ripe tomato

Okay, okay - sorry I didn’t post after the race yesterday. I’ll give you all the gory details now.

We started at 5:30 in complete darkness, all 1000 walkers (although I’m sure there were some REALLY fast walkers who got a regular start time). Right off the bat there were people lining the streets cheering us on, live music and aid stations. In fact, I became separated from Jeremy at the first aid station, at mile TWO. I was waiting for him to come out of the bathroom and when he didn’t see me (remember, very dark outside), he assumed I went ahead. Long story short and lots of tears later (mine), we reunited at mile 5. I did NOT want to walk all 26.2 miles without him and he didn’t want to without me either, so we were really happy to find each other again.

There were lots and lots of hills, which really slow me down, but all in all, the course was absolutely beautiful. I didn’t bring my camera but I’ve found some photos online that were taken on the course yesterday.

It was a beautiful day and the scenery second to none.

It took us 7 hours and 45 minutes to complete the course. Not exactly breaking any records, but I believe we came in before most of the disabled and injured in the pack. We did lose quite a bit of time with trying to find each other in the beginning, bathroom stops and of course, that oxygen bar I wanted to try. I had to put the smack down on some bitches who tried to cut in front of me in that line.

You know, we really had the marathon we wanted to have. We did it together, we took it all in, enjoyed ourselves and, most importantly, FINISHED! I was so delirious at the end that I didn’t even notice the (I’m told) cute men in tuxedos passing out the Tiffany finisher’s necklace. The last 8 miles were HARD. We had to go all around Lake Merced before coming to the final 5 mile stretch, which seemed to go on forever. I have to say though, the support along the course was amazing. Live bands, marching bands, bag pipe bands, cheer squads, loads of family and friends that cheer for all of us. It was inspiring. There were also many, many signs along the way with photos of people fighting Leukemia or in memory of those who were lost. I just kept telling myself that no matter how hard doing the marathon was, it was easier than radiation or chemotherapy, so if those people could find the courage to face cancer, I could find it in me to finish the race.

They told us to put our name on our shirt before the race and I learned why - people shout out directly to you when they can see your name. “Go Kelli” - “you can do it Kelli - “looking good Kelli.” That was fantastic! Here’s a photo of my race day shirt with bib.

Jeremy got some HUGE killer blisters on his feet, but other than that, we’re most just sore and tired. It was funny walking around the city last night - you could totally tell who did the marathon by how stiffly they were walking, especially up or down stairs - ouch! I can’t eat right after a long run like that, so we came back to our room, showered and rested, coming out at about 5 and starting with cocktails. By 5:30 I was drunk. All I’d had all day was a protein bar, GU and vodka! Later in the evening, we ended up having a nice steak dinner with some friends from our team.

This was the largest woman’s marathon in the world. Out of 23,000 runners, there were only 900 brave men registered and we loved them all! Team in Training was well represented here, but it was open to anybody. The Marathon sold out in two days back in April, it’s that popular. I do wish I had a camera on the course. The scenery was beautiful but there were also people dressed up in crazy outfits, strange wigs, grass skirts and kilts - mostly the men! It was fun.

The only thing left to say is, Just Did It!

Thanks again for all of your support, my dear family and friends. I love you!

Kelli