4:27:50. Slowly but surely I finished the marathon. I ran the entire thing, only pausing long enough to guzzle water and Gatorade. By mile 20, my breathing was perfect and I wasn't cramping at all, but my left knee was hurting something fierce. I considered walking, but my pride (not necessarily a good thing) kept me moving. Like a senior citizen I trotted along.

My goal was to finish, but secretly I wanted to finish in under 4:30. It felt surreal to step over the finish line. I was elated...

...and I'll never do it again! It was fun, exhilarating, momentous...but I really don't think our bodies are made to run that far! Today, two days after the race, my legs are still screaming, "What the?!?!!!"

In less than 12 hours...I will be running 26.2 miles. Ahhhhh!

In one week, these are the shoes that I'm counting on to get me through 26.2 miles. Mizuno, don't fail me now.


Oh yes, and as I'm typing this, what are Ben and Surfer Dave up to? Hmmmm.........

Dave will be here in two days and we have a dilemma. What do you do to entertain a California surfer boy in the great state of...Ohio? (Crickets chirping...oh and that was a cow that you just heard being tipped.)

New York City rewind...

We had a great time! The weather was perfect and we saw and did everything we wanted and then some. I think our favorite part of the trip was our visit to Ellis Island and seeing the musical Chicago. We also managed to eat plenty of hotdogs and pretzels from little carts off the street. Why do those things seem to taste so good in New York?

Mapping our way through NYC...my husband, the walking GPS.

We saw a huge group of people watching what seemed to be a commercial being filmed in Washington Square. One of the actors looks like...Cameron--our brother! What do you think?

We went to a phenomenal, posh, vegetarian restaurant called Candle 79. This was before we headed out for our lovely dinner.

Six years later at the World Trade Center site. The memorial is up and tidy, it's just what is behind the fence that's still in shambles. I took this through a hole in the covered restricted area.

Ben convinced me that renting the walking tour headsets was the way to go at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I have never used them before, but he was right...they are great. I'm now a huge fan. It brought so much more depth to what we were seeing. Rent some next time you are out being a tourist. And yes, you will look silly.


Visiting Ellis Island was a treat. We both loved learning the history of that place. Here are some of the suitcases people brought on their journey to America.

Relaxing in perfect weather at Central Park.

Let's see...I ran 18 miles last weekend in my longest training run before the Columbus Marathon on October 21. It just about killed me. I'm beginning to doubt my ability to do this race. I ran eight miles yesterday and throughout the first mile my lunch was sloshing around in my stomach and I began to think, "how in the world am I going to finish even 8 miles?" Well I did, and I was okay, but then I started to psyche myself out doing the math and thinking about how a marathon is 8 miles--THREE TIMES--and then 2.2 more miles. What am I thinking?!?!? Any other runners deal with psyching yourself out as you envision a race? Anyone? Please, I need some encouragement here! :)

Speaking of encouragement...we are in the midst of a time of uncertainty and I'll be quite honest and say it stinks. Neither of us are very patient. You see, up until this point in our marriage, we've had some sort of a plan. Now, plans may have changed and we are basically waiting. We want so much to simply trust God so if you have a minute, pray that we would honor God in this season. Thank you!