After I signed up for the race, I changed jobs and was no longer working with Angela. However we said we would still meet up on the weekends and at least do our long runs together. But shortly after that, she changed jobs as well and her new work schedule was not really conducive to us running together. I was getting pretty worried about having to train for this marathon on my own. Fortunately, I met and became friends with a coworker, Dave, and quickly found out that his wife Kimberly was also going to do the Space Coast marathon AND it was her first full marathon (same thing happened to her with registration) AND she was looking for a training partner AND she was about the same pace as me. It seemed too good to be true but we started running together. Our first few runs went great and soon after that, another coworker joined our running group too. It really worked out great having three people because it meant usually at least two of us could make it and if one person had a bad day/run there were still two others to cheer them up!
We trained for 18 weeks and then at the end of Thanksgiving weekend the race was finally upon us. Kimberly and I had decided to do the entire race together and her sister Lessa was going to run with us also. We started the race feeling good and excited to see our cheer team along the course. The experience was a really great one! We didn't have to walk at all until around Mile 24 and even then it was only very brief periods. My main goal was to just finish and not get injured but my stretch goal was 4:30 (although i'd have been happy with anything under 5hrs). But we made it just in time and finished in 4:29:35! That's about a 10:18 pace so it means that we weren't going super fast but we definitely weren't walking much. I'm not ready to sign up for another full marathon right now but I can't say I'd never do one again. When i was training I thought I'd never do one again but now I can hear that 4hr mark calling my name :) I'm not ready yet...but maybe one day. I'm so grateful for a loving husband who patiently let me arrange our social life around my running schedule and of course all my family and friends who supported me along the way.