I never did finish my marathon story!!
One year ago today I did finish the St George Marathon. My time was 6:53.
That was 68 minutes slower than i was aiming for. Calve cramps plagued me after mile 8.
 Calve cramps were so severe by mile 16 that i pretty much walked the rest of the way, only 'jogging' when i came to a downhill.
I traveled along with a mother/son combo for  a number of miles, and that was alot of fun!!
When i got to the timed cutoff at mile 23 i was 40 minutes behind my predicted time. It was here that an
older gentleman was commenting how tired and dizzy he was and did not know if he could make it the rest of the way. I offered to walk with him and get him through to the finish line, since my time really did not matter any more.
We walked and talked about life and our adventures for the remaining 3.1 miles, taking out time.
He was a senator from Wyoming, and had a lot of stories to share. It was a wonderful 63 minutes and a great way to finish.
At the finish line, i was overwhelmed to see that a few members of my family had driven down to be there at the finish for me. My son brought his daughter, and she walked across the finish line with me.
Yes, 'walked' because i could not run at all at this time.
It was a great time, and i wouldn't trade finishing a marathon for anything, even with a very poor time.

I realized as i went to my car later that it was 80 degrees and i did not have a drop of sweat on me.
Obviously lack of fluids contributed to my muscle cramping!

After this marathon, i finished a 5k, five days later on my 55th birthday!
Then in January of 2013 a friend and i went to Disneyland and ran the Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon -
yes, in tutu's! That was a lot of fun! Going over at 4:30 am with 15,000 other people, and at least 7,000 of them wearing tutus!!! A great time! But my knee was in alot of pain on this adventure.

In March of 2013, i 'ran' the Phoenix 1/2 marathon - mostly waking due to increased knee pain.
That will probably be my last race.
A doctor appointment confirmed, i do not have any cartilage left in my right knee, and i need a total knee replacement. That is scheduled for january 2014.
In the meantime, i am becoming a cyclist! I have my first event in 2 weeks, so i will try to edit the title of my blog to indicate this.