It's over! I've officially conquered the Boston Marathon.

So this will be the final post for my blog. I've been waiting for a few photos of my finish to share with everyone. What a crazy adventure this has all been. The weather marathon day couldn't have been better - mid 50s, tail wind, partly sunny. All the havoc I wreaked on myself mentally the days prior to the race did catch up to me a bit and I felt tired, but the energy and the crowds more than made up for it.

My official time was 3:49:49 which I was incredibly happy with - never did I think I could run a sub-four-hour marathon. I've also never thought I could reach such a level of mental toughness. The Boston Marathon was as hard and intense as everyone says it will be. In training for beginners you never really go beyond 20-21 miles, and this is for a reason. The last 5-6 miles are killer and is the time that people usually "hit the wall". Throw in a little Heartbreak Hill and quad-cramping the last mile and you have a triple-whammy. Keeping my legs moving was the biggest feat of "mind over matter" of my life, and I was so proud that I kept going.

It was so wonderful seeing people along the way - Marianne, Erin and Jessica in Ashland, Kara and Alett in Framingham, Gaby at Cleveland Circle, Bryn and Andy at Coolidge Corner and Mal on Hereford Street. What was best of all though was seeing my family at the end in the bleachers. The photo above was taken of me waving at them right before I crossed the finish line. It was just the push I needed to get over that line.

Right after I finished people kept asking me if I would run a marathon again. On marathon day my answer was never again - it was one of the most physically exhausting things I've ever done. However, after waking up the next day, I have to admit the thought begin creeping in mind again, so the jury's still out on that one. Regardless of whether I do or don't, running the Boston Marathon has been a dream of mine for over 10 years and I have to say that it was truly one of the best experiences of my life, one I will never forget. Thank you to all of you that helped make this a reality and that provided so much support throughout this journey. It was nothing short of amazing.

A wonderful pre-marathon message

This week has been a roller coaster of nerves. My cold finally caught up to me, so I don't know that I'll get a qualifying time tomorrow that I got my hopes up for two weeks ago. I'm trying to keep in mind that I have run with a cold several times during my training, so I'm confident I will make it.

My neighbor, Faith, sent me the most wonderful message today that I'm going to try and keep in mind during my run. She said:

"I wish you serenity today and tomorrow. For me, the fantastic part is already evident: you committed to a difficult thing and underwent the training to achieve it"

Pretty great words. This has been a dream of mine for many, many years, and no matter what the outcome, the opportunity has been amazing and the journey has been even better. I've done things I never thought possible and for that I can be very proud.

Here's to a great day tomorrow!

Thanks to all my co-workers!

The support at work this week has been great. My co-worker Bob Potvin got me a delicious cake, baked by our own HR manager Sally Pelrine. Everyone also chipped in to write messages on these red feet that were lining the hallway for me when I arrived on Friday, leading to my office door. Pretty cool!

Keep an eye out for this shirt

My official ARL Boston marathon shirt is in (thanks rescue department!). It's bright red with big letters, so hopefully I will stand out in the crowd of people if you're looking for me. I'm still trying to keep this cold at bay - so far no runny nose, although I woke up with a sore throat this morning. Send good vibes my way!

Can't believe it's less than 1 week away!

I seriously can't believe marathon day is less than 1 week away - it's pretty crazy. I'm spending this last week doing some short runs, trying to rest and sleep as much as I can and trying not to think about the marathon.

I'm also taking Airborne like it's going out of style. My sister and her family came from California to spend the week and to come watch the marathon. It was great to see them and I'm thrilled they're here. However, they all were recovering from colds so here's keeping my fingers crossed that I hopefully dodge that bullet.

Marathon day tracking

This week has been the beginning of the "taper" pre-marathon, and as a result, there isn't much to talk about with my runs because they've been fairly uneventful. However, I did want to tell everyone about the AT&T Athlete Alert Program, which allows people to track the progress of runners throughout the course at the following checkpoints:

• Starting line
• 10K
• Half-Marathon
• 30K
• Finish

The info on how to sign up for this can be found at the following link:

http://registration.baa.org/2010/cf/RegAthleteAlert/pg_AthleteAlert.cfm?mode=preentry&snap=14851595&

You need a bib number to track a runner, so if you're interested, mine is 25709.

My official last long run (and boy was I happy)!

I had my very last really long run before the marathon today - 21 miles total, starting in Boston, running 10 1/2 miles out to Wellesley, and then turning back around. I really hope that I can duplicate this effort in two weeks because I was absolutely thrilled with my time - 2:52:55. If I could keep this pace up on marathon day, I could actually run the marathon with a time that would qualify me for next year's marathon! I'm trying not to get my hopes up and keep in perspective that the goal through all of this was just to finish, but I do have a competitive side to me that is acting up. But anything could happen marathon day - we could have a 25 mph headwind the whole way, or it could be 90 degrees so I have to keep this in mind.

In all though, I'm thrilled that all the big runs are over - I have two weeks of relatively light training and then it is marathon day!