I was in a ton of pain but knew I would finish so I picked up my speed seeing as I would be in pain either way and began passing people. All of a sudden, I felt amazing. I hardly felt the pain and I felt like I was running on air. One more mile to go. I just let it all go. I just ran as fast as I could almost crying as finishing this for Carrie was so important to me. I turned the final corner to run over the bridge across the Clark Fork river into downtown Missoula and gave it everything I had. I saw my family on the bridge encouraging me as I crossed the finish line. When I crossed the finish I looked up and said "I did it Carrie, I did it". I saw my other sister Heidi and the tears fell. Then I saw my mom who had helped me so much and was so happy I was doing this for Carrie. Of course the tears came again. It meant the world to me to do this and I learned so much along the way. Not only did I finish for Carrie but I also proved to myself that a chronic disease did not have to stop me from living my life.
Running a marathon changed me and I am so much stronger for it. I still run almost daily and am part of a running group in my town. I know I will do another marathon someday but for now I am doing ½ marathons or 10ks.
I feel stronger than I ever have and want to keep that going. Next time I will take more honey packets. I hugely underestimated how many I would need. My time was 4:23 which I am very proud of for my first marathon.