I did it! I am a marathoner!

Yep, after 16 or so weeks of training, I finally crossed the marathon finish line on Saturday. I woke up pretty nervous, having had a pretty restless sleep the night before. I strained one of my peroneal muscles (lower calf/ankle area) earlier in the week from a run and had been having physio treatment all week on an achy ankle. Still knew I was going to race, but was nervous as to how it would feel for an entire marathon.
I was getting ready in the morning and Bryce came into the lounge with a t-shirt on him, that said "Go Candace Go. You CAN do it". Then a horrible/funny picture of me in the middle of a maple leaf and then underneath it said "The CK You can do it Crew". I was seriously surprised, especially once I re-read the shirt and noticed the "CREW" part. Next thing I know, I am standing around Carl, Denise, Mark, Rachel and Bryce all in the CK CREW t-shirts.

They were an awesome support crew!
So I started the race after waiting in long lineups for the bathroom (as everyone has the "pre-race nervous pees"), and felt great straight through the 5km, and then the 10 km. I saw Bryce and the crew at about 10km and I felt awesome!
I kept moving strong through to the halfway mark, even pacing myself with an older guy who was wearing a marathon club racing shirt so I figured if I stayed at his pace (which I was finding great) then I would be good. I think I got so focused on staying with him I may have drifted a bit close at times and he turned a little and tried to move away from me. Not a chance, sucker!
So I don't know what happened after the 21km (halfway) mark but my tummy stopped feeling good. I was at just over 2 hours running and felt much worse than I normally do after a half marathon. Which was weird, because I thought I had still been "saving myself" for the second half. I had dizziness when I started running again after walking a little bit, I felt nauseaous and just not right. I had been drinking enough water and eating/slurping enough energy drink. SO what was up? I thought maybe I still hadn't had enough food, so I tried sipping on an energy gel that I had had before and loved because it tasted like vanilla icing. Well, maybe creamy energy food, and acidy vanilla icing shouldn't mix......
I pushed on, walking, and saw my CK crew at the 23 km mark, which was a nice turning spot on the back corner of the lake I was running around. I smiled for the cameras and then once I got around the corner and Bryce was with me, I told him how I was feeling. He assured me I just needed to finish the gel I was holding and I probably just needed more food. He was right about needing more food, but the gel wasn't a good idea. I tried to get more in, but instead....I let it ALL out. Yep, I was "that" girl. The runner you see sometimes in race videos where they show the people who struggle through the IRONMAN, or MARATHON who haven't got their food strategy right who are throwing up, bent over on the side of the road. Except, I was a bit stiff, so I was throwing up all straight leggish. It was classy. Bryce even said I had a goob/puke that was coming from my nose right to the ground. (Yep, I even threw up out of my nose). I know some of you don't want specific details but I know I would want to hear that stuff, so for those of you who wanted "the whole story", you're getting it!
So, my face was dripping and I said to Bryce, "I need something to wipe with." He said, "use some of that grass", as he had a nice supporting CK crew shirt on and his hands full of water bottles and food that I had just unloaded onto him. So after cleaning my face off with grass, and Bryce smiling at me and saying, "You're great. You're fine". I continued on my course.
I felt brilliant (or at least as good as one can feel after running a half marathon, walking 3 km and then puking). I didn't feel sick anymore and I was now heading back to the opposite side of the lake, to the FINISH LINE!
The CK CREW really came through on this side of the lake. They leap'frogged me by checking on me and getting my requests: banana halfs, pieces of mandarins (which were a bad idea that they didn't want to give me, but I figured that out as soon as it went in my mouth), flat coke, and yummy electrolyte stuff. They would then jump in the car, fight the traffic of the other supporters' cars and then meet me again further up. They even had cheers planned out, like cheerleader-styles, which were perfected and got better as I got closer to the finish. At times, some of them (including Pam, Andrew and Quentin who had driven over from Tauranga) would run/walk with me to keep my spirits up. I didn't have much trouble in that way. I was mentally ready for the tough battle at the end, and knew that I was going to have to push to get through. Bryce had secretly recorded my parents giving me supportive messages (including songs) and then Bryce put them on my MP3 player so that I had such an awesome surprise at the 33 km mark. I had my friends Rose and Natalie on the MP3 player already and hadn't heard their messages yet, but you can imagine my surprise when all of a sudden my Dad is talking to me and quoting from the story "The Little Engine that Could".
So, with all the support and encouragement, I got across the 42.2 km Rotorua Marathon finish line at about 5 hours and 20 minutes (5:23 I think). Not really any tears, just elation to be finished. Plans for the next marathon? No.
Thanks again to the CK crew. You guys rock!