And another one in the books

Exhausted so no time for a long post, but my overwhelming observations of the day -- major crowd support (in line w/ NY marathon) and negative split my @ss (so glad I didn't attempt that). 

No major pain but definitely sore legs.  Met someone named Patrick during the first mile and ran with and talked to him through about 13, which made it much more pleasant.  He was 19 and running his first full.  He was doing great and when we split at 13, it was so he could go ahead.  We unfortunately got a bit out in front of the 5 min fast pace group and we stayed there.  Around 13 some people near us were saying the pacer was running too slow and off his times.  I stayed near that group for much of the remainder of the race. 

I kept waiting for the pace group to pass me.  One time I photographed my friend Mary running White Rock and gave her the pics.  Her comment was, oh look at me and how happy I am, completely oblivious to the fact that the 4 hour pace group is bearing down behind me and would pass me in less than half a mile.  Well, I hit the bridge right around 19 and I heard this woman lean over and say to her daughter, look at all those balloons coming, honey.  Shite.  They passed me around 19.5, just across the bridge, and I stayed with them through about 20.  And then let them slide, knowing I had a slight cushion.

What I didn't expect was how much the sun and the hills over the last 6 miles would sap me.  I slowed a lot.  But I finished.  And oh yeah, for the first time in my life, I qualified for Boston!!  And as icing on the cake, hubby also had a 10 mile PR (guaranteed actually, first 10 mile race, but was on pace for a half PR as well).

Felt bad after I finished but fortunately hooked back up with Adam and we went to lay in the shade of a trash can while I waited for my legs to stop cramping and for the urge to vomit to pass.  We then went to find hubby, folks, his girlfriend, her folks, cousins, etc.  Went to the hotel, cleaned up, packed, went to lunch, then a party and then the airport.  Back in the Big D with smiles on our faces. 

The best part was hearing my name.  I actually didn't see any of my relatives (saw cousin's boyfriend and threw arm warmers at him) -- they yelled for me, but so many people were yelling my name that I didn't notice.  Should have told them to yell my last name.  Oh well.  Happy night.  Going to bed now.