So, yeah, I ran a marathon on Monday.  And it was pretty cool!  VERY, VERY HARD, but cool  :)  Running a marathon definitely isn't for the faint of heart as it's a mind game, or "mind over matter" as my dad used to say.  Fortunately, I felt prepared and the first nine miles were a breeze.  In my training runs, I always struggled around mile ten and twenty, until my second wind kicked in and it was the same during the race, but I had my running group to support me.  It's such an exhilarating experience to run with others and help each other through the race.  The crowd support was pretty awesome, too.  I had taped my "Whit" across my shirt so people could  yell out support and they did!!! It helps so much when you're starting to feel like "I can't make it," and "Oh, is that a Krispy Kreme over there?  Maybe I need to refuel" and to hear people shouting your name and telling you how awesome you are :)  I didn't check the course map before the race beforehand because I didn't want to see exactly how far we were running...I do better to just tell myself on a long run "Hey, we're just going for a run," and I am so glad I didn't because we ran ALL OVER Los Angeles and went through so many different neighborhoods.  In retrospect, it was an awesome way to see the different towns/areas and I was very excited to find a Krispy Kreme because I didn't think they existed out here...but they do!!