Marathon Experience

I know this is late but wanted to give everybody my view of running the Houston Half Marathon. I was told that when you crossed the finish line you would either never want to do it again or couldn't wait to sign up for the next one. I was also told that you get this great feeling once you have crossed the finished line. I was like yeah right it is just a run. How could you get a great feeling after torturing yourself for 13.1 miles? Well you do. I was pretty nervous going in to it. I knew I would finish but worried about having to stop. I told myself over and over again no walking allowed.There are lots of people who walked but I wasn't. It starts off pretty slow you are packed in with thousands of people but eventually it starts to open up and you can get your pace. I found a good pace and just looked for the finish line. It was nice at about mile 9 I had some supporters. Mom, Dad, Dana, Ryan, Kara, Chris and Kate all on the sides cheering me on. I got to pass them twice so I got to hear their cheers twice. Oh and don't let me forget a kiss from McGuire too. I did have time to stop for that. After passing them I realized that I could beat my goal time. I had set a time of 2 hours 15 minutes but wasn't too concerned about reaching it just finishing. The last two miles I picked up the pace to beat my time. At about 1/2 mile outside the finsish line was my other support group. Lee (my trainer who is awesome), Torrey and Angela (two awesome girls I met at the gym) were there cheering me on. It was so great to see them at the end. I came in to the finish line at 2 hours 14 mintues beating my original goal time. How awesome I beat my goal time, received a medal, got a really cool shirt and was surrounded my lots of food in the matter of a minute after the run. I remember meeting up with my friends and saying I can't wait to do it again. Crazy I know. Well I am doing it again. My marathon plan is Nahsville in April, San Antonio in November, Houston again next January and I am doing a full 26.2 miles in Miami in January 2010!