Mankato Marathon

I did it! Check it off the bucket list.
I cannot tell you how awesome it feels to accomplish such a goal?!

Anyways this may be a bit of a picture overload for some, but I just couldn't choose which to use so most of them are in the blog...family journal right?!
This was me pre-race. It was raining some and the forecast said it would rain through the whole race. But prayers were answered and it quit about 15 minutes before it started, and by mile 18 it was sunny! We escaped the rain!

Now hopefully they will get this sorted out, but the corals were WAY too small. We were packed like sausages and there were even runners spilling out the openings.
Because we were so packed, we got uncomfortably close and someone thought it would be cool to not shower his whole training for this event,maybe some sort of good luck charm, he was that bad! I about wanted to pass out! I was standing next to two girls and we could stop laughing, we all noticed were were trying to discreetly cover our noses.
I had the biggest butterflies EVER!

We were off right at 8:00am.

One of my friends who was going to run the race, but didn't register in time,decided to make it a girls weekend, so she came down with me and kindly took all these pictures!
By mile 4 I was already pretty warm, the weather couldn't have been more perfect. When we started I think it was 54 degrees.

Then around mile 12 I saw my family! That was one of the best parts of the race. Anticipating when I could get to see them again. It kept me going!

While they so patiently waited for me, the kids had a blast exploring!

The finish line in sight. This picture is very scary, but I guess that's what to expect when you've run 26.2 miles. My friend joined me around mile 23-23 and ran to the end with me. I think she totally helped me from hitting a wall.

And I can now say I ran a marathon!

Now I never fully voiced a goal out loud, but I thought I could get under 4 hours. I've ran several half marathons and I figured if I ran 10-20 seconds a mile slower than the last half I ran, I would make my goal.
I stayed with the 3:50 pacer until mile 22. I was having this pain and if I stopped every so often for a few seconds to stretch it would go away for a few miles. But after doing that from mile 15-22, and having to catch up to the pacer multiple times, I just couldn't keep up.
That being said, I am still ecstatic that I ran a marathon in the first place, but I more than beat my goal. I am happy!
Stats:
3:55.27
16/72 in my division
194/577 overall

And if you were to ask me if I'd do another...I'd say yes.
I'm no marathons several times a year girl. But I think in my lifetime I'll do a few more...