NWM: The Tiffany's Celebration

Once I crossed the finish line, cameras were flashing and hot firemen were standing w/ platinum trays of Tiffany boxes piled high. It was a true Goddess moment! I tried to find the hottest firemen to hand me my Tiffany box, but ended up taking it from a short and older one. I felt bad b/c no one wanted to take the box from him. At this point, it really didn’t matter b/c I was an official marathoner and I felt on top of the world! As promised, I wanted to wait for my sister Tina and friend Huong at the finish line. I figured they shouldn’t be too far behind, so I waited … and waited … made small talk w/ a hot fireman … waited some more … stretched out … and FINALLY Huong crossed! Shortly after, my sister Tina crossed and the embrace we had at the finish line brought us to tears! Le Sister moment!

From the point Tina crossed to when we got our bags, it started pouring rain! The post run celebration at the finish line was shortly lived b/c I just wanted to get out of the cold. My brother-in-law was a true trooper and brought the car to us instead of having us walk an extra mile at a snail's pace. Once in the car it was nice and toasty! During the drive back to the hotel the sun decided to come out. The moment I tried to get out of the car at the hotel, the tears of joy became tears of shear pain. My entire body radiated w/ the pains of just completing a full marathon. We slowly crawled up to our hotel room and opened up our Tiffany boxes together. (Another Le Sister Moment!) This medal will be one that I can actually wear around instead of having it gather dust in a box under my bed. Everywhere I went that night and following day, women were wearing their shiny sterling silver Tiffany’s necklace w/ pride … including me!

This picture was worth every mile! Ha!

The remaining part of the race day was dedicated to R&R, hydration, Advil, and FOOD!!!! My metabolism was on high speed after the marathon and I ate FULL meals every few hours. The day after, my legs moved very slowly (kinda like I was walking constipated! ha!) but the pain was a good accomplishing kinda pain! Now that I’m home and well rested, I plan to take the next few weeks easy. Maybe some elliptical cardio and yoga to allow my body to recover? One thing for sure, I’m not done running and my first marathon only inspired me to keep on running!