The Marathon...what a journey

Hi!
So, I am proud to say that I was successful in completing the marathon I have been training for over the last 6 months.
My fiance and I decided to do a marathon together, when we were inspired by a close friend who is running across Canada to raise awareness for Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Jonathan Howard (more info at http://www.runthedream.ca/) is running an average of a marathon a day for about 9 months.
Now, to paint you an accurate picture, I hadn't always been into running. I had always played sports growing up, and throughout my university career, I played varsity basketball, but I truly only engaged in running when I was chasing someone, running after a ball, or running sprints in practice. Never did I think I would be a long distance runner. I didn't think I had the body type, the desire, or the interest.
Well, I tried a couple of half marathons, and I enjoyed the experience, but I never thought I would do a longer race. But when Jonathan told us that he was doing a solo coast to coast run, it truly inspired me. I started to believe that if he could do about 200 marathons in a year, perhaps it was possible that I could do just one.
So the training began...
I talked my fiance into doing it with me, and it was an incredible journey that we went on together. We trained apart during the week (as we live in different cities temporarily) and then we did our long runs on the weekends together.
We were very nervous in the days leading up to the race, which took place in Akron, Ohio. We were facing such an unknown, as the longest distance we had run in training was 22 miles, and this was going to be the full 26.2.
Since this was our first one, we told ourselves we just wanted to finish it, and our time didn't matter. But secretly, my goal was to finish in under 4 hours.
The race began and I felt strong the whole way. I truly felt like I was running, not just jogging, or barely surviving. It was a great feeling.
I finished the race in under 4 hours like I wanted! And my fiance and I have already talked about doing another one together!! The training and the challenges of the race gave us a great opportunity to bond over shared struggles, and taught us a lot about what we think we can and cannot do. Running for 4 hours is certainly something I never thought I would even try and now I am certain I will do it many more times!
But today, I am taking the day off....