Acknowledgements

I finished. 26.2 miles in 4:58. I'm going to put up a two part race review tonight and tomorrow, but in this entry I wanted to check in so people know that I survived and to thank everyone that's put up with me and helped me while I was training for the 2011 Yuengling Shamrock Marathon.

In no particular order:

Thank you Marie, the coach for the Charm City Spring Marathon Training Group, who gave me an organized plan for my training and then helped adjust it when I hurt my knee.

Thank you Nicole and Laura at Wellspan Rehab and Dr. Bucks at Wellspan Orthopedics. There were definitely challenges during the 2nd half of the marathon, but the IT Band was not one of them.

Thanks to all my friends and family who were encouraging me, throwing out prayer requests, or wishing me well. I really appreciate all the support.

Nick, thanks for making the group runs a lot more fun. I hope to run with you again soon.

Thanks to all the volunteers at the race and the staff of J&A Racing for putting on a great event. Great expo, excellent finisher's gear, and an amazing post race party. Everything about this event except the last six miles of the race was really enjoyable!

Thanks most of all to Chris, who always believed in me when I didn't believe in myself; put up with me complaining about my knee for the last month and a half; was always understanding when I needed to mess up the schedule to find times to squeeze runs in when I needed to make up miles; allowed herself to be dragged six hours each way to Virginia Beach to watch me run; and cheerfully waited for me on the course and took pictures and encouraged me during a cold, windy morning yesterday. The next adventure is hers and I can't wait to be photographer, bag check, and cheerleader.

The band is playing, so that's my cue to stop. Thanks again!

Race reports and pictures coming soon.