Finally Reached the End of the Road!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your prayers. Friday night was fringed with worry. My body was still in recovery mode, woozy-headed and all. Saturday morning began less-than-bright but definitely early at 5:20am with very blustery winds. Great. Things, however, quickly improved on the ride into Sac. Margaret's car was filled with laughter and car-sickness stories, and the ride flew by. After two trips to the port-a-potties, I approached the start with Gaylene, Cecilia, Elizabeth, and Rosie. 7 long months leading up to this moment. The bagpipe music began to play--because, as you know, everyone associates bagpipe music with running.
After a stirring rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, the race began. It took us about 2 1/2 minutes to get from our crowding-in spot to actually cross the start line. A river of people was flowing in front of us as far the eye could see. It was slow-going at first, taking a mile or two for everyone to find room to spread out. We had been freezing in the early morning wind, but it didn't blow so badly down on the trail. As the morning wore on, the breeze was welcome. The five of us stayed together for the first few miles, but it was hard to stay together with everyone else. At one time, I got too close to the side of the trail and unintentionally stepped off, slightly twisting my left ankle. I've been very blessed to have strong ankles--it didn't bother me much. About the five mile mark my obsession with the lady-in-the-blue-sweatshirt began. From the back, she looked just like a lady who had been running with us in October, but I hadn't seen since December. We'd get close to her and then Gaylene would say it was time to take our walk break to refuel and drink, and then she pull out our reach again. I thought that I'd be cool and grab one of the small water cups they held out for us, drink on the run, and then throw down the cup. Well, the first time, the water went right up my nose--definitely not cool. Gaylene explained that the secret was pinching the cup. Second attempt--pinching stopped the nasal blast but didn't prevent me from sucking it right down my airway. Pretty embarrassing--coughing and gasping for air. I decided to stick with the plastic squirt bottles on my running belt. (Pretty fancy, eh?) Around mile seven, Gaylene decided that we should just run a little harder and catch the lady-in-the-blue-sweatshirt, which we did discovering that it was not anyone we knew. The obsession, however, lasted throughout the race. Gaylene's knee started to bother her about mile 11ish. We did some extra walking and slowed down our running. She very thoughtfully noticed my continuous eye-ing of the lady-in-the-blue-sweatshirt and encouraged me to "go catch her." I did. It was a wonderful feeling to have some gas left in the tank and accelerate to the finish line. My wonderful family was awaiting me. Rachel was visiting with a friend who said, "Hey, isn't that your mom?" Rachel tried to race to the finish line to get a picture, but didn't make it with the press of the crowd. Her voice was calling to me, "Slow down, Mom," but I did not heed it. The official race photographer captured this picture:

Yes, my face really was as pink as my shirt.
This picture was taken at our home about 2 hours later.
This is the "hallelujah--it's all over" smile.