I finished the marathon in 5 hours and 22 minutes. Overall I felt good most of the time. At about mile 16 it began to rain and continued on and off for the rest of the race. Other than that I didn't have any major obstacles other than the distance. I never hit the "wall". I also never visited a medical tent -- although maybe I should have as it turned out all my ibuprofen stashed in my pocket disolved in the rain.
It was an incredible experience. The number of people was astounding. Approximately 20,000 runners total between the half and full marathon. About 2,500 of them were running with the Leukemia Team In Training. We left the hotel to go to the staging area at 3:00 a.m. for a start of 6:00 a.m.!! Mickey and Donald started us off. For the first 2 - 3 miles I was just weaving through the pack. Then I hit Epcot. It was still dark and the Epcot sphere was gorgeous. I'd never been to Disneyland, so the parks were incredible. When I hit the 1/2 mile mark I was glad I had commited to the full marathon, because I wasn't ready to quit yet. As I ran people yelled go North Carolina, go Team in Training and go Karen (my name was on my leg in Sharpie)-- the crowd support really kept me going. The parks were fun, but the whole marathon experience was AMAZING. I was not prepared for how emotional it would be -- to set such a difficult goal and succeed. Best of all the Team In Training raised 8.8 MILLION DOLLARS for Leukemia and Lymphoma through participation in this race.

Thanks to each of you for helping me reach this goal and helping the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I can honestly say I don't think I would have had the commitment necessary to do this without your support.

(I'll be adding a few race pictures soon)