PORTLAND

In our hotel in Portland...
Papa Randy and Grandma Eilene stopped by our hotel for a visit after the marathon!
Jafeth found a fun place to hang out in our hotel room!

After Jafeth ran the marathon???? :-) Celebrating our finish with our fams...

Race morning, while we were still fresh...

On the trip down there...
Mama, hold me:-)
Caravaning down with the McClees's!

Keri and Kim, We Did It!!!!!

Hey, we did it! We came, we ran 26.2, we finished. I knew I could do the miles, the 12+ bathroom stops killed our time, but all we wanted to do was finish and we did. Saw a lot of crazy things out there. A lot of blood, puke, tears, pulled muscles and people crying on the sides of the road because they could no longer go on, literally. Saw a lot of people running that made you wonder... my favorite shirt said "the victory isn't that I finished, the victory is that I ever started" also an old lady had on a shirt that said "this is my 39th marathon, how about you?" Awesome. Watched someone puke up a red bull at mile 20... saw the cops pull someone out from under a train/bus at mile 22, I guess you are bound to see a lot of things on a run like that. Unless you have run a marathon the pain is undescribable. I could not get my mind past how much my muscles were hurting, I could not get my mind to grasp that soon I would be finished and the pounding would stop. Mile 22-to the finish were incredibly hard both physically and mentally, and I would say that I had a good run and felt strong the whole time. I can't imagine how a "bad" marathon run would have felt. I will say that I have no regrets although I could have run it harder and considerably faster, the real victory was in the journey...

Thank you Zach and boys and mom, I love you all. Thank you Andrea for sacrificing your weekend to be with me, you are my biggest support and strength, thanks to your family too. Thank you all my friends who have encouraged me, thank you family who came, especially Uncle Butch and Papa Randy and Grandma Eilene, the highlight was seeing you both that evening. Thank you Gabbie and Breanna and Brettney, you ladies are awesome! Thank you all my inspirations, Olivia-my own personal running hero and Patti L. I hope I am as strong as you one day. Thank you Nelson clan, you all rock! Thank you Keri for putting in the miles and running this with me, I love you so much. Thank you God that it is over!:-)