my knee's fine!!! I finished!

well Sandy, I took your advice (and a lot of others) and decided the actual knee itself was fine. I finished in 4:54 (shaved a WHOLE minute off of last year!) and felt great the entire run. My goal this year was to 1. finish feeling strong 2. to never feel as if "I don't think I can do this" and 3. to simply have a positive overall experience. I accomplished all three. And the knee was a NON ISSUE. The weather started out PERFECT. 12 degrees, cloudy and a bit of wind, not enough to affect us. But around the half way mark the drizzle started, which was kind of nice because we were a bit warm.....just warm....and then around the 30K mark, or maybe sooner, it started RAINING. Not a torrential downpour but raining hard. And we soon were very wet, and cold! So the last 10 k was not so pleasant, simply because of the cold and rain. But physically I had my best marathon (I've only done 2). The differences between this year and last were 1. I did yoga faithfully this year 2. I did the 10 min. run/1 min walk program and 3. I ate better. I think all of that in addition to the weather made for a much more enjoyable day. Last year I planned on running the whole thing and had to stop and walk at around the 30K mark and felt like I had really let myself down because I didn't fulfill my goal. but this year my goal was different and I felt awesome.

BEST PART OF MY WHOLE DAY???? Just past 24 Sussex Dr. there was this very familiar looking face at the end of his driveway shaking all of the runners hands....it was Jean Chretien! I know it may sound really silly but to be almost 1/3 of the way through a marathon and see the former Prime Minister at the end of his driveway just like all of his other neighbours was really, really neat. It gave everyone a real boost, whether you like him or not! and let me tell you, you haven't seen nice homes until you've seen the homes in THAT neighbourhood!!! That's one advantage Ottawa has over other cities...you don't get to run by the P.M.s residence, the ex-P.M.'s residence, the Governor General's House, the Opposition Leaders house, the Royal Mint, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and the R.C.M.P. stables. I just love seeing all that stuff. But next year we may try London, for a change.....just a bit longer of a drive and beautiful scenery too, and a bit smaller #'s and really a lot closer to my hometown, so for once maybe I can have a cheering section just like everyone else!!!