I haven't posted for a week! eek! So sorry about that, but the week has been full of preparation for my first marathon! And boy was it a weekend to remember!
Joel and I headed down to Savannah late on Thursday night after we both got off of work. The first evening we stayed at the Cotton Sail hotel. It was a boutique hotel with about 58 rooms right on the river. It's at the very end of River Street and in the middle of all the great restaurants and Market Street. The Cotton Sail is an old Cotton Warehouse from the 1800s and there is no other word to describe it other than MAGNIFICENT. Joel and I are in love with the industrial era of America so this hotel was perfect for us. The floors in each of the rooms were 200 year old hardwoods. They had 20 foot ceilings with beautiful crown molding and small balconies overlooking the river. The service was exceptional! It is definitely where we will be staying next time we go to Savannah!
View from our Balcony
View from our Balcony
Our gorgeous room
Friday Morning we were woken up by the horn of a tug boat on the river, so we got up and ran our last 2 miles of training along the river which was beautiful. We met this woman who made small baskets and roses out of Palm leaves. She was down on her luck, but was such a strong and amazing woman to talk to. She had such a beautiful heart and mind. I bought this basket and rose as a reminder of the beautiful souls in the world.
We then headed out to explore Savannah. I was so overwhelmed by the history, cobble stone streets, and the beautiful parks!! We stopped and had lunch at the little cafe in Forsyth Park.
Fountain at Forsyth Park
After our walk around savannah, we headed to Fort Pulaski. It is a beautiful fort which was both Union and Confederate during the Civil War. It was interesting to see all the modern processes they had established even back then!
The view from the top of the fort
That afternoon we met up with Callie (my running partner) and her husband Oliver at the apartment we rented a little closer to the finish line of the marathon. We didn't want to have to walk too far afterwards! haha! We headed to the expo to pick up our bibs and shirts and begin the festivities! It took us hours to get in and out because of the thousands of people there!
We decided to cook the night before because we knew the restaurants would be packed and so that we could eat all the pasta! That's the perks of renting an apartment instead of being in a hotel. We went to the Kroger for food and almost all the pasta was gone!! I made a fettuccine alfredo with a herb crusted chicken and sourdough rolls. It was delicious and Joel said it should be on the regular dinner rotation.
Friends that cook together stay together!
After dinner were rolled and stretched and prepped for race day!
And then it was here! I was so nervous walking into the starting area and our corral. There were thousands of runners and I am not a crowds person! Joel and I prayed together and then I headed to my corral and Joel headed to his. His was different since he was running the half marathon due to lack of time to train. And then we were off!
It looks like fun and games, but it was 90 degrees with 100% humidity. I've never had such a hard time running in my life. I slowed down my pace at mile 9 to compensate for the heat and let Callie push on ahead. At mile 11 1/2 the half marathoners split off toward their finish while the marathoners kept on going. That was the hardest moment in my life to not just quit and split off with the half marathoners. But I took my course in stride and pushed forward. The last half of the marathon there was barely any entertainment or music. 10 miles of our run was on an interstate with no shade and nothing but your thoughts to keep you company. At mile 21 I realized they had cut off 2 miles of our course to shorten it due to weather conditions and heat advisories. But I was not going to leave without running my 26.2 miles, so at mile 23, when I finally reached some shade, I turned around to make a short loop to get my extra 2 miles. It would have been so easy to just run my 24 and claim my medal, but I didn't train 5 months for a shortcut. When I crossed the finish line, words cannot express the emotions. I wanted to laugh, cry, and fall down all at the same time! I finished in 4 hours and 27 minutes. Beating my goal of 4 1/2 hours! I got my medal and headed to find my Joel and celebrate.
Joel crushed his half marathon coming in under two hours with absolutely no training! I am so proud of him!
It wasn't until I finished that they told us that the reason the course had been shortened is that a 35 year old Half Marathon Runner had passed away due to running in the heat. It took a huge toll on the runners there because it could have easily been me or someone else there. I completely support the decision of the race committee to shorten the race. They did what they could by providing salt packets and extra water and Gatorade stops as well as ice cups and bags of ice all along the course. I made extra stops and took extra precautions as well.
The Rock n Roll Savannah provided these awesome Brooks running jackets for the marathon finishers and of course we had to have a picture!
It was not pretty after that. The pictures above are deceiving. I was severely dehydrated. I was sick. and I spent the afternoon in bed trying to stop the pain. I made it out for dinner to eat and drink as much water as possible only to be sick again. Joel and I headed back to the apartment where we slept for 12 hours straight.
Sunday morning after sleeping and drinking a TON of water, I was finally feeling better inside, but my legs were screaming! I stretched as much as I could physically take and then we packed up our things and loaded up the car to head home, since Joel had to work 6 am Monday morning.
This has been my greatest accomplishment so far. I fit in training runs at 4 am and at 10 pm to make it happen. I put my social life on hold. I gave up eating certain things and doing certain things to make this happen and I am so glad that I did it! Will I ever run another marathon? Maybe later in life. For now though I am back to training for my next half marathon which is the perfect distance (in my opinion)!
I cannot believe we are already saying goodbye to 2015. Where has this year gone? Like so many others I have taken this past week and reflected on this year and all the many things that have happened. So many new things and changes have been made. Many trials were overcome. And many achievements were made. But looking back on 2015 there is one thing that I can say: Everything that God allowed to happen in 2015 was beneficial to me. Not a single hard time, trial, struggle, or pain hurt me. In fact, every single thing that happened this year made my year and my life so much better. What a picture of what a loving and merciful God we serve. He never tells us or causes things to happen that will hurt us. I am amazed looking back that Joel and I have made it through this year. It's been a wonderful but very tough year. But God saw us through. 
