26.2 Miles Later...

After months of training, yesterday was finally race day! I woke up at 5:45 and made my way to Park Street Station where the BAA arranges for the school buses to bring us to the Runner's Village in Hopkinton. Once again, I was blown away by the BAA's organization and efficiency. By the time my bus arrived in Hopkinton and I spent close to 20 minutes in line for the porta potty, it was already time to check my bag and move to the starting line. Like cattle, runners are corralled by number and shuffled forward in an orderly manner until we cross the starting line.

My former company staffs volunteers at mile 5's water station, so I was greeted by several familiar face and friends. Two friends from my old department told me that there had a been a sign, but there was a small issue with it. I kind of forgot about that until this morning when they emailed me a photo of the sign and explanation as to what exactly went wrong.

It's a little known fact that my dad's side is from Western Africa

My favorite part of the course is mile 13 at Wellsley College, where hundreds of girls are screaming like crazy for everyone to give them a kiss. I saw signs that said, Kiss me, I'm Latina, and Kiss me, I'm Asian, as well as, Kiss me, I'm from Ohio. A guy looking to be in his 40's or so running directly in front of me took advantage of about 8 girls offering everything from a peck on the cheek to a wet one directly on the lips. He turned to his running buddy afterwards and said, "Now that was awesome!"

I was cruising along until mile 16 or so, until my legs started to feel like lead; however, I kept plugging along and crossed the finish line in 4:14:43. I felt so happy to finish; however, it was quite painful trying to remove my chip from my shoelaces. After two unsuccessful attempts to squat down and reach my sneaker, a helpful volunteer was able to assist me and give me my medal in exchange for the chip.

When we got back to my apartment, I saw Nick had a decorated the apartment with lots of signs congratulating me on my finish!

This was taped opposite a mirror on our wall

Taped to the coffee table

Recently, I have spent a lot of time soaking my feet in the tub, so this was taped to the shower curtain

Taped to wall over our pillows.

And taped to the toilet seat...

Thanks, Nick! And thank you to my parents for coming up, cheering me on, and then taking us out to dinner last night! Also, a huge thank you to everyone who donated to Team Eye and Ear! Now, I'm going to relax for a while..!