On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

A few days after Alyssa's graduation the whole family (Minus Dave, sniff, tear) drove down to San Diego for the Rock N' Roll Marathon. Let's back up a little bit. I'm a huge Biggest Loser fan, pun intended. Back in December I watched the Biggest Loser finalists run a full marathon. I thought to myself, if they can do it so can I. But I knew I couldn't pull this off without some help. My brother and I had recently talked about wanting to run a race together some day so I emailed him. Of course he wasn't going to let his big sister accomplish something without him so sibling rivalry forced him to agree. I sent him the links to info about a few races in CA. The Rock N' Roll San Diego Marathon happened to be a few days after Alyssa's graduation which I knew would put me in CA anyway. So it just seemed perfect. We signed up and started training. After 6 months of training and mountains of trash-talk, the race was finally here! We all got special race shirts made. Mine said "I may not win but at least I'll beat my brother." You can guess what his said. And our faithful cheerleaders even had team shirts made. With Alyssa officially a HS graduate, we were off!

Luckily this is how Emily spent most of the trip!
At the expo center. We have our race packets and we're ready!

We arrived the day before early enough to enjoy some of the sights San Diego has to offer. Lunch on the pier.

Pre-Race dinner at the Soup Plantation. Emily enjoyed some ice cream and made some new friends...

The little boy at the next table gave her this little love letter before we left. He was about 4 and wrote her name, but when we asked Emily what her note said she replied, "It says, Emily Jean listen to your Mommy!" I could not have agreed more!

Race day began at 4am. Yikes! Here we are at QualComm Stadium catching the trolley to the start.

My Dad picked this seat all on his own. Sometimes he makes it too easy!

Even Aunt Alyssa was up and at 'em! And on Emily duty.

Dad and Holly are waiting for us at the 7 mile mark. They are pumped!

After a Starbucks stop Aunt Alyssa is a happy girl!

Not really sure what that face is? But it's cute!

Emily was the cutest cheerleader on the course, encouraging not only Mommy and Uncle Chris, but anyone else who wanted a high five!

Here we come! Big hugs to get us through to the finish! I have to tell you just how much it meant to me and Chris to have our family there to support us! It was awesome thinking, just a few more miles then we'll see them at mile 7, then mile 14, then the finish line.

Not sure what mile marker this was, probably near 7 or 8.

I know this picture was taken during the first half of the race somewhere because we both still look happy. :)

At about mile marker 15 Chris and I parted ways. Honestly it was the thing I had thought about and dreaded the most. What if he's faster? I don't want to hold him back. What if I'm faster? I don't want to leave him. I really had envisioned us crossing the finish line together. But I had under-estimated the advantage I had training in Hades, I mean Memphis, and pushing a jogging stroller for any training run 8 miles long or shorter. I was trying to hang back with him, but Chris knew it and told me to go ahead. So we ran the last half of the race individually. It was way harder because there was no conversation to distract myself, no one to push me. I ended up having conversations in my head like this, "No legs, you are not tired. You are muscles and you will do what I tell you. And we are NOT tired." And of course lying to myself, "You feel great. You feel GREAT!" It was a long 11.2 mlies. This is me coming down the home stretch. Only 0.2 miles to go!

I know this looks like a smile but I think was actually more of a grimace.

And I made it! My official race time was 4 hours 36 minutes!

(The clock starts when the first runner starts. My corral started about 45 minutes after the first corral, hence the 5:14 on the clock)

WHOO HOO!!!!! I made it!

This was just before I started crying. Yes, crying. There are just so many chemicals and adrenaline running through your body at this point. It was overwhelming.

And here comes my brother!!! He did great! So proud of him! (Red shirt, black hat backwards)

Here's what happens after the race in 6 easy steps:

1. Get medal & water

2. Take pictures & try not to look like you are about to throw up

3. Stuff your face with salty carbs

4.Take more pictures

5. Get Dad to pay for a bike ride to the trolley stop.

6. Pass Out

After the race we all headed back to the hotel for a nap. I decided Chris and I needed to make a stop at the local running store to pick up some recovery drinks so we could move the next day (forgot my stuff at home). Holly was so sweet to offer to drive us to the store while Mom & Dad took Emily straight to the hotel for a nap. Well, let me just say, I love my sister-in-law. Like, LOVE her! Really. But if I thought I was going to die during the race, I knew I was going to die on the car ride home. Geesh! That chick is the craziest driver ever. All I could think was I survived the race, but I wasn't going to survive the ride home. OMG. Love you girl, but really. Slow down.

Recovery drink in hand we made it safely back at the hotel. After a 30 minute shower to rinse all the sweat off, a long nap, and a trip to the hot tub, we all went out to dinner to celebrate. Let me just say, I put down an entire steak by my self! Top sirloin never tasted so good. Yum!

Thanks Dad for dinner. And many thanks to all our family who supported us. We love you guys!

And just like that it was over! But since we were in San Diego we thought we'd stay another day and visit Sea World. Because that's what you want to do the day after a marathon. What were we thinking? Stay tuned...