Tom and I were lucky to have a place to stay at my brother's apartment just around the corner from the bus pick up and finish line! Thanks for the cheap hotel Shane! Unfortunately I didn't have a very good night's rest but I woke up well and ready to go. Tom walked me to my bus and then he headed over to his for the 1/2 marathon. Our bus started down the road like all the other buses but then turned the wrong way to go up the canyon. Of course everyone started yelling at him that he was going the wrong way. He said...."I'm out of gas." WHAT? We couldn't believe it! We stopped at Maverik while he put $125.00 worth of gas and went in for a drink and a snack! Everyone was laughing and taking pics of him filling up! It was kind of funny! When we got to the top he couldn't let us out for awhile because of some buses ahead of us so he wouldn't open the door. Everyone was needing POPs and some were getting rather cranky and rude. One guy went up to the front of the bus and was denied an open door so he marched very rudely to the back of the bus and opened the emergency exit and got out. We were finally let out and got into the POP lines that were quite long. It was already 6:30. We were all hoping we would make it to the start line on time. Funny moment in line with my new bus friend, Candy, and the older gentleman behind her who saw her shivering while she was trying to apply body glide. He mis-saw what was going on and there was an embarrassing moment for him following. So far we already had fun memories of this marathon and we hadn't even made it to the start line yet! As soon as I was out of the POP I was able to throw my bag on the U Haul and get in line for the start. My plan was to take a 20-40 second walk break at the beginning of each mile or at the water stop closest to that. I am running UVM in three weeks and have never done more than one marathon a year so I need to play it kind of safe. I was able to follow my plan pretty good. I assumed with this plan I would probably come in around 4:20-4:30. I didn't really watch my Garmin I mostly just made sure I was feeling pretty good at all times. The last few miles still felt harder than I wanted them to though. It was fun to run into the finish line with Tom and Shane in the stands cheering for me! Tom had finished his 1/2 and been back to Shane's house for a shower. Now, to make sure I do things right the next 3 weeks to be able to have fun at UVM. | 
