3:25:42, I will take it! Considering my last 6 weeks, and especially this past week, I am more than satisfied with this time!! :) Due to bus shortages Ry, Nic (my brother) and I didn't arrive at Central until 6:38 (7 minutes prior to the race starting)!!!! Not much time for anything. I hurried to the wheelchaired athletes to see if my friend Richard decided to go through with the race. No Richard, bummer! But the other wheelchaired athletes looked AWESOME! No time for the POPs. Barely enough time to throw off a layer of clothing and begin to run. CRAZY!!! I knew this was going to be a problem for me, but decided to go with the flow. It wasn't long until Ry, Nic and I became separated in the dark. I did not know how long it would last but I felt amazingly good the first 10K. It was during this time that I was able to run a little bit with Danny, an 11-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who was being pushed by his father. Danny was extremely cool! Those couple of minutes with him and seeing the wheelchair athletes off made me miss the neuro clinic tremendously. My spirit was buoyed. :) Veyo and the hill miles that followed were tough on my calf. Unfortunately my head began pounding and my tummy began having issues as well (likely due to no POP stop before the race). For the very first time during a race since 2006 I had to stop and take care of business at mile 11. I lost about 1 minute and 45 seconds due to my being an amateur at potty stops during a race, but I was still pleased overall how things were going. :) Miles 16-20: Loved the scenery. Somewhere in here I got a hug and kiss from a cute grandpa-looking fella on the sidelines that promised his offerings contained special running powers. :) Miles 21+: Oh no ... calf cramping began. Only a little more than 5 miles to go. C'mon, Teena. Around mile 24 I was in bad bad shape. I'd cramp up really bad while running and so I was start to walk and that would make me cramp up even worse and so I would run/hobble again a bit and the cycle would repeat. I saw Tyler at this time. When he asked if I was okay I wanted to say "H to the no!" But I settled for a "barely." :) Somehow I finished!!! :) BEST part of the race: The volunteers wanted to take me to the med tent because of my severe cramping. I refused because I desperate wanted to see Ry run in. I went over to the side and worked out the most horrific cramps I have ever had. Then the body is a crazy thing. I heard my friend Andrew yell that Ryan was coming. My brain immediately swithced gears and with Andrew's help I was able to hobble over to the finish line and the volunteers allowed me to place the medal on Ry's neck!!! One of my favorite moments EVER!!! He did incredible running a 3:38:12!!! He has since said that he is never going to run again!!! I think time will fix that! Nic came in at 4:18:xx. :) In a nutshell -- I am SUPER happy I ran this race! The weather was absolutely PERFECT!! A HUGE congrats to all my friends who were able to take advantage of it and nail their race plans!!! You all amaze me!!! And now I am very much looking forward to taking the time off I need to really get my right lower leg and left jaw/teeth/face taken care of. Life is good. :) | 
