I Will NEVER Forget Chicago Marathon Sunday!

Three days later, I am still in pain but I survived the Chicago Marathon!

The man above blessed the 52,000 runners with gorgeous weather Sunday morning. There's no way to ask for better than temps in the low 60s with a breeze and no rain.

I started training on Jan 2nd at 258 pounds and could barely run 2 miles. Nine and a half months later, the day FINALLY came.

My Ole Miss buddy Tyler Torbett flew up from Atlanta to run it too and was a MASSIVE help. Honestly not sure if I could have done it without him.

We started around 8:50am on a crowded flat course. The plan was to jog slow and hold back our energy for miles 15-26.

A bathroom line after 3 miles cost us some time but to be honest this race was not about that. Just finishing it at 42 years old after being 300 pounds 5 years ago was the entire goal.

Around mile 5, I felt some pain to the right of my knee that was an issue the final 21 miles but luckily it was manageable.

I was peaking running through Wrigleyville & Lincoln Park miles 7-12. It was an all out dance party in the streets with unforgettable energy everywhere!

When we hit mile 15, I told Tyler let's just knock out miles 15-20 with no breaks. That was the part of the race that concerned me the most and the quicker it was over the better.

We hit China Town at mile 20 and took a quick break. My longest training run was 20 miles but I NEVER felt this race could not be finished. I said let's sack up for this last 10k for the rest of our lives!

Stopping became a huge problem as the race wore on because my right knee was locking up. It would take 5-10 minutes for me to get running again after a break. So I decided the hell with it and told him at mile 22 no more stops!

As we hit the final curve on mile 26 I tried to gas it but my dumbass did not realize we still were 800 meters from the finish line?!?!?!? Standard Mintzy error.

I recovered then dead sprinted the final 200 meters to the end and crossed the finish line in 5 hours & 40 minutes!

The feeling after finishing was one of the best I have ever felt. There are so many people in my life who could not believe I was capable of running a marathon with my past. And I live to prove 'em all wrong!

Big Cat sent me a congratulatory text and sent a super nice tweet about it too which was heartwarming.

We ended up raising almost $13,000 for PAWS Chicago too! Thank you so much to everyone who donated ESP my hometown people from Monroe, Louisiana who went all out for me.

There is no sugar coating it. This is an accomplishment to be proud of for the rest of my life!

But the journey is FAR from done. I have a history of losing weight building for a race then spiraling after putting weight back on. That will not be happening this time!

Thanks to our partners at Planet Fitness, the weight lifting chapter began yesterday. It is time to get some muscle mass on me!