I crawled out of bed at 3:30 and ate my peanut butter & jelly sandwich while showering. I was trying to accomplish a few tasks at once. Chris' parents were here, so they took some pictures and video of us before we walked out the door that morning. I checked my list probably 4 times and made sure we had everything we needed. We hopped in the car and headed to a friend's house where her husband drove us to the starting area. Thank you Donna & Chris!
As we walked to the starting line you could feel the energy in the air. The temperatures were already quite warm and the sun was shining bright. We could see the Kenyans warming up and preparing for their speedy run. The portable potties were jammed packed, so before we joined corral 8 we waited in long line. People were crowding in and we made our way to the start.
I stood next to Chris as each corral began to start their run and was so happy to be sharing this experience with him. I was excited and nervous at the same time. Our corral finally moved up to the front and we heard, "Ready Set Go!" We were off! People were cheering for us on the sides of the street and it was fantastic.
Now, Chris is faster than I am and I was bound and determined not to start out too fast. Every time I looked up he was ahead of me and I was starting to get frustrated. He told me the night before that he would stay with me at my pace, but it wasn't happening. We would pass a band playing music and he would speed up even more! I finally told him that I just wasn't going to ruin my race and he needed to take it easy. We were back on track!
We saw Chris' parents and the kids cheering for us at mile 2. After giving everyone high 5's we continued on our way. We ran through beautiful parts of Nashville-zipping through all of the areas where old houses had been turned into music recording studios. We ran through water stops grabbing cups as quickly as we could while listening to the cheers on the streets. At this point, we were having fun. I snapped a picture of Chris with a few nuns, we saw a full marathon guy juggling tennis balls as he ran and we read all kinds of creative signs and t-shirts along our way.
At mile 11, we saw our family again and grabbed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from them.
Seeing them really lifted our spirits throughout the day and it was great having them involved in our run. The temperature was starting to heat up and the half marathon runners split off from the full marathon runners around this point. After the split, the route thinned out significantly because around 25,000 of the runners were running the half and 5,000 ran the full. I was feeling overwhelmed, hot and a bit discouraged. The fun was over! I forced part of my sandwich down and continued to drink. Every so often I would get goose bumps all over my body and I would take that as a sign to drink or I would think, "I am so hot!" and I would drink some more. Drink Drink Drink! They don't want you too drink too much and I didn't want to get dehydrated and not drink enough, so I was trying to find the balance that worked best for my body.
The heat was intense! We were pouring cups of water on our heads trying to stay cool and at mile 14 I walked for the first time. Chris was very understanding and we did the best we could. We would run awhile and walk a bit. There were people walking the majority of the time because it was such a hot day. When I run in 20 degree temps I always start out cold, but by mile 2 it feels like it is 60 degrees outside. So, in 90 degree temps your body heats up and it is almost unbearable! At this point, I told Chris that the Kenyans were already done with their marathon and probably lying in a hotel pool. I know I would have been!
I was looking forward to seeing the kids again at 19.5 and it took forever to get there! Forever! I had strict instructions from Chris not to complain in front of the kids. I put on my smiling I am so happy to be here running in the hot sun and 90 degree temperature face and we stopped for about 2 minutes to snap a few pictures and get smooches. We continued our journey at a slow pace feeling relieved when we only had single digits left. I ran into my friend Donna and was so happy to see her smiling because I had been thinking about her the entire time. She had found a friend to run with and she seemed to be in good spirits. At mile 23, I decided that I wanted to have a 4 hour and something marathon time and I was going to have to run the rest of the way to get it. I was constantly dumping water on my head trying to stay cool. It felt so refreshing! From mile 23 on we ran the entire way trying to encourage everyone we passed and feeling encouraged from everyone along the route. It really was a great experience to be out there even in those conditions!
Seeing the number 26 sign was absolutely FANTASTIC!!! Chris and I had a little bit to give and we sprinted to the finish line! We crossed it holding hands up in the air and surprisingly I didn't cry. We ran it in 4:51:33- not the time I had hoped for, but we did it! I just wonder what our time would have been if the day hadn't been so incredibly hot. After we finished Chris & I had decided that our marathon days were over and we had no desire to do it again. Later that night, we went to the Dave Matthews Concert and he whispered in my ear, " I think I may want to do another one." The funny thing is I was sitting there thinking that the same thing!
