Well, marathon #3 is in the books- and marked as the best one yet!

On October 2nd, I participated in my third full marathon.  It was the Twin Cities Marathon- the same race that marked marathon #1 last October!  This was all around a great weekend in Minnesota.  Saturday consisted of my wedding shower- which was filled with family, friends and good food!  John's mom, my future mother-in-law even made the trip all the way from Kansas!  I also had a good friend fly in from Austin, TX who was also running the race.

On Saturday afternoon, we attended the TCM expo, and I got to meet Hal Higdon!  For those of you who don't know who that is- he is a running legend.  If you plan to train for any race- his training plans will be among the best you discover.  We had dinner and plenty of drinks (water and Pedialite!) on Saturday evening at my brother and sister-in-law's house- like last year, my sister-in-law, Amy ran the race with me.  We watched three quarters of the Wisconsin vs. Nebraska football game- after which time I felt comfortable that the Badgers had a win and could go to slee.

Sunday was picture perfect.  It was pleasantly chilly in the morning- and we all (my friend Rachel, Amy and myself) dressed in bright neon pink gear and headed toward the Metradome in downtown Minneapolis- the locale of the race start.  Things could not have gone better for this race- and it ALL started at the beginning.  I convinced myself that I was going to only have positive thoughts- and literally, that held me together.

This race was FAST compared to the past two.  I concentrated on my running, the crowd, the atmosphere and just had fun.  Instead of the mindset- "ONLY 10 miles in?! STILL 10 miles left?!" my mindset was positive- "ALREADY half done!! ONLY 10 miles left!"  I also cheered for the Badgers with every Wisconsin fan I saw. :)

This race ended with Amy and I (both Amy Schmidt, mind you) crossing the finish line at the exact same time- and with a personal record time of 4:08!  Last year- we clocked in at 4:15.  I was very excited- and this race has me more motivated than ever.

Next up- under 4 hours, and then qualifiy for Boston! :)

Here is a link for video at the finishline: http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/videoResults?rid=23874&race=507