7:21:55

Longer than my workday, longer than I sleep and longer than I've ever walked before. I walked for almost 7 and a half hours yesterday.

Where do I start? You better settle in because it'll take a while. I got to the startline at about 6:40. This is about 5 minutes after dropping my pedometer on the sidewalk and turning my ankle trying to pick it up. It looked bad enough for the guys walking behind me to stop and help me up asking if I was okay. Oh my god, how embarrassing. It didn't stop me from walking but it's definitely still sore.

When the gun went off, I was full of emotion. I tried to take it all in and I even got a tear in my eye from the music, cheers and fanfare at the start. I started walking at a pretty good pace that I thought I could keep up for the whole race.

5K: Because the weather warmed up, I dropped the hoodie I was wearing on the road. Apparently charities come by and pick up the clothes left behind by the marathoners.

10K: I hooked up with a runner named Meredith. She's from New York and is an EMT. She's super nice and we toasted our virgin marathoner status with paper cups of Gatorade.

18K: Meredith and I break up. She's feeling sore and tells me to go on without her. I feel bad but I go. I never see her again. I honestly feel like I could walk until tomorrow.

20K: Uh oh, I feel a blister forming under the pad of my right foot. Also my hips feel, well, terrible. Who knew I had such a wiggle in my walk?

21K: You're kidding. Another blister? Same place but on my other foot. And my hips? I don't want to talk about them. But yay... I'm halfway through.

30K: Hello, Heather! Also from New York but she walks marathons all the time. She has one of those backpacks full of water and tricks. She says she 's walking the fastest she ever has. Ummm... anyone else notice that Heather and I are the only ones on the road? Either we're first by at least a kilometre or dead last. I'm so tired I'm actually starting to think it's the first one.

40K: Holy crap. I can't believe we're almost done. I feel like if I stop walking I'll never walk again. There is no one else around. The bands are all gone, the food in the recovery area is all gone, the spectators are all gone (except for my family... yay!) yet Heather and I are still walking.

42.2K: Done! There is still someone there to cut the chip off my shoe and put a medal around my neck. It's heavy. Now that I've stopped walking I never want to walk again. My hips and blisters are singing in three part harmony. I'm so proud that I finished but so disappointed that my body deserted me. I never expected to be sore in the places I was sore. My cardio was fine. I never once felt too tired to finish. But I did feel at around 35K that I'd never ever do this again. Ever.

When I got home my family was so so sweet. They fetched and carried for me. They filled a bucket with salty water to soak my feet. And made me lie on the couch. Good thing because I could barely move my lower half. Scott even cooked dinner of burgers and fries. This morning I couldn't get out of bed. My hips are betraying me, my blisters fell better but my right knee? Well, that's a new one. So I called in sick to work today and it took me this long to haul my carcass to the computer to write this.

So to recap, it was a beautiful walk. But waaaaaay too long. We did pass by lots of Ottawa landmarks that I'd previously driven by. I could probably walk 20K but not 42.2K. Never again. Interesting fact: did you know that marathoners take massive craps on the route? I was shocked that all 3 times I peed there were were huge dumps in the caibos. UGH.

Anyway, I'm proud of myself that I finished, I slept with my medal under my pillow and I'm wearing it right now. I'm eating whatever I want this week and I'm not going to the gym even once. I can't get out of dragonboat practice Wednesday but I can't go today. I can still barely move. I'm going back to my impression on the couch. See you in the morning.

kxx

(Pictures pending... Photobucket and I are having a tiff... but you can check them out on Facebook)