Closer to the sun

Ok, so it's my rest day back from the marathon. I really didn't want to post about all the craziness on facebook, because I wanted the main thing that reached people to be that I was running to raise money. But now here, I feel that I can post all the other stuff. Number one is that I ran this marathon on a bad leg. I strained my quad about 3 weeks ago and it should have healed 2 weeks ago, but it hadn't. But I decided to wrap my leg and go for it anyways. It hurt on and off during the race, enough to make me walk for a bit and then try and pick up and run again. By the last 3 miles, it didn't hurt at all which was weird, but all my other leg muscles were incredibly tight and my feet were swelled and in pain from pounding them on the pavement for 6 hours. That's right it took 6 freakin hour to finish! This was also due in part to the intense heat. It was a record breaking day in terms of temperature. When we woke up to go at 4 in the morning, it was already close to 70, and by the time I was in the corral 6 hours later it was 85. I ended up running most of the race at 88 degrees. There were a ton of warnings about heat stroke and things. Later on I found out that the Kenyan that had won first place last year actually dropped out at the 30 kilometer mark. The KENYAN. Also, once I got around to checking my email, I found multiple emails from the Boston Athletic Association warning us not to run unless we were experienced marathon runners (this was my first marathon) and also not to run unless we'd been training in similar weather (i hadn't been training for a couple weeks due to the leg injury). So...there goes that. The only things that I unknowingly heeded were to make sure I was hydrated the entire time, and to run at a much slower pace than usual. Seeing as I walked about as much as I ran, whether from pain or from feeling my head start pounding from the heat, I think I covered that. My pace averaged out to a little under 14 minutes hahah. But I finished. And it was an awesome weekend. It was fun driving with Nate, and of course the girls we were staying with are awesome - super friendly, fun, and hospitable. Monday night after the marathon, I got Nate to play Just Dance with me and one of the girls and her boyfriend. It was fantastic.

So what did I learn this weekend?
 - I do a lot of things that are probably too risky...I do not want to run another race unless I am properly prepared. As amazing as this weekend was, and as awesome as I felt crossing that finish line, I could have done a lot of damage to myself.
 - I can't pass up on a good opportunity.
 - Just Dance is awesome. Must acquire.
 - God is creative...who could have seen that He'd provide a way for me to raise a bunch of money for people through one of my life goals that I did not really foresee happening.
 - I'm good at throwing cups. I threw one of my cups of water away during the race and it landed against the curb right side up, didn't spill a drop.
 - This phoenix thing really does seem to be a recurring theme in my life. I beat the intense heat this weekend. Also the Celebration Jackets that everyone gets were a bright fire orange this year...tattoo color? I think yes.
 - I have an incredible support base of friends and family. I really felt the love.
 - Nate is a great guy in so many ways and I'm really glad he came with me this weekend. He was there for me completely from start to finish, both literally  and figuratively. Actually he and Marisa ran/walked the last three miles with me haha. But anyways - incredibly supportive and encouraging. Also willing to go outside of his comfort zone for me, aka playing Just Dance haha, and driving the bird part way home.

Keep the faith friends! I didn't want to forget some of these details specifically, but I plan on posting again soon. Thanks for everything, and please keep my mom and the rest of our family in your prayers.