She was sick and tired, but she finished 26.2

Here's a quick follow-up with Matthews resident Lorri Elliott, the 52-year-old Carolinas HealthCare System flight nurse who I profiled earlier this month here. She ran her first-ever marathon -- Tobacco Road in Cary, on March 21 -- in a time of 6:31:35.

The bad news? "I was sick and running from one Port-a-potty to the next," she said afterward. The good news? She finished with a smile.

Q. And that was your goal, right?

Yes ... (but) I was disappointed in my time. Despite knowing my first marathon was going to take longer than most, it felt like it took forever to complete. I had to stop at the water stations more than most, but being sick, it just couldn’t be helped. My running buddy Joie Tavener and I had talked about walking if need be, but we didn’t -- we ran the entire race. Running across the finish line, I was really hurting, but I was so grateful to have completed the WHOLE thing, I didn’t have to work at smiling! It was there for everyone to see.

Q. Did the experience live up to your expectations?

Yes and NO. Yes, the trail was great to run on, the volunteers and stations were very friendly and encouraging. No, I didn’t expect to be sick, nor did I think there was going to be a problem with the shuttle -- they did not pick us up at the hotel, so we had to drive and arrived 10 minutes before the marathon. That didn’t help my already upset stomach. I just didn’t let it all get to me. I had trained to run this race and I just felt that no matter what was thrown at me, I was going to do my best to complete the marathon.

Q. Would you do another one?

The first question posed to me after the marathon was what did I think about doing another marathon? My answer was, “I think I would like to do a half instead.” I was sore for about three days and felt very tired for about four days, but now a week out I am thinking that yes, I would like to do another marathon. I think I would like to do a few halves and work back up to the full in order to improve my time. I might even do Tobacco Road again, since the trails are really great to run on. And I have a year to get there, physically and mentally.