FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I DID IT! I completed my first marathon. It was AWESOME! It was such an incredible experience, words can't even begin to describe it! The race was so symbolic of the past several months of life. There were ups and downs, joy and pain, times when I was feeling great and times when I wondered how I could go on. Through it all, just like over the past several months, God was there by my side providing me with strength and showing me His faithfulness through friends via text messages and facebook messages received along the way.

My official time was 6 hrs. 56 min. 29 sec. (The clock on the picture says 7 hrs. 3 min. but the clock starts when the first person crosses the start line and I started way back in the pack of people!) My goal was to finish between 6 and 7 hours so I did achieve my goal. I am planning on doing the DM marathon again next year - October 16, 2011. I would like to complete it next year under 6 hours!

Last year after the 1/2 marathon I experienced a major let down After all the training I felt like "Now what?" I also had a very hard time being motivated to get back out there to run. I anticipated that this year and fully expected to have the same issues this year. To help stave off this let down and lack of motivation I registered for the Living History Farms Cross Country race on November 20th. It is a 7 mile run and I've never done it, but have heard it is a lot of fun. Surprisingly I did not experience the let down this year. I am relishing in the accomplishment, extremely proud, but even more grateful for the way God showed Himself to me through the training and through the marathon. I am grateful for his protection from injury, in spite of a major bike crash just 7 weeks before the marathon. I am grateful for the ability to run and the beauty of God's creation I am blessed to enjoy while running. I am grateful for the friends He has provided me who supported and encouraged me through it all.

I went for a run today after work - not a long one - but certainly enjoyed being back out there pounding the pavement.

While the marathon is done, I am still running the race of life and want to run it well and finish well. So, I will continue blogging. I admit I slack and don't post as often as I'd like, but I will keep writing. Next year I am planning to log every mile I run starting January 1st. I'm interested to know how many miles I run in one full year.

Running the race to the finish,

Sherri