I DID IT...26.2 miles...

After months of training, months of raising financial support for sweet baby Heather, I can now say that I am a 'marathoner'...sounds so cool...LOL!!! What an experience!!!! The race started wonderful...the rain was looming but was only a light drizzle...the winds were like ice, though. I was feeling the strongest I had ever felt and knew it was going to be a great race UNTIL mile 4 when my stomach went haywire. As I was standing in line to the porta potty for over 20 mins. the rain began to POUR down! The rest of the race was drenching rain, freezing cold winds, a bout of hail, floods, & mud.  Woohoo...fasten your seat belts because this here ride is gonna to be the wildest ride in the west ;P

Paul and my family met me at mile 17...what a wonderful sight they were...it was all I could do to not bawl my eyes out. Not so much of what I was having to endure but I was just so excited that I was actually running my first marathon...I was just overwhelmed with so much emotion.

At that point, I literally could not feel my fingers and I was starting to see white spots. My mom gave me a rain poncho which help to warm me up a bit but helped my hands immensely. I was back on the road again...minus my tummy issues and the cold, I truly was having an awesome time! I just wished I had felt better...I ultimately had to have Paul meet me at mile 21 with some tummy medicine and all was great after that.

All in all it was a very crazy situation but I can't wait for next year. The course is GREAT!!!

But here is the COOLEST PART EVER...the part that made it ALL WORTH IT...I was on an amazing team...together, the 7 of us raised over $16,000 for the orphan babes in China...Team Love Without Boundaries...YOU ROCK!!! 

MY TEAM!

We were sooo blessed to have a hospitality suite in the DODGER STADIUM before the race. Did you hear me??? DODGER STADIUM...I was beside myself...LOVE the Dodgers...dates all the way back to when I was a little girl...that's what my daddy and I shared...our Dodgers!!

Thanking God for His amazing strength and protection! It's only by His strength that we succeeded!

Here are some crazy news clips:

Thousands of runners at the Los Angeles Marathon have been evaluated for hypothermia and 25 have been transported to local hospitals, according to Santa Monica fire Capt. Judah Mitchell.

The runners battled torrential rains and shin-deep puddles.

By noon, MTA buses with police escorts were stationed near the finish line to pick up runners and drive them to parking areas or medical facilities. "They've brought in a dozen blue Santa Monica city buses with heaters for runners to sit in and get dry," race press officer Rich Perelman said.

A 21-year-old man went into cardiac arrest around mile 18 and was taken unconscious to UCLA Medical Center in Westwood. An update on his condition was not immediately available. (I talked with this guy right before he went down .. so sad!)

About 1 p.m. at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, hundreds of runners sat in the hallways wrapped in towels, shivering.

Reports from other cities have indicated that buses have been picking up runners along the marathon route, to help them get warm.

"First, I want to thank God," Korir said. "I crossed the finish line and thought it was the end of my life. It's the roughest race I've ever run in the rain. I was dying out there, I was really struggling, but people were telling me, 'I love you. I love you.' At mile 21, my legs just gave out."