wind, cold, and a VERY strong desire to finish

WE DID IT!!!!! yes, i think we rock!!!! 13.1 miles in 30 degree weather WITH wind in our face..... quite the accomplishment, for sure. let's start with the morning: janna woke at 5AM, stef at 5:30, myself at 6:15. little boy made a peep about two minutes before my alarm went off. proceed with peanut butter toast, grab bag, head for subway. as i am getting my metrocard out - i hear the train - start the sprint, get through turnstile, run down stairs, through the doors, sit down, sigh of relief as doors close, and we head the wrong direction - ARGH!!!! get out next stop, run to the other side and hope that stef & barb (member of our awesome cheering section) didn't have to miss a train to wait for me. luckily, the next train is only a two minute wait. as with savvy new yorkers, stef & i have coordinated how to get on the same car of the same train as a way of meeting up. funny note, almost everyone on that train (and it was kind of full for 6:45AM) had on running clothes sipping some gatorade. fast forward to hooking up with janna & donna (another member of awesome cheering section) and we scale the shrub to get up to the boardwalk of coney island for the start of the race - yes, prego barb is scaling shrubbery!!!! we run the first two miles on the boardwalk - fun on the beach. now, it is not warm yet (or so we were anticipating) but are enjoying the oceanview. head up ocean parkway for miles 4 - 9 and we never warmed up....bummer!!! at some point all three of us struggled but we stayed together, anticipated those water & gatorade stops, and just pushed through it. right at mile 9 we head into prospect park. mental game of convincing ourselves that we could do it, we knew this route, and it was just another day in the park. wrong! first, there was a point where runners were lapping us just before their finish - that really threw off my game. i was sure that the finish line was way before then. wrong #2 - that hill just about ended us all. thank you debbie for cheering us on right at the half way point of that nasty hill. head into mile 11 and we start to space out. i am hanging on for the downhill part..... saw my cheering section (john & micah plus the evans) right at mile 12. only a mile left and i am alone. i have lost my running partners and the mental game begins. don't push too early, but don't fall back and lose speed cuz then i'll never finish..... to my frustration there are few little inclines left to taunt me but i finish strong with a 10 minute mile!!!! the finish line is in sight - thank the good lord! our cheering section has grown - chancy joined barb & donna plus judy & robin hilkey. you guys rock! i could not have run this race without stef & janna! i am so proud that we finished it and were still able to walk home! FINAL TIME: 2:27:58 (11:17 minute miles); janna was 3 minutes behind me, followed by stef 1 minute later. we rock!!!