The Cowtown Marathon

I finished!!! The marathon, that is. It was only my second full marathon. That is 26.2 miles for those of you that are counting. "How was it?" you might ask. To which I would respond, "It was long." Moma and Daddy came and cheered me on. Between mile 15 and the end, they caught up with me seven times! Daddy even ran/walked with me for a mile or so. Here are some of my favorite things about the run:

-I listened to four sermons on my iPod before mile 14. Three from The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX, and one from Simi Valley Church in California. Then I switched over to my running mix of music. Soon after, my iPod controls froze up and I couldn't change the volume or anything. Fortunately, I had a four hour mix on there, so I didn't need to use them. Just think of how long the race would have been if the controls had frozen up before I switched over to the music mix and I was just listening to silence!

-There were over a half-dozen people just around me dressed up as cows

-Just before mile 15, a family was in their front yard and they had put up an archway of balloons. Two of the kids were holding a long balloon across it so every runner could "cross the tape" first. It was fun.

-Just after that, I was walking for a bit and ended up walking along with a lady who was tired. It was her first marathon and she had decided to walk the rest (11.2 miles!). I told her to keep going because she'll be so happy that she can say she finished a marathon.

-Around mile 16, someone was in their front yard with jelly beans, which I grabbed a handful of.

-My dad decided to come run with me around mile 20, but he didn't decide until Ihad already passed them up, so he ended up chasing me for about a quarter mile. While he was running after me, he was hollering at me, but I couldn't hear him because my iPod was so loud since I couldn't adjust the volume. While he was chasing me, his phone fell out of the holster. Another runner on the course picked it up and brought it to him as he was catching up to me.

-At mile 20, a group was out with bananas, oranges, and Snickers! So good!

-At about 25.2 miles, one of my favorite songs came on just in time to run in for the finish. It was "Sing, Sing, Sing" by Chris Tomlin.

-At about 25.9 miles, a guy ran up next to me and said, "I've been chasing you for the last three miles and that's all that's kept me going, so don't let up now." It was his first marathon and he was really hurting, so I got to encourage him for the last push. Right after he came up beside me, the battery on my iPod went out...perfect timing for me to talk him to the finish line! As we got around the last corner, I told him, "See all those people? They are going to be cheering for you as soon as we get close, so keep going!" After the race, both he and his wife came over to thank me for helping him get through. That was my favorite part.