I have searched through the marathon forum for anyone who posted that they weren't able to finish a marathon.  Two things came to my mind, either people in this community always successfully finishes their race or many of us are too embarrassed to mention it.  I am merely posting my story in hopes I may receive some kind of input, whether positive or negative.

 
      On March 20, 2011, Shamrock marathon was supposed to be my first  marathon, but at about mile 9  I felt the knee pain on the right then  eventually became both.  I tried my hardest to keep pushing, but the  pain just got so bad I couldn't walk.  I trained as I was supposed to,  even with a running buddy and through the cold 20 degree weather.  My  pace was 10-11 min during my entire training and even ran as high 20  miles.  In fact I trained on the same course as the Shamrock.
       My body and emotions were at war because my knees was saying no, but my  mind was saying we can keep going.  I have had knee pains in the past,  but oddly enough none during my training.  Eventually, I had to give up  and it was one of the hardest thing I had to do.  I had to tell my  running buddy to just keep going because I did not want to hold her  back. I pretty much cried the entire time I sat waiting for transport to  pick me up till I got home.  It took transport a long time to get to  me.  When the transport dropped me off, they just literally dropped me  off.  I had to walk to medical tent by myself unsupported walk by the  finish line where all the runners happily got there medals and other  goodies for finishing the race.  I cried some more.  When I reached the  medical tent they told me that icing my knee is not serious enough for  their tent and that i needed to walk to the other tent.  I cried some  more to the thought of walking much more. I went to the tent were I can  get iced when my husband arrived. It was not even another medical tent.  it was the tent where all the finishers got their beer and food.  I  found a physical therapist booth were they gave out ice. They just gave  me ice. When I asked them about wrapping my knee with ice, they acted  like they have never heard of that practice before.  So if the race  could add more salt to my injury, they just kept pouring.
      I have only ran a half marathon prior to this, which was the dodge rock  and roll 1/2 marathon. They knew what to do when people asked to ice  their knees and they did not turn away people with minor or major  complaints. They had medical tents throughout the race, not just at the  end of the race.
       In the end, I just went home pretty much emotionally rocked by the  whole experience.  Now I know how it felt to be a quitter and how people  treat you when you are a marathon quitter. There are no consolation  medals for trying to finish a marathon. Nevermind, that I was able to  finish half of the race.  I felt like a huge embarrassment to myself,  family, friends, and to the sport. I just feel like hiding under the  rock because people couldn't console me.  They don't know what it was like to put so much time and effort into running.  This was huge  for me and it was my stupid knees that stopped me.
       I am just looking for others who went through similar experience as  me.  I know that this is probably a forum for people who do well in running  and accomplishes their goals in running. But what about the others. How  does one bounce back?  It was hard to make sense of what happened to  me.  I am not looking to complain about this race, but I also felt that I  should have made to feel this way.  I am not looking to quit running but I am pretty devasted. If you guys can, I just need some  guidance. Thank you for your time and letting me vent.