Early morning after a terrible night’s sleep. So nervous and excited for the longest run of my life!
Gloria and Melissa dropped Sally and I off at the start line, then they drove to Mile 21, where our run club was hosting one of the aid stations.
Porte-Potties at the start line as far as the eye can see!!
I belonged to a ‘CIM First Timers’ group. Here is a small sampling of the first time runners…
…and here is our Moms Run This Town group of women either running the full marathon, or running leg one of the relay!
Found out later that Sally and I had a little cameo on the local news channel! This is us just getting started…
Waiting to begin…
And we are off! Janice and stacy ran with me for a while. Janice is wearing her “50 Marathons in 50 states” shirt. This CIM is her marathon number 81 or 82! Her goal is to reach 100 at CIM 2019!
My friend Shelly was cheering around mile 7 and took this photo of me .
My friend and neighbor Keri, and founding mother of our own little Clover Valley Loop Ladies run tribe within our run club was cheering around mile 10. So glad I got to see her.
The middle miles. Still smiling, but it’s getting long. The weather was perfect though. We could not have asked for it to be any better. A big wind storm came the next day.
Mile 20, known as “The Wall”. Still feeling good…
Coming into Mile 21! I could not stop because I was far behind my goal time. The ladies made a tunnel for me run through and chanted my name. I felt so special and it gave me wings to finish the race.
Teresa joined me at mile 24 and Elyse joined us at Mile 25. They wanted to make sure I was able to run in well. They made the final few miles a pleasure and having them run me in was such a blessing. This photo is of them running ahead as I am reaching the finish line so they could get photos of me coming in.
…and it’s done. My bucket list marathon before the age of 50!
Melissa and Gloria, when they found out Sally and I had finished! Sally finished a good 40+ minutes before me!
David and Alex met me at multiple spots throughout the race. Ryan was home sick. Seeing them was just what I needed to keep motivated and encouraged. I can’t imagine what it would have been otherwise. So grateful for my guys!
Me and Sally. We did it!
Celebrating at the Boxing Donkey after. Sore muscles, good food and beer, great stories shared….
A cool graphic of our route. From Folsom to Sacramento….
