We drove down friday morning, fairly uneventfully except little Kaitlyn does not enjoy the car...lovely. We stayed with a friend of mine's parents, and it was nice because my kids had someone to play with and I got to talk to Stacey (sorry Stacey, you're not the annonymous friend anymore ). Went to the expo friday night. Busy place with lots of vendors, great place to go if you want new clothes/equiptment cheap and have money. I unfortunately did not, so we were out pretty fast. Check in was very efficient (as I found everything to be regarding the whole race, except the massage tent) for a 5000 person race.
Saturday morning we got up at 4am and got ready and were on the bus by 4:45am. The bus ride is deceiving though, because you can't see anything you're running because it's so dark and can seem far. It was sprinkling when we left the house, and raining by the time we were driving up on the bus, and then we noticed the wind. Not promising, but we figured it'd pass in the hour we had up there. We managed to grab a couple garbage bags before they were all gone, put them on over our heads, waited for the potties, then sat next to one of the many fires at the start. Oh and they had hot chocolate up there too, I wasn't going to take my chances on something new and sugary though. I took too long getting my warm clothes off and the gun went off as I was finishing up. Thank goodness for chip time!
The first 3 or 4 miles was really cool. We ran on the road with people everywhere (as there were the entire race), in complete darkness. Sweet. It was raining and windy, but with my trusty garbage bag on all was well. I figured after 5 miles or so I'd be ok to ditch it since it was really only sprinkling and I was getting a little warm - yeah, I'd be wanting it again in a few miles. Miles seemed to pass by fairly quickly, and I felt pretty good. Nutrition went well the whole race. I did unfortunatly have to stop at the bathroom twice during the race. It makes me mad to have to stop (I usually never do), but you gotta do what you gotta do. It did give me time to put vasoline on though. I wore the sports bra I did because it has a bit of room under my arm for my gel (nutrition) flask, but this bra unfortunately rubs me, really bad. I had blood running down my sports bra by the end of the race. I'm sure the rain and wet clothing made the rubbing worse. When I took my shower after, I screamed upon putting my chest in the water it stung SO badly.
The big uphill in Veyo was steep but kind of nice, I didn't have any problem with it. It was kind of feeling long from mile 15 to mile 22 or so, and at mile 16 I think I was really tightening up, very sore at this point, and of course the rain and wind picked up dramatically (it was raining and a head-wind the whole race though) making me wish I had my trash bag. Well mile 23 came along and I don't know what came over me, but I just had a burst of energy and ran 6:30-7:00 minute miles the last 3.2. It felt great! Just minutes earlier though it was awful and I was just trying to keep going, not caring about pace anymore. It was a really nice way to finish a race running fast and strong. I finished in 3:41.45, 1 minute off qualifying for Boston. Oh well. My garmin said 3:37 though, so my 2 potty stops must've been about 4 minutes long. I'm not sure which time to think of as my real time. My realistic goal after a not so perfect latter training season marathon training wise, was 3:45 and my optimistic was 3:30.
During the race I wasn't really cold although my hands would go numb and I'd have to shake them out. I pinned my 4 gels to my shorts and then flipped them inside to control the bounce. Worked great except for the fact that by the second gel I could no longer use my fingers; they were too cold. I had to have strangers take them off. After the race though, I was just freezing, shivering like crazy like everyone else. They should've had emergency blankets there for everyone, but apparently this is the first time it's been cold like this in about 20-25 years. It took me a good couple hours to get warmed up afterward - BRrrrrrr!
I'm glad I didn't let the weather get to me mentally. I took the steps I could to keep me warm, and remembered that everyone else was dealing with it too. Was kind of cool at times, made me feel tough. Not everyone can say they ran an entire marathon in the rain...but I've had my turn now, so it better not happen again ;-)
Here are some pics, I'll add them as I get them. Sorry they're so small.
Miss Mckayla was so exited to trick or treat. I wish we'd gotten it on video, but it was the cutest thing in the world to see her just book it from house to house, those little legs shuffling so fast under her poofy skirt. She was a really good sister for Talm too, always helping him get up to the doors as he was a bit timid sometimes.
A better pic of Talmage's costume. I'm really happy with how it turned out. His face reflects his holding his 10lb bag of candy himself.
My Katie-Ladybug!
I made her pants and top from an Old Navy fleece, and her wings from a hanger and a pair of knee high nylons. 
