Nike 26.2 - JUST DID IT!

Hello my family, my friends, my teammates, my coaches, my mentors, my neighbors, my classmates, my soulmates, my partners, my contributors... Hello Everyone!

I AM DEBBIE!!! FINISHER OF MARATHON!!!

In the next couple of days, I will be posting some really incredible stuff from San Francisco October 24th, 2004. But to begin, let me say that I had a pinnacle experience. I just might have been smiling the whole dang race. The weather, which had been threatening rain and c-c-cold, literally turned out to be perfect - not cold and just slightly overcast enough to shield us from the sun. San Francisco is so beautiful. We started by the Cliff House. We ran with a view of the Golden Gate. We ran by Pier 39 and the Transamerica Pyramid. We ran past the Presidio and the Palace of Fine Arts. We looped through the Avenues and into Golden Gate Park. We trotted past a sleeping Bison Herd and beyond the Dutch Windmill, finishing next to the ocean with sweet salty smell of the ocean propelling us to the finish line.

We got to the starting area about an hour early and I was so excited I could barely contain myself. There were about 10,000 participants. Since my partner Cristy and had plans to begin with a 3 mile walk, we gathered at the back. It took us over 6 minutes from the gun going off until we actually passed through the starting gate. I had a tiny little camera with me and got this picture of us at the exact moment we officially started.

Now, as you all know... I am a certified SPAZ... a fact in which I am proud. At around mile 6, I saw my husband Gert and daughter Alice by the side of the road, camera ready to take an action shot. I was so amped up, I just had to do a little marathon ballet:

Here is a great shot of my finish. This was a chip race We all had a little disk on our shoes which recorded each of our times individually and not by the starting gun, which is the time on the big clock. My actually finish time was 5 hours 36 minutes. I am really happy with that time. Cristy and I decided from the get-go to run a certain plan: 3 miles walking, 7 miles running, then again another 3 mile walk and 7 mile run, with a finish of a last 3 mile walk and 3 mile run. We did this for a couple of reasons. First, this was our 1st marathon... and with 1st marathons, the idea is to finish happy and enjoy the experience. In subsequent races, you can go for time. Also, this being San Francisco, it was hilly... and we felt it was in the best interest of our joints and muscles to switch gears to try to minimize the damage. We ran our plan. Then at mile 23 I felt a real surge of adrenalin. With Cristy's blessing, we parted and I ran a fast 3 miles home. Mile 23 to 24: 10 minute pace. Mile 24 to 25: 9 minute pace. Mile 25 to 26: 8 minute pace and the for the last .2 of the 26.2, I sprinted as fast as I could through the finish gate.

I have so much more to tell you and many more awesome pictures- from the evening before with my team, from my viewpoint during the race with my little camera and from a spectator's viewpoint from the camera of my husband. Also from afterwards in the finishers area. My husband Gert is putting together a whole page which we will try to get out to you this week. But the bottom line is that I had an experience beyond fantastic. And on top of that, with your help I was able to raise over $3000 dollars to aid cancer research. And of top of that, all of the participants in Team in Training who came to this race from chapters all over the country raised in total over - get this - $10 Million Dollars for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I want to say Thank You Team in Training, Thank You San Francisco and Thank You All for your support!

Love, Debbie