My first Marathon made for a very memorable experience.  It was the Philly Marathon.  My goal was to finish, with a smile on my face.  (and not be last, of course)  I decided to run with a pace group (the 5 hour pace group).  I didn't care about speed, just wanted to finish.  The pace girl's name was "Star" (short for "Starshine").  She was a trip.  This was an easy training run for her; she usually does 50 milers.  While we were running, she had us introducing ourselves and singing happy birthday to people in the group.  She told us funny running stories and how she met her running husband.  By the way, he was also leading a pace group--a Boston qualifier group.  She told us her nickname for him and then had us yell "hi puppy" to him as his group passed us going the other way.  She literally talked for 5 hours straight.  It was like a running party (without the alcohol). 
     My initial plan was to start out with the pace group, then eventually go ahead.  I found myself slowing down to hear her talk, she was so entertaining.At one point, I needed to find a port-a-potty.  Although I found one with a short line, I still waited 7 minutes.  I watched as the pace groups passed me by.  Luckily I was able to sprint 2 miles to catch back up with the group.  The last 6 miles were the most difficult; everything was hurting.  I know I would have stopped and walked if it wasn't for Star.  She distracted us by having us focus on a particular thing for each mile left.  It really helped.  Finally, with the finish line in site, my 9 y.o. son jumped onto the course and ran the last bit in with me.  It was such a great experience.  I finished in 4:58, and was happy with my time.  Even though the following year I took a half-hour off my time, it wasn't nearly as fun as the first time.

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