4:33:42

Of pain...
Of anger...
Of sweat...
Of tears...
Of glucose in various forms...
Of snot...
Of cheers...
Of little kids holding out their hands for high-fives...
Of intermittent downpours...
Of hills...
Of Dubliners in Halloween costumes...
Of water intake...
Of blisters...
Of counting the miles...
Of watching the pace runner balloons...
Of readjusting my hairband...
Of questioning what the hell I was doing...
Of making pacts with myself to make it to certain targets...
Of wishing for the finish line...
Of determination.

I still can't quite believe I did it. It was an amazing experience that shocked me by showing me just how strong I am mentally and physically. I totally agree with people who say it is a mental achievement, because though various parts of my body ached at various times in the race, it was mental fortitude that kept me moving. I just knew that if I did stop, I wouldn't start again and I had to make it to the end. Unfortunately The Irishman suffered a cramp in his calf that really slowed him down, and he urged me to go on without him; this was the scariest part as I hadn't ever run that far on my own. But I found it in me to just keep running and even found some sort of latent energy (I credit my larger than normal butt for holding this reservoir) to actually speed up at the end. I sprinted across the finish line in some sort of ethereal state of contentedness, despite being soaked to the bone, satisfied that I had given it my best.

Last night, after warming up with a cup of tea and a bath, I still felt that calm sort of invincibility. Today, my knees and legs feel like they've aged about 35 years in 24 hours and my arms have an odd soreness in the triceps from me pumping them to keep momentum. The slight cold i had earlier in the weekend has firmly taken root in my chest, leaving me sniffling incessantly. But I still feel amazing. I assume this is what childbirth is like - intense pain for an extended period of time that results in you feeling so powerful that you forget just what the pain was like. In any case, I'm hoping the euphoria lasts a bit longer so that I can kick this cold and enjoy the feeling of being part of 1% of the world's population: a marathon runner.