the race.

I woke up at 4:30 am to get ready for the big race! I honestly felt like I was going to throw up. I couldn't figure out if it was nerves, hunger, or a combination of both, but it had to go. I got ready and I met my friends Rachel, Anja, and Jennie to do some last minute preparation. I soon forgot about the feeling in my gut and was ready to get the race started! We met the rest of our team down in the hotel lobby to take team pictures and meet up with everyone. We started to walk to the start line and realized some of us needed to check our bag (if you check a bag of stuff, they will bring it to the finish line for you, that way you have a change of clothes and other essentials for after the race). I left Rachel, Anja, and Jennie waiting for me and when I went to return I had to walk all the way around a line of porto potties. I lost them in the crowd of people! I started to freak out because I was planning on running with them the entire time and I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it without them. I finally saw them in the crowd of people and I have never been so happy to see them. We went to line up with the other 20,000 people and stood there for what felt like an eternity. We were all so ready to get this started.

(Rachel, me, Anja, Jennie at the starting line)

Once the race started we all were feeling really good and confident. We were staying on a slow and steady pace and felt like nothing could stop us. The first few miles were extremely flat and then we hit a hill. It was short so it didn't really bother us very much. It kinda felt good to run up something instead of just flat and boring (not that this course was ever boring). It was a nice change of pace.

 (the first of many hills)

We ran up a few more smaller hills and then it was downhill to sea level and by the marina. The sights were unbelievable. We had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and even stopped for a photo op! I was still feeling great at this point.

Then we get to mile 6. This is known to be the toughest hill of the course. It is a mile long hill that climbs over 250 feet. Literally straight up. Fortunately for us, it didn't seem to bad running it. I did start feeling it in my butt and hoped that would only be temporary. We actually ran up the entire hill and down the other side. I was quite a challenge to keep your legs running, but something none of us wanted to regret not having done. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to run up, because it caused my muscles to ache for the rest of the run. And yes, I had 20 more miles to go. I definitely don't regret it, but probably should have been a bit smarter about it. We continued on through mile 10 and we hadn't seen any of our parents yet. We were all really anxious to see them because it gives you this rush like you can conquer the next 2 miles without any problem. Coming down off of mile 10 hill, we were greeted by the beautiful ocean. We ended up calling our families to see where they were. They were all within about 3 miles of each other, which was great. We saw Anja's family first and they were awesome to cheer for us! At this point, there were thousands of spectators and you almost forgot that you were running. It was entertaining to see all of the people lined up cheering. And they were cheering for us. We've never met them, but they were yelling and cheering, "Go Team!" It was great.

I started to wonder if I had missed my dad and about the time I gave up on seeing him, I spotted him in the distance! It was such a great feeling to see a familiar face. We continued on and made it all the way to the half way point without really stopping to walk (other than to walk through water stops). It felt like such a great accomplishment. We were greeted with more hills and finally had to take a small walk break. Starting up running again was a lot harder than it would seem. My legs were tight and my feet started hurting. By the time I got to mile 16 where I saw my dad again, I was in pain! We were now back next to the ocean on the Great Highway. This is known as the not-so-Great-Highway. It felt like a bunch of rocks were just jabbing into my poor feet. Other runners were on the other side of the road running back towards the finish line. It was just any time now that I would be able to turnaround and head back that direction. I couldn't wait for that moment. We were confronted by another hill that looked even more daunting than mile 6. At this point, I said "I just don't feel like running up it." My legs still hurt from running up mile 6 and I figured it might be in my best interest to walk up half of it and maybe run the other half. I got to a point where I was really excited because the turnaround was just ahead, so I picked it up and started running again. We got to the top of the hill and realized, the turnaround is a run around the lake. Oh crap. So here we go around the lake and up some hills. This lake is now my worst enemy. At this point I think I was mentally numb and my entire body was numb, except for the bottoms of my feet that hurt like crazy.

At this point, we are only at mile 19 or so. I tried to block out everything except for the reason I was doing this. I thought about cancer patients, I thought about all the people out there cheering for me, I thought about the lady who spoke to us the night before who has had one hell of a battle with cancer, and I thought about the finish line. I never once thought about calling it quits, although I had thought about wanting to walk the rest of the way. I never got to the point where I didn't think I would finish, I wasn't sure if I would finish in a reasonable time, but I knew I had it in me to cross the finish line. Once I made it around the lake, I had one last hill to climb and then it was all downhill to the finish line.

 (downhill to the finish!)

I have never been so excited to be running the last few miles of a run and not been able to really express it. I was in so much pain at this point, I couldn't show any emotion. The last 3 miles were the longest 3 miles of my life. Literally. It took me probably 45 minutes to run 3 miles, whereas it usually takes me 30 minutes. I felt like I was using every bit of energy I had left but my legs just wouldn't move. Once I hit the 26 mile marker, I wanted to "sprint" in but it was more of a speed walk than a sprint. It felt so good to finish, but yet again, I was hurting so bad, I didn't really have any other feelings. I grabbed my beautiful blue Tiffany box from the fireman in a tux and kept on walking. I heard my dad yell my name and I was so excited he got to see me finish! It was the greatest feeling in the world to finish! I can't wait to do another one!

 (me, 2nd from the left)