Little Rock Marathon 2012

I cant even began to describe how awesome my weekend was. Tara, Tessa and I left early Saturday morning so we could get up to the expo and check in. We shopped, ate, saw a movie and laughed all night! It was a great way to keep my mind off the whole reason we were there. Not that I didnt want to think about the race, I just didnt want to think too much about 26.2 miles. It definetly was a mental game at that point. I could have easily psyched myself out. So, we were up early Sunday morning. It couldnt have been a more perfect day. A little chilly that morning but perfect running weather. Tara was sweet enough to go along and be our number one cheerleader and picture taker even though she wasnt able to run. I had prepared and trained so hard for this moment and it definetly was everything and more than I could have imagined. I cant even start to describe the number of people there. It was shoulder to shoulder until we crossed the start line, which in itself took a good 4 minutes to even get across.
I have been going to therapy twice a week for months now for my hip issues and I worried so much that it would give me problems. Thankfully NO issues with my hip at all but unfortunetly about mile 15 my knee really started giving me problems. By the time we hit mile 18 I was in quite a bit of pain. It didnt help that mile 18-24 was a down and back which mentally was one of the toughest things Ive ever done. I had heard it was bad but nothing could have prepared me for just how bad it actually was. There was many times in those 6 miles that Tessa and I both wanted to give up but thank God we had each other bc that's the only thing that got us through it. We talked each other through it when we wanted to quit. We cried, we laughed, we gave each other some very stern pep talks. (some very choice words seemed to help too). lol
Now, we were at mile 24 and we saw the end in site, well thats until we hit mile 25----- A HILL. Seriously?? A hill at the end of an already tough course. We pushed through the pain and crossed the finish line together. We were both crying not so much from pain (which had a little to do with it) but just bc we both knew what an awesome accomplishment we had just made and all the hours of hard work to get to this point, paid off.
I have no doubt in my mind that without having Tessa there with me the whole race I would never have made it.
I dont know that I have will do another one, but I am proud to say I DID IT!!
Thanks Tessa, Tara, Jen and all the people along the way that kept us going. The atmosphere throughout the whole course was undescribable. One of the coolest things I have ever experienced in my life. Here are a few pics from that weekend.