers at Culvers!
It was cold and raining in Olathe!

Packet pick-up at Bass Pro Shop

Meg discovers that the only people getting cute green tech shirts are volunteers. She offers this girl $20 bucks for her shirt. Girl thinks we're extra crazy when I take her picture.

We can't even think about dinner until we've driven the course.

We drive for over an hour!

This is the U-turn at mile 18.5.

It is SO cold and windy that we can't even stand up straight for a photo.

Carb loading at Noodles.

Pasta. with a side of pasta.

After dinner we check the 12 hour forecast.

MUCH colder than we'd packed for.

We end up at Target to get long sleeve sweatshirts.

We wake to colder and windier weather than expected.

Pre-race excitement at the start line.

The Half Marathon and Marathon start simultaneously and share the same course for 12 miles.
Can you SEE the wind?? 30 MPH!

The sun is coming up as the race starts.
Running over I-35 in the first mile.

We lost Darcie by mile .40. She was on fire!
My favorite traffic sign.

The night before the race it said: "Marathon. Expect Delays."

Between mile 8 and 9 we take photo opps.

The guy coming up behind us offers to take one together. Steve.

Did you notice our bib numbers are 375 and 573? What are the chances?

There goes Steve.

5th Aid Station. Awesome course support.

Meg's laughing because these iron bridges creep me out.

Who's laughing NOW?!

Feeling great at the half way point

It was a lonely trail for a big part of the race, but fun to see the leaders come running back after the turn-around.Getting tired by mile 18, but excited we are super close to the turn.The U-turn! Light at the end of the tunnel.

8. more. miles.

Our knight in shining armor kept our socks dry. We got to see this lion on the way out AND back. We figured out on our second pass that he is deaf...not creepy. Lions and Tigers and Bears!
Every time we passed a bridge we knew we needed a picture of us jumping.

Mile 23 was pretty tempting.

Miles 20 - 23 were probably the toughest of all.

The last mile!

We see Jimmie standing on the corner, willing to take our jackets and water belts.

WOW! We're almost there!

I can't get my water belt off fast enough.

Darcie met us in the school parking lot and ran with us to the gates (but escaped this picture).

The finish line is UPhill....as were the last 8 miles!

We spot Aaron and the kids.

Somehow Jimmie has beat us to the finish line.

Hi Jimmie!

How awesome is this photo?

Not only did we finish together, we were perfectly in sync.

Love this.

Goal was 5:30.

Chip time 5:22.

If you could hear this picture, you'd hear Meg screaming as her back is cracked.

Darcie finished her first Half Marathon with an amazing time.

We were so relieved that we made it to the finish line feeling good!

My biggest cheerleader

Time for more photos

Happy. Happy. Happy.

This is the only photo I took of our post-race hotel - the Intercontinental. First we scored a 4-star hotel room for half price on Hotwire. Then we scored an upgrade to the Concierge Floor where we ate tons of free appetizers, desserts and breakfast. And as a bonus, Curtis Stone (America's Next Great Restaurant) held the door for me before he climbed into his limo (because I was limping). lol

Chocolate dipped strawberries in the lounge
Dude Bunny from Jocelyn and Rachelle

Meg did not want to take off her medal.

The 3 of us could hardly eat Saturday night. We ordered a ton of food at Cheesecake Factory and all we could stomach was edamame. Tragedy.

By the next day we'd all found our appetities.

In the span of 5 hours we had pizza, soup and salad twice AND fro yo at Red Mango!

What a fun weekend and awesome experience that I will never forget!