26.2

On Sunday, February 13, 2011,  I completed my very first marathon with my best friend Courtney.

Let me just tell you about our weekend before I talk about the race.

We ran the Mardi Gras Rock-n-Roll Marathon in New Orleans and so we combined a sight-seeing weekend with a marathon weekend.

New Orleans is beautiful in its own unique way. Me, personally- I just love all the colors.

And I'm kickin' myself that I didn't take more pictures but we did a lot of walking around downtown, ate some fine cajun cuisine, and did some shopping. The whole crew consisted of my whole family, Courtney, Clay, and Clay's parents. We had a good 'ole time! Now if only I had a group pic. Well, here's most of us.

The weather that day could not have been more perfect. It was chilly that morning and cool and sunny as the day progressed. It was the perfect day to run.

Aaron, Jessica, and my Mom and Dad ran the half-marathon {13.1 miles}. We gave Julie the role of our "Team Manager" and the day would not have been the same without her. She was our personal cheerleader, coach, photographer, and I think she may have run her own half marathon that day simply trying to meet up with us at different parts of the race to cheer us on and take pictures. She was a trooper.

Bless her little heart. She was just as worn out as the runners!

We nicknamed Aaron the BLACK STALLION. It KILLS me how fast he ran the half with only 3 weeks of training... absolutely kills me.

Jessica also smoked the half... and she is now about to start training for a full marathon... Oh, and she was probably running too fast for Julie to take her picture.

Bri and Joe {that's what we call them sometimes} completed their 13.1 miles and have also decided to start training for a full marathon. It's contagious!

While Court and I were still running, the rest of the fam was celebrating at the finish line.

So let me just tell you about this 26.2 miles we ran... Let's just say I learned what the word "perserverance" really and truly means... mentally and physically. Can you tell?

As much as it hurts, it's a good, satisfying pain... like yeah, my body just ran 26.2 miles and I'm still alive to tell about it! That's a feat right there! I have run half-marathons, triathlons, you name it, and they were quite the challenge... but a marathon is in a league of its own.

We were so thankful for our support team. Julie was massaging my legs while Sue was  massaging Court's back... Talk about winning the awards for Sister and Mother-in-Law of the Year!

Courtney has been my running buddy for a loooong time {as in years} and thanks to her, the training and the race {not the pain, though} was FUN... and we are already planning on running another one.

Not anytime soon though!

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phillipians 4:13