26.2!!!!

I'm so happy to say I have now done 8 full marathons :) Mankato was definitely a great one and we had so much fun as a family on our lil weekend trip. I was so thankful to have Chris, the girls and my mom and dad there. We enjoyed the expo where both girls got to "race"...

and we staged a few photos on these haystacks and pumpkins...I got my packet...everything but the shirt which is fine by me...it says finisher. I should not get it until I finish. Some races give you your shirt that say finisher before you actually finish it. I also bought myself a headband that says 26.2 and I think will keep my hair back better than anything I have tried before so thats good. Nothing more annoying than your hair in your face or a headband that wont stay on and keeps popping off your head.

 

We ate a quick lunch at the hotel and then headed to Minneopa State Park to do a short hike and find a letterbox. It is a beautiful state park in the fall with all the colors but it was quite cold when we went so we didn't stay too long. The falls would be gorgeous on a different day/time of year too. There was no water at all coming down...so weird. Here are some pics from our fun:

I was hoping to go out to eat for my carbo loading the night before but we checked out a few places and learned everywhere would be 45 min to an hour wait just for a table 

and then it would be even more waiting for food once ordered. SO we realized our best bet would be to order Olive Garden for pick up and eat it at the hotel. We swam while Chris went to pick it up and then we feasted in the lobby. 

The girls had a hard time getting to sleep but eventually did and then I got some sleep too after setting everything out for the morning.

Here I am before the big run:

And here are a few during:

about mile 13

water at 10

finally the end. what a long but fun homestretch!

It was wonderful to see these guys' smiling faces and hear their cheers every few miles after mile 10, which is where I saw them first :) They also supplied me with GU and energy jelly beans :)

DONE! WOO HOO!!

And me with the fam showing off 8!!! 

2 more to go and I have reached my goal of 10 in my life...maybe I will do more but will be so happy when I reach 10. This one was awesome. A lil cool to start but no snow and it was only a real windy cold rain from about mile 14-16. A couple hills but less than I was expecting and plenty of pretty scenery! It was not my fastest, but not my slowest either and I did it just a year after a baby and working mostly fulltime. I don't toot my own horn very often but I am proud of myself for doing this :) I couldn't have done it without the help of Chris and my parents making time to watch the girls so I could go run. I think I would have been closer to 4 hours 30 minutes not 4:38 if I didn't have to pee three times during the run. That was so strange for me. I have never had that happen in any of the previous 7 or on my long training runs. Must have been a little nervous? We had hoped to go to Emma Krumbees on our way home but the weather had different plans. Cold and rainy is not ideal for an apple orchard. We ate at one of Chris' favorite places from when he went to school near Mankato and stopped at a huge candy store near the orchard which sold apples and of course candy but also hundreds of fun kinds of old fashioned bottled pop. I bought some Honeycrisp, fudge, caramel apples and root beer and black cherry pop. Now that I have taken a full week off I think I will try running again tomorrow.