Country Music Half Marathon 2010
Womens Half Marathon 2010
All the festivities started on Friday afternoon/night. My little brother was in since Tuesday and my parents got here Thursday night. We ate at Which Wich in Cool Springs...YUMMY PLACE!
Race day came and we were out the door by 4:00 am. We definitely wanted to leave earlier than last year because of all the traffic. It was really chilly out and luckily Amber brought an extra jacket for me to borrow! I used the bathroom 4 times before the race...talk about nervous! Before we knew it we were doing a warm up jog (which later on during the race, I realized that I needed to have warmed up a lot longer than I did and stretch more than what I did as well) We used the bathrooms one more time and the four of us prayed before parting ways. Adam was in Corral 2, Amber was in Corral 17 and Heather and I were in Corral 27. It took forever for us to get to the starting line. We talked to the 2:45 pacer and wanted to stick with him through out the race or at least be in sight of him. If only that plan had worked....We started off strong Our first mile was 13:03. Our fastest mile ever....BIG PROBLEM! We were doing what we said we weren't going to do...started off too fast. We wanted to keep up with the 2:45 pacer and that is what he was doing. Well my legs decided to play a mean trick on me and my shins and calves cramped up so bad that I had to stop running. We took several small walking breaks and then they really started to hurt and I mean hurt so bad that I couldn't run...I cried. I was so upset because we were losing sight of the 2:45 pacer and I appologized to my best friend that I let her down and that we weren't going to make it under 3 hours. She said "Tiff, you're seriously going to start crying...you are doing your 3rd half marathon in a year right now and we are going to forget about the pacer. We are going to do this race for ourselves." The first couple miles were really tough because I had a bad attitude and was thinking all these negative thoughts. My hubby, parents, and friends were around mile 2. I was so discouraged and then I saw my dad first. I ran to him and threw my jacket and hand held water bottle at him. They all were cheering so loud for us and it gave me that pick me up before the giant hill of Demonbreun Street. We knew we weren't going to be able to see our cheerleaders until right before the finish line, so we had to keep encouraging each other. My shins cleared up but my calves didn't loosen up until mile 5 or so. I had a good run on Belmont Blvd. and several other parts of the race. I fueled with: breakfast: banana and luna bar. lots of water. During the race: several sports beans, several orange slices, water, cytomax, and 2 chocolate outrage GU gels.
We were doing great on our pace. Under 15 min miles on all our mile until we got to mile 10 or 11. Heather had an asthma attack. She took her inhaler but it didn't help much. *Side note* my mom kept calling me every several miles to cheer us on/ see where we were at/ give us updates on adam and amber. (I had my iphone head phones in with the speaker on the cord) So when Heather had this attack, she said, call your mom and have them get a cold wet towel ready for me when we see them. So I decided that it would be good to use my voice command on my head set. People were looking at me like I was CRAZY! "Call Mommy....dang it Call Mommy....Not Lily...MOMMY!!!!" I ended up having to get my phone out of my ifitness belt and call her by hand. My sweet baby brother....who finished his first half marathon in 1 hour and 36 minutes (he's a psycho runner) ran back to mile 12.5 to give the towel to Heather. He also ran the rest of it with us (until he got to mom and dad, who were right close to the finish) He encouraged us and was so sweet!! Amber finished in 2:45!!! Heather and I finally finished in 3 hours 13 minutes and 36 seconds. I missed my PR by 3 minutes. Heather kept telling me to go on...but HECK NO I'm not leaving my best friend..we train together, we finish together no matter what!! Anyways..we finished, got some good grub in the secure zone and then found our clan! I went to the medic tent to get ice wrapped on my calves and took my mizuno shoes to find 3 ginormous blisters that were terribly painful. We went back to Heather and TJ's for food, Ice Baths, and resting. We then went to the Montgomery Gentry concert that was free to all the runners but didn't stay for all of it because we were so tired. It was an awesome weekend with family and friends! Not to sound conceded ( but this is my blog and I have a right to be :) But I am so proud of myself for finishing 3 half marathons in one year. From a girl who hated to run to one who's already planning her next one...
Adam coming upon the finish
Amber at mile 2
Me and Heather- my horrible silly looking face while handing off my jacket and water bottle
(I was going to try to add a video but I can't figure out how to shorten it..oh well)
Runner girls and their Husbands!
WE DID IT!
So glad my baby brother and I could run the same race together!
Proud parents!!!
AWESOME friends who came at the butt crack of dawn to support us! THANK YOU!!
The awesome sign, Lindsey made!
Cutie girls cheering us on...or just entertaining themselves!
Sweet husbands who came to support us!
The finishers!!
The supporters!!
The ICE BATH.....oh so cold at first but felt so good after.
Well folks, that about sums it up...shin pain, calf pain (still a little bit lingering as well as...), blisters the size of TEXAS, and a numb baby toe (still a little numb and still concerned) but I have medal # 3 and that is all that matters!! I can always try to PR at the next race!
(I don't blame you if you didn't make it all the way through this post)
Back into full training next week!
2 comments :
I made it through the whole post!! haha this is awesome! I am planning on maybe doing one next Spring when I'm back in the states...
Yay! Congrats on your 3rd half marathon! Sounds like you did great even through the pain!
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