Lazy blogger as I am, of course it has taken me a couple months to write this post! But here goes....
As I stated in previous posts, I have been training for a half marathon. As the week of April 27th closed in I was starting to get excited, a bit nervous, but mostly in awe of the fact that I had actually paid money to run 13.1 miles (Who does that right?). I left work early Friday the 26th, ran by the house to pick up Spencer and then we headed to Nashville. I had to pick up my packet by 7pm that night so I wanted to make sure I was able to do that! When we finally got to Nashville it was MUCH busier than I thought it would be, but with over 30,000 people signed up for this race I guess the high traffic makes sense! We found a parking garage within walking distance of the Convention Center and paid $15 to park (We only parked for about an hour, Boo!) and headed in to pick up my gear. After we got my bib and t-shirt we meandered around the expo checking out all the nifty running items and picking up some free swag! The expo was great and I found out about a ton of cool running accessories! One of the products I really loved was called Huma Gel. You runners know the importance of refueling during long runs and this stuff does the trick! Most importantly it's ALL natural and it doesn't make you want to gag! You can check them out here http://www.humagel.com/ (Apple Cinnamon is delish!). We tried to quickly be on our way since we still had to drive to my friend Mandi's condo where we were staying to meet up with Mandi and her husband Colby. Once we got there we all decided that we were quite hungry and need to find some grub quickly! Mandi knew exactly what I was thinking to pre-race fuel and suggested we go to Buca di Beppo's Italian Restaurant. I had never been to one of these, but let me tell you I would definitely love to go back! It's family style dishes so one order serves 2-3 people. Mandi and I split spaghetti and meatballs while the boys both ordered their own dish! After we had eaten probably more than we should we headed back to Mandi and Colby's where we chatted a bit before we said our goodnight's.
Race Day: Saturday April 27, 2013
4:30AM: Yes it was early, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to eat, dress, use the facilities if need be, and get to a shuttle by 6AM. I knew it was supposed to rain a bit, but all of the weather reports I read said it would die down around 8:30-9AMish so I dressed in compression shorts with nike shorts over them and my St.Jude's race day tank. I had a lightweight jacket as well that I had planned on taking off about half-way through the race. I ate some peanut butter on a large half of a white bagel and drank some green tea to give me a bit of caffeine as well as some water.
Around 5AM I left Mandi's to head to LP Field to catch my shuttle to the start line (Spencer was still asleep and was getting a ride to the finish line). I had Google mapped the drive and it took about 17 min to get from Mandi's to LP, so I was confident that I would have plenty of time. At this point it was still misting outside as I approached my exit, which turned out to have a lot more traffic than I expected. I ended up sitting in traffic for about 30-45 minutes, causing me to freak that I would miss the bus to the start line. Thankfully I managed to park at LP and make it to a bus with plenty of time to spare. I decided to keep my jacket on and forgo carrying my water belt, I knew there were quite a few water stations intermingled throughout the course so I just took one of the belt bottles and stuck it in my jacket.
When I arrived at the start line, it was PACKED! I knew that there was going to be a ton of people at this race (around 30,000 I believe!) but you don't really imagine all those people in one place until you see it. That's when it began to rain....just a sprinkle at first, then transitioning to a steady drizzle. Slow and Steady as I am, I was back in Corral 27, a long way from the start. So I didn't actually cross the start line until about an hour and 15 minutes had already passed. At this point soaking wet....literally.....every piece of clothing shirt, shoes, socks, underwear was wet from the rain. I had honestly contemplated calling Spencer to come pick me up and take me home, but penny pinching Millie had spent a decent amount of money come down here and by gosh that money was not going to go to waste! BANG, the shot sounded for my corral and I was off. A nice lady kept with me for the first couple of miles and we made some nice conversation, but then she had to stop and tie her shoe so I didn't see her again...Now I will just mention this once (even though it happened several times to me throughout the race) but there was just some point where my eyes welled up and I could just not help crying like a big baby! Not because I was mad or tired or anything like that, solely because I was just so inspired...Double amputees with their prostheses busting their butts to run this race. Moms, Dads, Siblings, Children running with shirts announcing their loved with cancer that they were supporting. To be a part of something that is so important to so many people...just left me in awe (Maybe this was the pregnancy hormones I didn't know I had that caused all the boo-hooing).
I had originally planned to write a much more detailed post then this, lol but the fact that I'm actually getting this one out is a miracle! I finished in 2:47, not under the 2:30 that I wanted, but hey I finished my FIRST Half-Marathon! I also found out a month later that I am pregnant, so I ran/finished a half marathon PREGNANT! Take that running!
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