We Did It! (an Amy post)

We did it! We completed the Nike Women's 1/2 Marathon this past Sunday in San Francisco and it was amazing! What a crazy weekend. We had so much fun and though the weekend had it's ups and downs, I'd say it was mostly ups and that we had a wonderful time.

(In the group photo above we're near the bottom Left. Jo Anna is sitting on the chair and I'm squatting just beside her. Click the photo to see it displayed bigger)

Our legs might tell a different story though, as they are quite sore today. Jo Anna was amazing, she did the 13.1 miles like they were a walk in the park. For me it was far more difficult, but she kept me going and got me to the finish line where a small group of San Francisco's finest Fire Fighters gave us our little blue box with our Tiffany medal necklace inside.

The route was beautiful, but had a couple of giant hills that nearly killed me. I was really sucking wind at the top of each one. And we were pretty slow paced so most of the sponsor tables and even some of the water stations were closed up and gone by the time we went passed them, which was a bit disappointing. The weather was overcast, slightly drizzly now and then, and cold! I had my "discard" long-sleeved shirt on, the idea being once I got moving and warm I could toss it, but I never did. It was too cold. Overall it was a pretty amazing experience and I'm ready to do it again next year.

The Nike Women's Marathon itself benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and raised over 18 Million Dollars this year! There were approx. 20,000 participants total and over 6,000 Team in Training participants. I've never seen so many people in one place. Jo Anna and I were trying to get to our "corral" - our group of same paced people readying for the race - and never made it. We got stuck in the crowd and literally couldn't move. Truly, we were packed in so tightly it was crazy.

The Pasta Party on Sat. night was wonderful - not so much the food but the inspiration. We walked into this huge conference center and were met by hundreds of TNT Coaches, Mentors and Staff all dressed in Green & Purple (TNT Colors) and cheering and shouting for us. We had great speakers who were exceptionally motivating and by the time we left, we were totally pumped for the race the next day. This made sleeping a little difficult but we managed with some pharmaceutical help.

Sunday morning was early! We were up by 5:00 a.m. and met our whole team in the lobby to walk to the start of the marathon. That's right - we walked to the place where we'd start walking 13.1 miles. Nuts, right? But it was a good warm-up. We got checked in, did some stretching, used the port-a-johns, and then tried to find our corral (that's where we got stuck in the crowd). Eventually though the crowd thinned out as the different pace groups started the race, and we were able to join up with those in our own group and start.

Jo and I were in the way back of the pack, and that was all me. She certainly could have finished much faster but she chose to stay by my side, which I will be ever grateful for. After being told that one enormous hill would be the last big hill, and then coming to discover there was another gynormous hill, I was ready to call it quits but it was Jo Anna who kept me moving and motivated. Eventually we crossed the finish line together, and though we'd walked nearly the entire 13.1 miles, we ran across the finish. Smiling big, cheesy grins.

I'll post a link to photos as soon as I have them uploaded. We really had a wonderful time and while part of me is so glad it's over so that I no longer have to stress about it, another part of me is already looking forward to next year's race!

See you all next Fall!
Amy (& Jo)