We Did It!

Here we are! That's me on the left, and my running buddy, Erin, after the Country Music Half Marathon yesterday. I finally have a moment to tell you about yesterday's race ...

First, we did it!! We finished the whole thing, and we RAN the whole way. That was really our goal - to run the whole way. Our chip time was 2:26:28, and we averaged an 11:11-minute mile. Not too bad, especially when you consider the HILLS on this course. We didn't really train for hills, and we didn't realize how many sneaky, long uphill climbs Nashville has downtown and in the surrounding area. I never noticed all those hills while cruising along in a car. But it didn't phase us too much - just slowed us down a little, I think.

About the text messages/race tracking. It worked OK, but they didn't send out a text when we finished - the most important part! So my family wondered if I had disappeared after mile 10. Oh well - new technology.

Anyway, we had a pacer in our corral, and she was running a 2:30 pace. She held up a sign the whole time so people could follow her. We were saying to each other, "Man, it would be so great if we could stay with her," but we just pushed that out of our heads because we didn't want to get started too fast and kill ourselves. Turns out that we ran ahead of her most of the race, but she passed us near the end. We still finished in less than 2:30, though, so we were completely happy with that.

So here's the rundown, in detail:

First, I got in bed late the night before because our 5-year-old had the Country Music Kids' Marathon Friday night. That was really fun, but it wasn't exactly a relaxing evening. We finally got the kids in bed around 9 (the kindergartners didn't run their 1/2 mile until 7:15 p.m. - what is up with that?) Anyway, I probably got in bed around 10:30 after setting out all my clothes, shoes, socks, rain jacket, hat, etc. I also had to figure out how the chip fastened on my shoes, etc., and pack my little gear bag, which I had to check at the starting line and pick up after the race.

Then ... our 5-year-old woke up crying with ear pain at 11:30. We gave him some Tylenol and he slept in our bed with us - never a good sleep night when that happens, but he seemed OK (no fever) so I wasn't too worried. So then our 2-year-old woke up around 2 a.m. crying. He's been doing this lately - just a phase. So I dragged myself upstairs to snuggle with him. I woke up around 4:30 in his bed, and of course you might as well just get up at that point. (I'm actually amazed that I didn't contract pink eye or a stomach virus right before the race. That's just how it usually happens around here.)

Took a shower, ate half a bagel, half a banana, drank some water and headed out to catch a ride with my running buddy at 5:30. Drove downtown, got out and joined the hordes of people getting ready for the race. That was really cool, except there were already lines for the Porta-Potties. BUT there was no rain, which was awesome. We just walked around and found our corral and waited for the start. There was an early start because of the predicted weather, and that was good. Weather was actually perfect - 65 degrees, overcast and breezy!

We were in corral 25, so it took awhile for us to get to the front. Then we started out at an easy pace. It was so cool to be part of that whole event. There were tons of people cheering on the side of the road, bands playing, and we were just running down the center of Broadway. Kind of surreal, in a good way.

The weird thing was how crowded it was. I didn't really expect that. We kept having to sidestep people in front of us and kind of run around people to keep from tripping or bumping into people. That was pretty much how it was the whole way. No chance of getting lost or going on the wrong route.

Let's see ... so we drank the Cytomax and water offered by volunteers along the way, which seemed luxurious since we didn't train with much water along the way because there's nowhere to keep it. We actually felt really strong throughout the race, and there was a lot to see and hear - lots of music and people cheering and partying on the side of the road. The miles were ticking by pretty quickly, it seemed, and it only started to get pretty hard around mile 11. Still, we knew we were almost finished, and there was so much going on, it was easier than running in training. It was like, "This is it!!" Adrenaline and all. I'm not saying it was a breeze or anything - it was just exciting, so we weren't too focused on pain. People were talking and joking with each other. There were lots of funny signs to read. My favorite:

"Your feet only hurt because you're kicking so much ass!"

It was really inspirational. There was an old guy in front of us the whole way, and his shirt said, "I know I'm slow. Get over it." And he was so NOT slow. Lots of people were running for different causes and friends/family who had passed away. That was sobering.

There was an elderly lady wearing a little black lace skirt over her shorts - kind of defying the whole aging thing. There was a guy running while juggling, a guy dressed as Elvis, girls in cowboy hats - lots of characters.

But back to the race ... so we passed the 12-mile mark and headed down the hill (so glad to go downhill!) to LP field. People kept saying "You're almost there! You're almost there!" and I was thinking, "Well, where is that damn finish line??" My legs were on autopilot at this point.

Then Erin grew rocket boosters and started stepping it up, and I was like, "Hold on there!" and had to pick up the pace. But we were on flat land at this point, and we rounded the corner and saw that awesome finish line. We totally kicked it in!

Then I had a wave of nausea, and I saw someone had thrown up an orange on the ground. I eyeballed a trash can and thought I was going to throw up in it, but thankfully I did not. Then we got our medals, and we heard the announcer say severe weather would hit in about 30 minutes. So we found Erin's husband and kids and headed to the car.

On the way home, I thought I was going to throw up, so I hung my head out the car window in the rain like a dog. It felt so good. I didn't throw up. At home, I crawled into a hot bath, drank water and ate a banana and chocolate bar, then crawled upstairs for a nap. I felt much better after that.

It was a really awesome experience - a fun race that was tough, but doable. I cannot imagine doing a whole marathon, but I liked the half. We want to do it again next year.

Some things I learned: Try to eat something during the race, even if it's an energy bean or a banana. I think that's why I was feeling so bad afterward, but I hadn't trained with that so I was afraid to do it during the race.

Also, I would definitely run 13 miles before the race - or very close to it. Those last few miles were tough, and that's when a lot of people started to walk. We were exhausted, but I felt our bodies had been there before, and we knew we could make it.

So there it is. Waaaay more than you wanted to know.

This has been a fun ride, and a very long-winded post. Thanks for reading to the end. I reached my goal, but I'm not going to stop blogging about running. Erin and I have decided to continue our four-day-a-week running schedule, with some modifications. Our weekday runs will be 4-5 miles, but our weekend runs will be shorter.

And the pressure is off for a while. That's nice. But I'm going to start looking for a shorter race to do as another goal - just something to keep me motivated.

Thanks so much for reading! Check back soon. We're running again Tuesday morning. :)