i.made.it!

Thank you everyone that sent me good luck wishes yesterday and congratulations wishes after the Boston Marathon today! I think that knowing I had you out there tracking me during my run helped to keep me motivated on the course when I felt like I could easily start walking. Today was a perfect day. We felt great when we woke up, we felt great at Athlete Village before the race, we felt great during the race, the weather was perfect and we feel great now! Boston is known for being one of THE toughest marathon courses. It has grueling hills, most of which don't happen until miles 16-21. So, having to climb such long, steep hills late in the race is enough to hurt some peoples' chances of completing the race in their desired time. We made sure that our training had lots of hills, so we felt really prepared. I ran 3:32:30 and I am so happy with my time. Meg and I were dressed alike and at LEAST 5-6 people asked if we were twins as we were running:) Oddly enough, for those of you that don't know, Meg and Tara are twins. Unfortunately, Tara got injured on Monday, so she was not able to compete today. I imagine we would have gotten the triplet question had Tara been able to run. We DID get asked the first night we were here if we were triplets:)! From the back, we all look the same because we all weigh about the same, we're all blond with the same length of hair. I'll walk you through our day below...

6:30am. We had to be at the bus stop to catch our ride to Hopkinton, MA, which is 26.2 miles west of the finish line. Honestly, it was a really strange feeling seeing 25,000 people wait to get on school buses to be taken to Athlete Village. The process was as smooth as could be, believe it or not.

(more scenes from the bus stop)

Meg and I entering Athlete Village.

Athlete Village took place at Hopkinton High School. Lots of huge tents setup for people to sit under, find water, food, and get any last minute necessities.

LOTS and lots of H2O

Nourishment. Chocolate Outrage Gu is our saving grace on the course. It's a tiny gel-like food that is loaded with calories, sugar, caffeine...all of the good stuff that keeps ya' goin'. We took 1 Gu at 9:15am (45 minutes before the start), and then 1 at mile 7, 12, 17 and 22.



This was probably taken around 1:45pm; about 15 minutes after I finished. I know...you're probably thinking that my hair looks so pretty:)

It's pretty amazing how they handle your personal belongings at huge events like these. Every participant gets a gear bag, and when you head to the starting line, you drop off all of your gear at your designated bus--based on your bib number. Then they ship the buses with your belongings in them to the finish line. So after you cross the finish line, you go find your bus and they hand you your bag:)!

Here's our cute little cheerleader for the day! Poor Tara wanted to compete so bad, but instead headed to Heart Break Hill at Mile 21 to cheer us on. She's also in a walking boot which makes getting around a little challenging. She's a great friend, supporter and runner, and we can't wait for her to be 100% again!

We could not wait to jump in the shower, but opted for one last picture before shedding our smelly clothes. Notice our burnt faces? We also ended up with burnt right arms!



Thanks again for tuning in! You all are great!