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I can finally say that I ran a marathon. This is the second marathon I have completed. The first one I finished in 2005, but I had to start walking about mile 18 because I didn't train properly and give the marathon the respect it deserves. Also, I got really sick about 4 weeks before the marathon, which threw off my training schedule.

That's me with my hands in the air crossing the finish

So, this go around I did it right. My finish time was 5 hours, which isn't awesome, but I kept a pretty consistent pace and I'm proud of myself for running the whole thing. Last time I did the marathon, I started too fast because I got caught up in the excitement of my first marathon and thought I could "bank" minutes, while it made the first half fly by, I found the second half brutal. Today, I stuck to my training pace the whole way and I felt every mile. Nothing was easy. In fact, I finished the last six miles through sheer determination and will power. It felt so good when I crossed the finish line. Not just because I was done running, but because of realization of the accomplishment I had achieved. I ran 26.2 miles and I did it better than Katie Homes!

Thank you to my family who supported me the whole way. They cheered me on at like tons of different mile points. I would run up and give them hugs or high-fives. One time I licked my hand in front of them and then offered high-fives. They made squirmy faces at me, but they still high-fived my hand. :). Most importantly, thank you to my husband, Paul, who supported me all through my training and cheered me on throughout the race.

If anyone is interested, I used this training from Runner's World. I found it to be perfect for what I wanted to do, which was run an entire marathon. Finally, I encourage everyone to run. I think it's the best exercise. I think I lost like 5 pounds while training, which was expected, but wasn't really necessary because anyone who knows me can tell you I'm already fairly thin. What I didn't expect was where I lost the weight. All of a sudden I have these big veins sticking out of my hands and feet. I mean, who knew fat accumulated there?

See, weight loss means gross veiny feet!

On this day we returned home with many great memories. Sayonara!

Photo of woman in curlers on the plane ride back.

Since I don't have many photos of this last day, here are some photos I like that tell the story of my husband, the blonde giant among the little people in asialand.

View all pictures from our trip to Japan.

Today we went to Harajuku and pretended we were Gwen Stefani spying on Japanese’s fashionable teens. A word about Japanese and fashion. Everybody dresses up in Japan. There’s no such thing as casual there, so tourists like us are easy to spot.

Then we went to Kabukiza in the Ginza district to watch one act of the kabuki play Kumagai Jinya (Kumagai’s Camp). It is about a general named Kumagai who must kill the son of a friend to whom he owes a great debt. It was wartime and the son, Atsumori, was on the enemy’s side. Atsumori is also the bastard child of the emperor. This puts Kumagai in a position because it would be wrong to spill blood from royal lineage and it would be dishonorable to kill the son of his friend. So, Kumagai’s commander suggests an alternative to him. Read about the entire play. Paul and I enjoyed it and would recommend Kabukiza to anyone visiting Tokyo. The one-act shows are inexpensive and short. The only thing is that you have to get in line early if you want to catch a seat.

Picture of the outside of Kabukiza

Next we went to Ikebukuro, which has some of the world’s largest department stores. We didn’t stay long because we were afraid of getting lost. We ended the day in Akiba since the day we took the tour there didn’t leave us much time to really shop or take a closer look at things.

Today we went to the Tokyo Game Show!

We took the subway to the Makuhari Messe district to attend the Tokyo Game Show. When we arrived, we followed the massive crowd to the entrance. I’m not sure we could have gone anywhere else, the crowd was like a wave all going in one direction. When we got there the organizers broke the crowd up into chunks in corrals. The waiting line looked long and I think I died a little inside when I saw it. I was worried we would be waiting out in the hot sun for hours, but they moved each group inside quickly. So, it didn’t take too long to get inside, but I did feel a little like cattle as they moved us through.

Once inside we were treated to an explosion of light and sound. The game studios had huge presentation booths. These aren’t your typical expo booths. They’re like mammoth-sized stages with glowing signs and large display screens. And booth babes. Of course we saw booth babes, collected freebie items from them, and took photos with them.

Then there were the games. Paul and I went straight to the Microsoft booth first to get in line to play Halo 3.

We also played Beautiful Katamari, which is my new addiction.

Cosplayer of the Prince and his katamari

The Tokyo Game Show is a lot like Disneyland. The food is expensive. There are people dressed up in costume. And you have to stand in line to play the game. Sometimes the wait is short, sometimes it’s long. Sometimes the line isn’t even for a game, but for a video preview of a game coming out. Don’t ask me why, but those lines were the longest.

Today we did a tour of Tokyo. First, we went to Tokyo Tower, which is an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, except it’s bright orange and it’s taller. I know. The Japanese are crazy. We saw lots of replicas of famous landmarks from other countries.

Next we visited the Asakusa Kannon Temple, a huge temple located in the center of the city. It’s next to Nakamise Street, which is like a huge flea market.

We had lunch there at a kaiten sushi restaurant, where the plates of sushi goes around on a conveyor belt. That was quite cool.

Later in the day we enjoyed a three-hour tour of Akihabara by Goku from Dragonball Z. I don’t watch that show, but our guide was awesome.

Akiba is the famous electronic district where you can find all the latest anime and electronic goods.

We also visited one of the exclusive Maid Cafes where girls dress up in maid costumes and serve drinks and play Japanese versions of “rock, paper, scissors” games with you.

Everyone hears about Japanese vending machines and what you can find in them. We saw vending machines everywhere. In Japan, drinks are cheaper in vending machines than in grocery stores, which is opposite of the market setup in the States. This is an example of a machine with canned udon noodles, which are popular in Akiba.

This is a photo of a very pissed off nurse or nun (I can't tell which). These girls hand out flyers for the maid cafes, enticing people to come and spend their money. You're not allowed to take their photos, but I was sneaky and took this one. Afterwards she glared and turned away from me.