Thank you all for the encouragement!  I ran a very hilly marathon (City of Oaks in Raleigh) yesterday.  It was rainy and relatively cold (50-55 degrees).  I had a lot of thigh cramping which I never had before in my training runs which I think must have been partly due to the weather.  So I had to walk quite a bit of it, especially the back course of the race which consisted of 6 1/2 miles of hills!  I have no idea what I was thinking when I chose this as my first marathon other than it was in my hometown.  But, anyway, I FINISHED and met a lot of great people along the way.  Ran it in 5 hrs 17 minutes, when I wanted to run it in 4:45.  But, because I walked so much, I'm confident I could do better than 4:45 if the conditions were better, so I am encouraged for my next race!!  Thanks again for responding to my post!