So the marathon's over, but my fund raising (and training) is not, so I'm going to keep up the blog for another couple of months. I went to the podiatrist yesterday to investigate this top of foot pain, and it turns out I don't have a stress fracture. Hooray! I was really glad to hear that since I'd really like to redeem my less than ideal time from Helsinki, and to stop the pain. As it turns out, my first metatarsals in each foot are not in line with the others and are, in fact, quite elevated. Evidently this means that the joint-bone-thing in the middle of my foot smashes against itself a lot more than it should. The doctor wasn't really sure why I was having so many issues with my right foot, but the constant irritation kept swelling it up and making it worse each time I ran. I have suspision that the reason my right foot is worse off is because that leg is shorter, but who knows. Anyway, rather than making me an expensive orthotic right off the bat, he made me a little temporary sleeve to wear while running that puts a pad underneath the rest of the metatarsals and "lifts" them to be in line with the first. I thought this was very nice and un-doctor-like of him. Most doctors, in my experience, would go for the expensive thing right off the bat without knowing if it works. Work, it does, however, because right away I could tell the difference standing on it. I'll have to test it out while running next week and then visit the doctor again to discuss results, but I'm pretty happy about it so far. If it does work I'll eventually have to invest in some orthotics, but I'll be happy if I can run without thinking my foot is cracking in half.

5 hours and 2 or so minutes after the start, I finished the marathon. It really wasn't an ideal time (as I was shooting to finish in about 4:30 or so), but considering the circumstances I was just happy to finish at all. Much of our group finished very well, even recording personal bests. Others were in my camp, and a few didn't finish at all for various reasons, but I think we all had some masochistic version of "fun" on the course. Dan Pfarr from Bolder Options was my running buddy since we were shooting for around the same time, and for the first half of the race we were both doing pretty well. My lungs were alright, the top of my foot hurt a little but it wasn't slowing me down, Dan's cold was bothersome but not a terrible hindrance, and we were on pace for about a 4:34. I even sang a little of "Livin' on a Prayer" at mile 13 (21.1 KM). Shortly thereafter, however, we both started to feel some pain. Eventually Dan was feeling so crappy that he told me to go ahead because he wasn't sure he'd make it, and unfortunately he didn't. I learned at the end that he was taken off the course in an ambulance because he wound up puking his brains out in some bushes. It was sad. What was also sad was that I had no more running buddy to drag me along. I, too, puked a couple of times, but that's sort of normal for me. I think the second time I puked, though, was just a response to the intense pain in the top of my right foot. I'd been having pain there for the last couple of long runs, but by about 30 KM it really started to get bad. Cobblestones and downhills were my enemy, as these only intensified the pain. I wasn't about to not finish, though, so I did a run/walk/hobble combination for much of the end of the race. I was feeling pretty crappy at the end and was walking, but then Chris Hawkey (the DJ from KFAN) and Jill, teammates of mine, came up behind me and dragged me along with them. We had less than a 1K to go, and we booked it into the stadium and to the finish line. My picture at the finish line is probably pretty awesome, as I'm smiling hugely because finally the race was fun again. I even did a little (very painful) bell kick after I crossed the line. So that was fun. We're all barely walking now, which should be amusing since most of us are going into Helsinki today to tour about. I hope my foot doesn't break, though I have a sneaking suspicion that it already has. I definitely will be visiting the podiatrist when I return. Now it's time I shower and get ready for the day in Helsinki. Like I said, I'm really glad to be done. I'm going to have to check on the status of my foot before thinking about Twin Cities... but we'll see if maybe I'll be able to run and shoot for a better time. Again, I promise to post more pictures soon/eventually, but as it's my last full day in Finland, I'm out to enjoy it.

So I found an adapter that's allowing me to use my computer for more than a couple of minutes and I'll post a few photos from the trip so far. It's 10PM Finland time and the race is tomorrow, but we don't run until 3PM so I'm trying to stay awake for a while so I don't wake up early tomorrow and have to wait all day. I'm trying not to think about the 26 miles right now, but I'm still pretty excited to run.Now, photos:

So my computer's about to die because I don't have a power adapter that doesn't try to set on fire when I plug it in, but I'm here and having fun. I hope to post some photos once I get them off my camera and can charge this crazy machine, but in the mean time our bolder blog should have some stuff up soon. Check over there at: bolderoptions.blogpot.com. More soon!

The moment is (almost) here! Tomorrow afternoon I'll be at the airport waiting to take off for Helsinki, via Reykjavik. I've been frantically trying to get things in order. Since I've never traveled abroad before I'm a bit at a loss, but provided I don't forget my passport or running shoes, I think I'll be okay. I'm planning on bringing my computer, so provided there's cheap/free wi fi in Helsinki, I'll be updating/posting photos throughout the next week. Feel free to pass on the URL to friends if you think they're interested in hearing about the trip. I'm still $1300 short of reaching my fund raising goal, but I'm going to keep pleading for money after the race. These are certainly not ideal circumstances, but I'll live with them. Now it's back to packing/predicting what I might need when I'm halfway across the globe. Tähän me sisu! (Here we go!)

I enjoy the Irish Fair in St. Paul, so when I found out that they now host a 5K run, I signed up. 5K's are normally good for "free" (post registration fee) T shirts, but this race also came with free beer. Hooray! Here's me after the race with my free beer at 10am.

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. Things seem to be going decently with training. I haven't been running nearly as much during the week as I should, but I manage to do all the long runs on the weekends just fine so I'm not worried. I've already decided that I don't care about time for this one... especially because Twin Cities is just around the bend. I had planned to do my 20 miler 2 weeks ago and ran about 14 before my asthma got the best of me and I had to stop. As it turned out, the air quality was terrible that day so it made sense that I was having problems. I was a bit disappointed but the 14 miles I put in this past weekend felt really good so I think I'll be okay. I'm going to do the 20 on Sunday now, I think, so hopefully that goes well.