It's a GIRL!

I feel like it's risky to hope for a gender but....I was really hoping for a girl.

Everyone kept saying they thought it was a boy, everyone except my mom.  Early in my pregnancy my acupuncture guy said he was getting some really masculine energy from the fetus so he figured it was a boy.  Or a really masculine girl I guess, whatever that means.

Then at my midwife appt. earlier this week, she said she had a really strong feeling it was a boy and then she wrote her guess on my forms.  I asked her if she's usually right and she said, "I'm about 50/50."

Adam has felt strongly that it's a boy from the beginning.  We've mostly called it a "he" but I've had my little desire for another little girl, that I've tried to suppress because I wanted to be open to whatever little spirit is coming to our family.  And I would have loved a boy too of course.

I've been having super intense dreams leading up to this ultrasound.
In one dream I went to my appt and they removed the baby (don't know how) to examine her and she weighed 12 pounds.  I was so concerned about putting her back in because then she'd be so big to push out at full term, so my midwife told me I could keep her out.  Then I had to be super gentle and careful in caring for her because she was pre-term and for some reason, blind as well.
In another I realized my ultrasound was a day early and so I rushed out the door to get to the appt.  While stopped at a stop light, a big black lady got in the back of my car and demanded that I take her to her appt.  I refused, saying how important my appt. was and we fought for awhile.  Finally she got out and I started trying to get to my appt again, which is when I woke up with my heart racing.

So, needless to say I've been kinda worried and apprehensive about this pregnancy, which is strange for me because I'm not usually a worrier.  I've had a couple friends have miscarriages recently and a couple friends lose their babies and my heart has broken for each of these people that I love.  It's made me realize that there are no guarantees, even for people close to me and even for me.

I had this little fear that I would lay down on the technician's table and she would bring up my uterus on the screen and there would be nothing in there.

The technician I did end up having, not in my nightmares but in real life, turned out to be the nicest person.  She let my two kids, my husband and my parents into the room for the whole thing.  And when she showed me my little person up there on the screen, I was relieved and filled with love and amazement.  There really is a little person in there and she looked so perfect to me, even with her alien face.  Every little feature looked incredible, like a true miracle in my body.  I was teary when I first saw my beautiful little baby and I was teary again when she told me that it's a girl.  I was grateful for a kind technician that would make that experience special, safe and comfortable for me and my family.

Favorite moments:

- Riley commenting a few times, "I think I see a penis."

- When the technician said, "It looks like you're having a little girl."

- Riley asking how her computer works, how her instruments work, how the gel works, where the amniotic fluid was, what would happen if the umbilical cord broke and so on and so on...

- The technician telling me she was happy to answer all our questions and she loves her job, especially doing babies.  (I'm going to write her and boss a letter thanking her).

- Seeing how much my baby moves.  Her feet were up by her head, then stretched out, then she'd roll over.  I remember at my ultrasounds with my two other kids that the technician was surprised by the movement and it was no different this time.  Another wiggly, active little baby coming at us I guess.

- Telling my mom at the end, "I'm so glad you both could be here with us." My mom responded, "yeah, it was so special for us to be here." Then we both looked over at my dad and he was asleep in his chair.  So funny.  He has mild narcolepsy, as his excuse (at least I have diagnosed him with that).

A Pregnant Runner.

Pregnant running...just those words create lots of funny mental images for me.

I always enjoy watching people run.  Being a personal trainer and a longtime lover of running, I like noticing the different techniques.  I'm proud and impressed with anyone who gets on a treadmill or gets outside and runs.  Some are extremely comical though.  A common one is the "bouncy" gait.  You know, the people who spend more of their energy going up than going forward.  Last week I saw this guy who was running but yet, it was slower than a really slow walk.  I mean he had the running movements but he wasn't really moving.  And now, I fall into one of these comical categories.

A pregnant runner.

My belly hasn't reached it's full splendor but it will soon enough and I'll still be running then too...I hope.  I ran right up until the end of both my previous pregnancies.  I always ran outside back then (didn't have money for a gym membership back in the day) and I remember getting a lot of looks.  I could just imagine what was going through their heads...."is that girl pregnant....whoa....like not just a little pregnant.....but she looks like she could have her baby any day now.....whoa....she's actually running.....that must be like, really, really uncomfortable."  I loved those faces.  I just kept on running and thinking, "oh yeah, that's right.  Stare all you want, I'm totally in my element right now."

You see, running is like a major form of therapy for me.  It reminds me I am strong.  It releases the stresses of the day.  It fills me with all those beautiful endorphins, more that any other type of exercise.  I love it so much, I even wrote a poem about it.

Once a week I meet up with my dad and we run together.  It's bonding and fun.  I find we have the best conversations when we're running together and I plan to connect with my kids as they get older by going for runs with them.  We usually run between 5 and 8 km and we're not terribly fast but it's all good.  He's old and I'm pregnant, so we both have a good reason to just slow down and enjoy it.

Side note: I'm 18 weeks pregnant now and have my first ultrasound tomorrow where I will hopefully find out if it's a boy or girl.  So excited!

Racing Pregnant.

I've now done three races pregnant.  Two sprint triathlons and a 5 km race.  
(I did them back in July, I'm just finally getting around to writing about them. I've been in a nausea fog all summer and haven't felt like blogging.)

No-one really knew I was pregnant, except my husband........and me.  Oh, trust me I knew.  Even early in the pregnancy, I felt different.  My blood pressure drops quite low (was 90/56 at my first midwife appt), so I get light headed a lot and it just feels harder to maintain my paces.  So, I've slowed down.  And I'm totally ok with that. In a strange way, it's kind of a relief to set aside my athlete-driven side for a time. Right now, my priority is this beautiful little miracle growing inside of me. Which made these races kinda tricky because I didn't know how to approach them.

I registered for them before I knew when I'd be pregnant.

The first triathlon and the 5km race came before pregnancy nausea rocked my world.  Both races went well. I did the 5 km race in 22:30 and finished third female overall.  I was hesitant to push super hard when it got tough because I didn't want to go too anaerobic and cause any harm to baby, so I held back.  It was kind of nice to have a valid excuse because it I didn't have to bring on the hurt like I usually do in races.  I'm sure I would have been a minute or so faster if I wasn't pregnant, but those record breaking times will have to wait a year or two.

The second triathlon came at the end of a long week of being so, so sick.
 I hadn't started taking diclectin yet because I was trying to figure out if I could get relief from the nausea in more natural ways (acupuncture, chiropractor, massage etc).  I cried on Adam's shoulder most nights that week because the days felt so long, being sick all....day....long.  Being summer, I had my kids home, which meant that I was also feeling bad about not having my usual energy to give to them for summertime fun.  I remember a few nights before that race, talking to Adam about whether I should actually race or not.  I wondered if I would just feel gross, having to wake up early and set up transitions, maybe getting sick in the water.  After listening to me go back and forth about it he said, "well, you can either feel like crap racing or feel like crap on the sidelines watching me race."  What a way with words.  Well, it was helpful because I realized I might as well race.

And I'm glad I did.

Racing with my dad for the second time was fun too.  Oh yes, he did get beat by a pregnant lady!!  Me and my dad have a lot of fun with our friendly little competitions with each other.

Somehow I didn't even feel sick at all.  Even with waking up extra early, having some nervous butterflies and the choppy lake water, I felt ok. Being in race mode really took my mind off of being sick and I also consider it an answer to prayer.  What a blessing! One funny moment in the swim was rounding one of the buoys this guy was super aggressive and pushed me out of the way to cut in close to the buoy.  I was aggressive right back and gave him a couple of good hard shoves to let him know he was cutting me off big time.  These weren't just little, "I'm trying to get around you shoves".  These were more like, "you've pissed off the wrong girl and you're gonna get it shoves."  I can be feisty when I want to.  The bike portion went well.

The run had an exciting finish.  I was dying at the end (like I always am) and because the run course is an out and back I knew that I was in second place out of all the females.  I checked over my shoulder and saw a chick kicking it to try to pass me.  So I found a faster gear and kicked it harder.  After a bit, she gave up and eased off and I crossed the finish line second.  Felt so good.  I was there before my dad and Adam.  My dad because I kicked his trash (love you dad!) and Adam because he did the longer distance.  It was super fun to cheer them in to the finish line.

My dad's wetsuit just kills me.  It looks like a cat has eaten it up but really it's just his fingernails that

he digs into it when he puts it on.  Interesting to note where most of the fingernail marks are...hmmmm....must be a tricky part of the wetsuit to put on I guess.

We had a good laugh about it together before the swim.

 Adam, me and my dad post race.

Adam likes to show a little cleavage with his tri tops I guess.

"Crushed it" this shirt was my prize for finishing second.

Not sure who chose the color.  Yuck!

I'm grateful that my racing season is over.  I will NOT be doing any more races this pregnancy.  I just plain don't want to.  At one point before I was pregnant I pictures myself being one of those moms who ran a marathon at 8 months pregnant.  Then, I actually got pregnant and...plans changed.

I still run but my pace has gone from a 5 min/km pace down to a 6 min/km or even sometimes 7 min/km pace.  Yep, it's slow but it still feels really good to run.  I just want to do it for myself and the baby right now.  To stay healthy, not to race.  I feel like I need a break from that side of my life and then I'll be really ready and excited to go back to it, when the time comes.  

To all you moms reading this who are pregnant or have been pregnant, my hat is off to you.  You are amazing for making all those sacrifices to bring a child into this world.  I am reminded this pregnancy of what a huge sacrifice it is because it's been awhile for me.  Nausea, sore boobs, sore joints, light headedness, peeing in the night, crazy dreams, restless sleep, lower energy, hormonal fluctuations, growing belly, growing in many other places that we don't want to grow and we do it all for this little miracle inside.  It's a privilege and an honor but it's also tough and I hope you know you're not alone when you struggle with parts of it.  

Oh and something else I've realized.  When you're pregnant, it's normal to feel ugly and massive sometimes.  I had a revelation this week that probably almost every other pregnant woman in the world feels that way sometimes and it's ok.  The fact is you're bigger and whether you're a lot bigger or a little bigger, it feels the same.  You just feel big and massive and beached whale-ish.  So, now that I've accepted these feelings as normal, I will try not to let them bother me so much.  hahaha.  

I'll post some pregnancy pictures in the near future.  

Strathmore "TRI-SMORE" Sprint Triathlon

Training for a short race has been a lot of fun.  When I started training for long races a couple years ago, it was exciting to see that I could actually run longer than an hour.  Every long run in training felt like I had overcome a limit I'd placed on myself in my head.  It was also more meditative and peaceful to run long and slow because the large majority of my runs were in my aerobic heart rate zone, so to stay in this zone I had to just slow down and relax into the run.

A drawback of training for long races, is that it requires so much time, including long rides Saturday.

So, short races were a perfect fit for our family this year.  A nice change from the Ironman and Half Ironman distances the past couple years.

I know I haven't updated this blog much lately.  (I've come to realize that I just feel more sad and irritable if I'm on the computer lots so I'm "cutting back") but even though I haven't been posting, I have been training.  Lots of speed work and building strength.  Short and more intense workouts.  Not sure that I'm any faster but there's so many factors here that it's hard to compare.

Sprint triathlon distances: 500 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run.

I've come to love small town races and this triathlon in Strathmore was no different  They changed our start time to 10AM so we could be done to watch Riley do his triathlon at noon.  My parents cheered us on and watched our kids while we raced (thanks mom and dad!).  This was my first pool tri, I've only done mass starts in a lake.  We walked on to the pool deck and asked the swim marshall if we could share a lane and she asked if we preferred 2 or 3 in our lane.  Well, of course two.  Sweet!  We told her we were going to swim on sides (rather than looping around) so could she please not add anyone to our lane until we were done.  We had to cross the start mat and then walk/run to our lane and dive in.  Adam went first and he said his goggle strap flipped up high when he dived, so his goggles slowly filled with water.  He tried to just deal with it but after 7 laps it was driving him crazy, so he stopped and fixed it.

 I felt pretty smooth in the water.  It was fun to race right next to Adam.  Since, he's faster, it was nice to have sides, so we could just do our own thing.  I could hear my kids cheer for me when I pushed off at the spectator end, which was fun too!  My swim technique has improved SO much with swim club and this is my first race since those improvements.  On my last length of 20, I was sprinting in when this lady crashed head on into me in my lane.  I was annoyed and sprinted off...no time to figure out what she was doing there and why she would get in and swim right at me.

I ran out to the transition racks and somebody stole my bike.  No, not really, but I thought someone had because I was looking on the wrong rack for my bike.  Lightbulb moment, "you're on the wrong rack Kim".  Relief.  Quickly dry off with my towel.  Shorts and shirt on over my swimsuit. Race belt on.  Helmet on....backwards.  Running out to the bike exit.  Nice man says, "ummm lady, you're helmet's on backwards."  Ooops.  That would have been sweet if he hadn't caught me.  I would have been wondering why everyone was giving me funny looks on the bike course.

Out on my bike I felt great.  Because the race starts in heats, people were pretty staggered and you're not necessarily racing next to people of similar speed.  I flew past people and felt like we were in different races. I was in the "I'm out to win it" race and they were in the "I'm just taking my time enjoying this triathlon" race.  Of course, both races are valuable and fun but it just meant that it was up to me to push myself.  Back at transition I managed to put my running shoes on forwards :)  My bike split was ok but I knew that I needed to kill it on the run to place well.

About a km in I started to get a cramp, so I slowed to a 5 min/kim pace and took deeper breaths and after awhile it cleared.  With a couple kms left it felt a bit less like fun and a bit more like suffering.  You know that point in a race where it just hurts and it's as much of a mental race as a physical one.  Then I did a farmer blow to the side and out came....blood.  "Oh no, I must be hemorrhaging internally" was my less than rational first thought.  Followed by the more rational, "my nose must have just dried out from the bike."

Then Adam showed up to finish the last km with me.  He said some things like, "finish line is just around the corner, you're doing great Kimmy."  I was like, "do you mind not talking right now."  Then he laughed and said, "this is just like labor.  You suffering and telling me to quit talking so you can deal with it."  I laughed.  I guess when I get in 'the zone' I just like to do my thing and see what strength I have deep inside myself.  I finished the 5 km in 23:35 with my parents and kids cheering and Adam waving to the confused announcer to not announce his time (because he'd already crossed the finish line).

My total time was 1:16 which was good enough for third female overall.  A podium finish!!  

Adam finished in 1:05, third place overall.  Podium for both of us!

Riley did a little triathlon after us.  After he finished he said, "I'm a real triathlete now mom."  My favorite part  was when a group kids started the run and instead of heading out on the course, they all just looped back around to the finish line.  It was like herding cats to get them all going the right directions.  It was cute and I'm proud of Riley for doing it.

As a side note:
My heart goes out to all those affected by the flooding in Calgary and surrounding areas.  We look forward to learning of how we can help those affected and rebuild our city.  Strathmore was not affected by the floods but they had huge bins set up to collect donations for flood relief.  Our family is ready to get our work boots and gloves on, as I know so many of you are too.

I AM NOT MY BODY.

I don't read blogs much.  Weird, I know, considering I write one.

The first time I sat down at my computer and got lost in "blogger-land", reading blogs of people I knew, I was left feeling yucky.  Yep, yucky is the best word for it.
I felt the foul tinge of envy from the lives portrayed by these bloggers.  I know that is a result of my own insecurities coming up to the surface but it's also the nature of the blogging world.  It tends to not be very 'real'.   One blog I do check fairly regularly because I feel uplifted when I read it, is Stephanie Nielson’s blog.

Her and her husband were in an airplane crash, in which over 80% of her body was badly burned.  They survived but her body is so scarred and she now stands as an example to the world of the beauty of the soul.  I say this because the incredible woman she is, shines through her scarred skin.  Her example has made me want to be a better person.  Her example has made me want to be a better mother.  Her example has reminded me that I am not my body, in a very poignant way.  I have cried for her and I have been in awe of her.

You should check out this youtube video about Stephanie called, My New Life.

She went from looking like this

To this

In the beginning of the video, Stephanie says, "I am not my body."
Those words struck me back a few years ago when I first watched the video.  They have come back to my mind this week.

Those words speak to me.

This blog is a lot about fitness, about the body.  I love trying to take care of my body.  I love learning about nutrition.  I like trying to look good but even more, I love feeling good.  I love feeling strong, healthy and capable.  Fitness and nutrition help me with that. Ultimately, I feel deep inside that this body I have is a gift.  It is a gift to carry me through this mortal life.  It is the place my soul resides while I am on earth.  My soul is who I really am.  My soul existed before I came to earth.  My soul will continue to exist after death.  My soul is eternal.  This body is not.  At times, I feel frustrated with my body but that's ok. I know it's normal for our soul to struggle somewhat trying to carry out a life in an imperfect shell.  I do believe that one day we will all be resurrected and receive an eternal, perfect body.  But for now,  I try to care for my body so that my soul can live more fully.  That is what those words, "I am not my body" mean to me.

"Begin to develop authentic power, which is not located in the physical body...You will know that you are not that body, and that the real measure of your humanity is in your soul housed in that body.  Your sense of self will shift from being totally identified with your body, to being identified with your invisible self."  

                                                                               - Dr Wayne W. Dyer from "Real Magic"

Hypothermic Half Marathon

At family prayer the night before, Riley asked Heavenly Father to "bless mom that she'll be as close to the front of the race as possible."  Driving over to the race Saturday morning I was telling my kids that it was good I was wearing my bright pink coat because it would be easy for them to see me.  Kyla said, "mom, make sure you smile the whole time too cause then we'll look for the woman with a bright pink coat and a big smile."

It was a race that I won't forget.  Mostly because of the weather but also because of Amanda.

As most of you know, I didn't specifically train for this race.  I only ran it because a friend of mine at the gym offered me her registration because she had hurt her back.  I hadn't done a run over an hour since before Christmas and this race reminded me how much training makes a difference.  It's easy for me and for others to forget that sometimes.  I think sometimes we think that some people are just born to run or that running just comes so easily for them.  I don't think that's true.  It is true that some people have body types that suit running a little more but that's certainly not the most important factor, as I have seen some solid, stocky first place finishers.  The most important factor to running success is time and training.  That's it.  That's the only reason I have become an endurance athlete.  I've put in the time and the training. 

My muscles and joints were quite painful this race, due to a lack of training.

(With my kids at the starting line)



The first half up to the turnaround point, I kept reminding myself to 'relax into it' and save myself for the second half.  I felt good the first 5 km but then some mild suffering set in.  There was this chick in orange lululemon spandex tagged in my mind as a target.  I do this every race; choose people that I want to make sure I beat.  It makes racing more of a game and keeps me motivated and determined. 

At the turnaround point my orange spandex friend had stopped for a port o potty break so I made my pass.  Then the sun started really breaking through the clouds so I gave Adam my mitts.  I started taking off my coat, moving my race bib to be underneath my coat, so that the next time I saw Adam I could give him my coat as well.  That was a highlight of the race, those 5 minutes of sun and feeling so refreshed and strong.  My pace was picking up a bit and it felt good to be on the second half.

Then I looked up and some ominous, dark clouds started rolling in.  I hoped I would bypass them.  Within a couple minutes I felt like I was in the eye of the storm.  The wind and snow were insane.  I couldn't believe it.  My cute little family was right in the middle of it, cheering me on again.  I asked Adam for mitts because my hands were so frozen.  Funny thing is, my lips were so frozen too.  Adam ran back to the truck and found me a couple kms ahead to give me mitts.

That's also when I met Amanda.  She was my next passing target but when I went to pass she asked if she could run with me, or rather told me she wanted to run with me.  I was ok with that, I just had to change my perception of her from target to buddy.  The last 6 kms of the race she chatted a lot and told me how she had a collapsed bladder from childbirth a few years ago and that this was her first race since then.  She was told she'd need surgery but decided she was going to work hard with physio to get better.  This race was a big deal to her, for those reasons.  She explained that at 15km she was starting to get really discouraged and was going to call her brother who lived nearby to pick her up.  Then I came along and in her words, "my feelings of isolation disappeared because of you."  Amanda is a high school teacher and has been teaching her class this week about the importance of connections with others.  I felt that the blessing of helping Amanda was God's plan for me in this race.  I would have never suspected that outcome.

Amanda and I suffered through that storm together and it was so insane.  We couldn't see the markings on the sidewalk for the course anymore and since we were following the guy with the blue shirt in front of us, we ended up crossing down the wrong bridge until we realized we were off course.  We found our way with Adam's help.  Honestly Adam was such a big help that race.  He went and bought me some gatorade when I realized they were only offering water on course.  Him and the kids found spots to cheer me on all along the course.  Adam said the kids got so into it, high fiving all the runners.  Amanda commented on how cool it was that they were there and that I was such a great example to my kids of being healthy and doing hard things.

My left knee started throbbing beyond my ability to run with only 1 km left.  I told Amanda I needed to stretch and she said, "that's great, I'll stop and have a drink."  Wow, were my quads and hamstrings ever tight.  I was able to run again after a quick stretch though.  As we neared the finish line my kids ran up to me and Riley said, "I want to run to the finish line with you,"  Of course Kyla said, "me too."  And Adam joined in too.  That was special.  I've never run through the finish line with my kids and husband before.  The time clock said 2 hours 12 seconds.  I gave Amanda a big hug and told her how proud I was of her.

(Right before the finish line.  Amanda ran ahead so I could stop and run through the finish line with my family)

Unexpected Hypothermia

Well, I hadn't planned to race but I couldn't turn down the opportunity either.

A friend of mine at the gym hurt her back and asked if I wanted to take her registration for the HYPOTHERMIC HALF MARATHON this Saturday.  I debated for a couple weeks about whether to do it or not, then finally decided, why not??  Actually the truth is that I asked Adam if he wanted to race it and he said, "sure."  Then I thought about that scenario, got jealous and came back to him saying, "actually, do you mind if I race it instead?"  He laughed and responded again with, "sure."  He didn't really care either way because he's focused on triathlon training and preparing to podium this year at Magrath.

So, in five short days I'll be doing this:

Good thing the race banner reminds us that it's only 50% as cold as it could be, because I would hate to see 100%.  Folks, running in the cold is not pretty.  (Photos from last year's race).

There's a reason I did my marathon on a treadmill.  I've had the frozen eyelashes, frozen snot, frozen feet....On my last long run in the cold, my neckwarmer got wet from my breathing and then it froze.  So, I ran two hours with a bouncing block of ice around my neck.  Truth is, I ran outside through several winter seasons but that was before my gym membership.  Now I've became a fair weather runner.  Good news is that it looks like it will be above zero this year, which is fabulous for February in Calgary.  I'm looking forward to having fun with this race.  I'm going to run the majority of the race at a 5:30/km pace and just relax and enjoy myself.  And if I get cold, I'll just close my eyes and pretend I'm running here:

I ran a marathon.

Yesterday I ran a marathon...on a treadmill.
I'm a little timid to broadcast that because I know it's odd.  Let me explain.

Ironman Cozumel was both a major accomplish and a huge disappointment.  The accomplishment was in the preparation (so many hours of training), the swim and the bike went well and I finished that marathon despite being so, so sick.  The disappointment was that the marathon was much slower than planned and due to my "digestive" problems, I was not able to run the speed that my fitness would have made possible.  After that race I said out loud that I would never do a marathon again but in my head, there was a little voice saying, "you will do that again and you'll do it well next time."  I ignored that little voice in my head for awhile but last summer I decided I was ready to listen to it.

Timing was an issue.

I already had enough races going on in the summer and early fall.  I didn't want to wait too long to do the marathon, so winter made the most sense.  There's no local marathons and I didn't want to travel for this one.  So, I decided I would just do it ON MY OWN.  The treadmill made the most sense because then I could have my water bottles filled with electrolytes and calories.  Not to mention the fact that it's 30 degrees warmer in the gym than it is outside right now (my knees get sore in the cold).

I was nervous this whole week.  I trained for this but I cut my training short because I was getting bored and impatient with building up my times.  My longest training run was just short of 3 hours long.  Adam reassured me saying that whatever I lacked in training, I would make up for in mental toughness.  Ironman training did give me that gift of being able to suffer through loooonnnngg workouts.

At 9AM I took my kids to the gym childcare.  Adam planned to pick them up at noon (on his lunch break) and take them to my parent's house for the rest of the afternoon.  I set up my station next to the treadmill with my water bottles, change of clothes, sweat towels, electrolyte drinks, snacks, extra runners etc.  Yep, it was quite a pile of stuff.

I broke the marathon up into 4 sections in my mind, one hour at a time.  I started at a 5:30/km pace and actually held that pace right through to the end.  Adam put a few movies on his ipod for me to watch.  I hooked it up to the TV on the treadmill and that really helped pass the time.  Of course there was suffering but nothing I couldn't run through.  By the third hour I started feeling somewhat lightheaded and my joints and muscles were achy.  My knee hurt off and on (my IT strap helped with that).  My left hip flexor was sore for the last three hours but it didn't get bad enough to make me walk.  I changed shirts three times and re-applied vaseline to any potential chaffing areas (think anywhere that clothing rubs).  I remembered from IM having a chaffing line at the top of my shorts that was bad enough that it bled, so I was generous with the vaseline.  I was so grateful for Silvana, who was there to support me by running on the treadmill next to me.  Thanks Silvana!

I finished in 3:50 (time on the treadmill) and 4:25 (total time including time off the treadmill for bathroom and changing clothing/runners).  It was weird to get off the treadmill with my wobbly legs.  The other people at the gym had no idea what I had just done, they probably wondered why I was walking funny though.  No cheering crowds.  I stretched, showered and came home to meet Adam.  He said, "I have something to present you with."  Then he put a medal around my neck and I cried.  I had been battling doubts about whether this marathon "counted" and so that medal meant a lot to me.  Thanks Adam!