I did it! I completed 26.2 miles! Some of it was not pretty, but it is finished and in the record books! It was somewhere between mile 20 and 26 (they all sort of blend together in my memory) that I saw someone standing in the crowd with a sign that read, "Hey Stranger! I'm proud of you!" It almost stopped me dead in my tracks.

Before an event like a marathon, there are people who tell you that "you can do it.” After the event I received a lot of "I knew you could do it." But really, I need what we all need. I want someone to be proud of me and say it out loud.

Conquering the 38th Marine Corps Marathon in October was a big deal. There were the miles! Did I mention there were 26? There was the crowd. Did I mention there were 36,000 runners? There was the .2 to the finish line. Did I mention it was uphill? Only Marines would figure out how to make that happen!

Then somewhere between mile 20 and 26, there she was. The young girl in me who wanted to be a runner like her dad and older brother, but she couldn't even run a mile. This girl who had been looking for a way to avenge a defeat that happened many, many years ago is going to complete not just one but 26.2 miles, but no one was there to see it. My family was at home. I was running alone.

Then I saw the sign, "Hey Stranger! I'm proud of you!" In my mind, it might as well have said, "Hey Sarah! I'm proud of you!" In the middle of this race - that seemed never-ending to this first-time marathoner - someone was proud of me. I could feel myself let go of that little girl who couldn't run a mile, but when she passed the mile 26 marker and saw the uphill climb to the finish, she got scared.

Lucky for me, the team trainer for Team Fisher House, Stacy, was at the bottom of that hill, and as long as I live, I will never forget what she did for me. I don't know why she chose me (maybe it was the pain in my face), but she ran that last hill with me. In all honesty, I don't remember what she said. What I remember is that she looked into my eyes and kept me focused. She kept talking until we reached the top of the hill, and she said, "You've got this!"

I looked and there was the finish line! I tell you, sweet friends, I broke into a sprint and crossed the finish line! It was over! Just like that, 5 hours and 30 minutes had passed. Now, it was time to get back to my life and I had to be home the next day before the school bus came.

There, I am a part-time library clerk. I work five days per week from noon to 4 p.m. I chose this job because it was, and is, perfect for my training schedule. However, I haven't worked anywhere except in my home in 10 years and I haven't punched a time clock in (gulp) 20 years.

My job is not overly stressful nor is it physically demanding. What my job can be is very chaotic. In the afternoons, the kindergarten classes may come through our library together as a class or as just a few kids at a time. We also have first and second graders who filter in and out all afternoon. That being said, after about the eighth iteration of "Mrs. Young, I can't find a book" or "I need an AR book that is exactly a 2.5," I can't even deal with my own kids. But my want to help our family get out of our small amount of debt and do something that helps my kids' school is greater than my need for spare time.

I had no idea what working four hours every day would do to my life, and as I begin my third month of employment, I confess that I still have trouble getting everything else in my life done. The two older kids ride home with me in the afternoons and we usually just get home in time to meet the third one's bus. On Mondays and Tuesdays we have activities beginning at 6 p.m. so it is a given that those are "chicken nugget" nights. You know those nights. I know you do!

But what I didn't count on with this job was the level of sheer exhaustion that comes with most days. It is difficult to get motivated to prepare a healthy meal and help the kids get homework done, but this is where I need to "suck it up" and remember my training.

I completed most of my training runs alone, and in those moments of frustration, impatience and lack of any will to go on, I learned to talk myself "off the ledge.” I have to remember to hold myself accountable to being a mother first and an employee second. I have to remember to let go of work frustrations and to give my family the best of me even at five o'clock in the afternoon!

It’s another run uphill. And, I got this!

Be your own inspiration … SBY