It was the worst of times ..... it was the best of times ..... Worst: Last minute route change do to flooding issues. The new route consisted of many hills .... big hills. I found that what goes up doesn't necessarily come down. The cold rain started right as we went out to line up for the start. The wind was a bit of an issue, but not as bad as I had anticipated. Best: Running with my neice. She just moved up from Florida and has only been running for about a year. Her first half marathon was at the Disney Princess run in March - so this was her longest distance. This is as close as I'll ever get to running with a family member and she is like a daughter. I found that my neice and I make great running partners and we stuck together through most of it. The first 9 miles we were averaging around a 10 m/m pace and considering the ever lasting hills, I was tickled that I could keep up, but knew the wheels would probably fall off eventually. Into mile 10, I had to walk to drink water and take a couple of "S" caps. Well, once I walked, that was it. My neice continued on and I was happy for her .... Mile 11 was an 11 minute mile (appropriate) but then Mile 12 I manged a 9:52. Maybe that was the down hill portion I had been looking for. All in all I finished with a 2:42:37 which is about almost exactly 5 minutes slower than last year, but that is okay considering the course change. Oh! I did beat a wheel chair participant .... not sure that is something to be proud of, but it does give testiment to the hard course. Afterward we stopped and had a nice cold beer or two with a burger and watched the sun come out. Perfect ending! Fashion Report: Black capris with salmon color accents Short sleeve salmon colored shirt Covered up with a rain jacket .... White Visor and Teal/White Mizuno shoes .... which REMINDS me ... On the way to the race my neice is showing me how her shoes are laced to relieve pressure on the top of her foot. I say, Oh, this is how I do it and when I go to show her my right shoe, it is laced normally. ARGH! My daughter, home from college, threw her shoes in my running shoe corner (I had given her an old pair of mine) so I had on a newer shoe on my left foot (100+ miles) and an OLD shoe with who knows how many 100's of miles on my right foot. That was on my mind alot during the race. KIDS! Thanks for reading!!

hopeful, the hills and rain sound nasty. As I have done races with both my kids and with my brother, I can confirm that it's really neat to do a race with a family member. It sounds like you enjoyed the experience. Congratulations. TomS

Nice shoe story Mary You have lots to be proud of! Starting & finishing are the only absolutes everything in-between is subjective. We will always think we could have, should have, might have done better, if only.....Better luck next time. The best news is your newer right shoe didn't get wet Great report

Mary, So sorry I missed you last Saturday but nature called and my grandaughter came into this world and let me know right off where she stands . The choice between running a race and being there was not really even a little bit hard. She won hands down. I am sure you were not looking for anything special with this race concidering the flooding and weather so I am so glad you had a great time with family and friends. Thanks for sharing. Larry

Burger and beer and new running partner. Gotta love that! Nice job.

Mary, congratulations!! I think you did really well. You really are tough, you know? Hills & cold rain for almost 3 hours. Ok, five minutes slower than last year but you had not only the course change & yucky weather, but puppies. Well, Hailey had puppies... but you had to help. Nice job. I love the beer & burgers "while watching the sun come out". . I'm sorry that I couldn't join you. Maybe next year!

One reason I've never driven way over there for that race is that the weather is almost always pretty darn awful. But I'm glad that you were able to run it again and make the distance, especially getting to run with your niece. So what are your next marathon plans? Chicago, maybe?