Hello everyone!!!!!!!!!

So I woke up late yesterday and had to rush to get ready. I checked my phone, and my friend Jim was on his way. I woke my wife up and asked her to drop us off at the event and this was around 5:45 in the morning. Jim showed up and I thought we had plenty of time to get to the event. When my wife dropped us off, we had to walk a few blocks to the starting line. As we got to the starting line, we heard the gun to start the race for the wheelchair competitors. We had to run and check our bags and barely made it to our corrals when the race had begun.  Turns out the race started at 6:30 and not 7.

Now I had originally planned on just showing up and giving support, but ended up running 16 miles!!! My friend Jim and I had to stop twice for "Bio" breaks, but for the most part, we ran 16 miles! That's when I hit a wall and had to walk. Jim offered to walk with me. I have to say, without Jim there to converse with and distract me from the pain, I don't think I ever would have finished the race. By mile 23, I was in tears from all of the pain, but I knew I couldn't give up. I was so close yet the last few miles were the biggest challenge I had ever faced! It was amazing coming in for the last half mile and seeing my wife there waiting for me!!!! Neither one of us had ever done anything like this so we did not know what to expect.

I saw so many incredible things on the race and I am still in awe!!! first of all, I loved all of the costumes. Anyone who knows me knows that I also love to wear costumes, so I am kicking myself in the butt for not wearing one!. There was a guy who juggled 4 balls "FOR THE ENTIRE MARATHON!!!!!!!" That was nothing compared to the man I had saw running the race "BAREFOOT" WOW I never had seen anything like that!!~!!!! these were just a few of the highlights. After the race, a friend of mine said that a girl took a stick with vaseline on it  from a medic and ate it thinking it was honey!!! LOL, I almost did the same thing but coach Jenny said not to try anything new....THANK YOU COACH JENNY ;  )

The excitement of the crowd and the amazing music of the bands seemed to come to me just as I needed them most. I am truly amazed and happy and still can not believe that I finished the race!!!!! It took a lot of hard work and determination but I did it!!!!! I would really like to thank Active.com for proving the training and tools I needed to succeed in my goal of completing my first marathon!!!!!

Congratulations to everyone who participated!!!!!!!! This was not an easy task and the hardest part was taking that first step of deciding that you had a goal you wanted to accomplish! There were so many motivating stories and encouragement, that I feel like everyone will reach their goals!!!!!