I completed the Mayor’s Marathon (26.2 miles) in Anchorage on June 18!! I won’t lie, it was difficult. Mainly because they had uncharacteristically warm weather. My friend Andrea and I started out together with approximately 4400 other runners.

She quickly pulled ahead and finished over an hour before me – way to go Andrea!

I took my time and admired the BEAUTIFUL scenery around me. For those of you who question if there is a God, trust me, only God can make one state so incredibly amazing. The race was a combination of paved roads and sidewalks, as well as tank trails. Here is a picture about 2 miles from the finish.

There were so many people cheering us on throughout the entire race – those words of encouragement helped me get through some tough miles. Luckily I had my biggest supporter, Aaron, there along the way! He would drive to a mile marker and cheer me on, ask if I needed anything, and basically remind me that I could do this!! My biggest inspiration was Cutler. Here is a picture of the back of my running shirt.

So many runners would run by and say, “Go Cutler”!! He was quite the TNT Celebrity.

My goal when I signed up to train for a marathon through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training was to cross the finish line. Done. My stretch goal was to cross the finish line with at least one person behind me 🙂 Done.

Here I am crossing the finish line, and you can also see the BLING Andrea and I received as finishers of the full marathon.

Would I do it all over again? Yes, because I was able to raise funds to help find a cure for blood cancers. Nationally, TNT raised $2.3 Million Dollars through this event! For those of you who donated, THANK YOU!