The marathon

The weather on the day of the marathon was nothing less than perfect. (for a marathon at least!) I am sure the spectators did not think it was perfect. We had to park at AT&T park and take a shuttle over to Union Square where the start was. We got there very early and it wasn't that crowded when we first were there but that changed very quickly. There were 20,000 running this marathon. Mostly women, since it was the Nike Women's Marathon, but there were men who ran it. The marathon benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society so alot of the men that were running it have had loved ones who have had blood cancers and they were running in honor or in memory of that person.
It was quite chilly out at 7am. I ran with a sweat shirt on for the first 3 miles. Brenda had one on also. We had to take them off at mile 3 and we hid them in a newspaper box and called our husbands (who were together) to come get them out of it! I am amazed the found them, but they did! This picture of Brenda and I at the starting line is dark but you can see us. Brenda has a garbage bag over her. It keeps you very warm.
There were lots of hills in this marathon that is for sure. Someone had told me before I went that it wasn't that bad since most of the race is along the ocean. They lied. It was TOUGH! Mile 6 to mile 7 was literally one long continious hill. I thought I was going to die right then and there. Going down it was great though! Brenda only ran the half marathon so for the last half of the marathon I was on my own. It wasn't to bad. The sceanery was awesome there. Crossing that finsh line was heaven though.
When you cross the finish line there are men in tuxes (they are all San Francisco fire men) who have little green tiffinany boxes on platters. Inside those little tiffinany boxes is your tiffinany necklace, which is your medal for finishing the marathon. I will have to take a picture of mine to show you all how pretty it is. It was worth it!

I want to say a special thank you to all of you that supported me during this marathon. You may have donated money, you may have said encouraging words, you may have said prayers for me. Whatever it was it was greatly appreciated! I haven't decided which one I am doing next or if it is going to be a half or a whole marathon but I WILL be doing another one! That was number 5 and my goal is to finish 10 events for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
But for right now I am just enjoying the days of no running, just recovering!