The marathon is complete!  26.2 miles.  7 hrs 57 minutes and 11 seconds.  3,313.1 calories burned.  49,304 steps.  2:55 A.M. - 10:53 A.M.  August 4, 2012.  Hot and muggy.  19 skunk encounters, 0 sprays!

Special Thanks to Alicia, Emma, Claire & Johnny for being my inspiration!  Special thanks to my brother Jack for walking and enduring the entire marathon with me.  Special thanks to my sister Kathy for enduring the second half with me and to my niece Alli for enduring a good portion of the second half.

I am glad it is done and told Alicia afterward that I am done with marathons.  But maybe will attempt another one in cooler weather at some point in the future.

At the end it was so wonderful to see Alicia and the kids with the signs encouraging me to finish.  Alicia was kind enough to bring us route 44 diet Dr. Peppers at the finish line.  She also took care of me with epsom salt soaks for my feet and Advil for my sore legs.

To think of where I was 18 months ago to where I am now is truly amazing.  We pray for miracles and this has been miraculous.  My journey will continue, my walking will continue and God will continue to work wonders!  The marathon is not an ending, it is just a step on the journey.

I would love to hear from others as they begin or continue their journeys!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  I walked about 3.5 miles with Emma & Claire on Thursday, took Friday off and then walked 19 miles on Saturday.  19 miles is a lot!  After 15 miles my legs were getting very  heavy and it was hard.  It is going to be a big challenge to walk 26.2, but I am going to give it by best effort. Special thanks to Kathy and Jack for walking the last 10 of those 19 with me and for also committing to walk half of my marathon with me next week.  I will be needing some encouragement those last miles.  I am really struggling with the heat, it has been so oppressive (110 for the high today).  We all need to pray for cooler weather and rain.  My next post will be after the marathon, so everyone pray for a successful 26.2 miles and if I can make this trek, anybody can truly do anything.  18 months ago it was a struggle to walk up stairs and now I am on the verge of walking 26.2 miles.  Praise the Lord!!!

It has been a great Wednesday!  Today is the 15th anniversary of the blind date with my wife arranged by our mothers.  We ate dinner at Macaroni Grill on our first date and watched the opening night of Air Force One.  Tonight we ate at Bella Luna and my wife has just put in Air Force One.  It has been the best 15 years of my life and I look forward to many more together.  Emma & I walked 3 miles on Monday and 3.5 tonight, part of tonight's in a light rain.  Hope everyone is having a good week, it is hard to believe the week has flown by so quickly.  I am going to try to walk 17 miles on Saturday and then wait until my birthday to do any more long walks.

The weekend is almost done!  I walked 2.5 this morning with my sister and 1.5 this evening with my oldest daughter Emma.  It was warm this morning and hot this evening.  It was a special treat walking with Emma as we don't have much time with just the two of us.  My blisters from yesterdays half marathon were hurting at first, but the pain faded away as Emma and I chatted the walk away.  It was a great walk, hopefully we can have many more.  The forecast for the next 10 days is temps over 100 every day and lows in the upper 70's.  It is easy to be grateful when the weather is good, but hard to be thankful when the weather is like it is.  But I challenge everyone to think of one thing they are grateful for every day and then we won't complain as much about the heat.  Fall will be here before we know it!  Have a great week.

It has been a busy week!  And the heat here is Kansas has been oppressive and is forecast to continue for at least the next week.  Pray for rain and cool weather.  The farmers are really struggling.  I walked this morning with my brother and sister.  My sister had other things going and left after 7.5 miles, my brother said he would do a couple more as I was wanting to walk 10 miles.  As we approached the 10 mile mark he said if we had some gatorade he would think about 13.1 miles (a half marathon).  We saw a store not far from the park and purchased gatorade and cashews and walked 13.1, so I got in a half marathon this morning.  Glory to God!  Next weekend I will walk a 15 mile route and then the big marathon will be just a few weeks away.  Hope everyone is praying the HeartCross prayer regularly.  Stay cool and I will try to post tomorrow.

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!  I started the day off with a 7.5 mile walk.  My back was a little stiff starting out but loosened up and felt fine.  My knee has not hurt for about the last week and a half, so hopefully the marathon will be on, it is just 3 weeks from this coming Thursday.  It is true the weekends fly by; but the weeks have been flying as well and soon (4 weeks from Thursday) the kids will start school.  Fall sounds pretty good right about now.  Have a great upcoming week.

Good Afternoon.  We went to the drive-in last night and saw Ice Age, Brave & Madagascar, it was after 3:00 when we got home and I was up and walking with Kathy at 6:45.  We walked 5 miles and it was getting hot by the time we finished.  My okra is starting to flourish in the hot weather and have been picking a few everyday.  Hope Everyone has a great weekend!  Off to go do some yard work.