Nashville Country Music Marathon Recap

OH...what a fun weekend in Nashville.

I almost forgot what it was like to have an adult girls weekend away. 

It was just what I needed.

Friday I met up with Holly & Kelly, and we grabbed some Mexican for lunch and headed down south to Nashville for the Rock and Roll Country Music Marathon. 

This was my 12th 1/2. My times have not been the best lately. It could be because I hadn't trained or the fact that I'm 20 weeks pregnant.  

We got to the expo in time to run in and grab our packets and head to dinner.  The expo was a slight cluster but it all worked out in the end.  After the expo we headed over to Cabana's for drinks and dinner and meet some of my other fave bloggers, Aubrey Leigh , and Janessa.  It was a blast meeting eveyone. Aubrey's husband, Tommy was such a trooper, a table for of women chatting away.

After dinner, it was time to check into the hotel and get ready for bed.

Saturday, we gave ourselves enough time to get ready to get to the race on time...but traffic we were cutting it close. The race started and 0700 and about 6:57 we were still a few blocks away so Holly and I jumped out and made our way to the start line, to find 40 corrals and about 33,000 people.  It was 08:02 before we crossed the start line.  

Holly and Janessa were shooting for 2:30...I just wanted to finish. I stuck with them for a few miles then decided to let them have it.  It was too hot for my pregnant self and the fact that it felt like I had to pee every mile didn't help.

The course was so hilly, but the crowd support was amazing. It was seriously probably the best crowd supported race I've ever been to.

I came up on Janessa around mile 10 and it was great to see someone I knew along the course. I think it gave me the motivation I needed to finish.  

I ended up finishing in 3:09, a minute faster than the Lincoln Presidential 1/2 I had done a few weeks before. I was surprised on how not sore I was after this race...Hey I'll take it.

Mandy from House of Rose also completed the Country Music Marathon too. I swear the videos and pics she post IDK how she does it. She always looks super cute, even 11 miles into a race in 75 degree heat. I looked like a hot mess. She's a rock star.

After the race, Holly and I took hooker showers and loaded on the deodorant, body spray and lotion and headed over to the Pharmacy for lunch. The beer garden was awesome and the burgers were yummy too.

 Amber from Crafty Healthy Mommy, was amazing and got there early to get us a table.  She was a doll. I seriously could of hung out with her all afternoon and chatted. Aubry and Tommy came and met us for lunch and we also met Alyse and Faye.  

After lunch Holly, Kelly and I made the trek back to IL/MO.  Kelly was AMAZING. She was our coach/driver/cheerleader for the weekend.

I had a great weekend and can't wait to do it again.

Easter weekend

Another busy week in the books.

Sadly, it doesn’t look like its going to be slowing down much either 

I swear, I tell myself that I shouldn’t schedule so much stuff…but I can’t help it.

Last week at work was longer than most. I like I ended up working 65 hrs then went and got my little man and wrapped up anything that I had going on at home then back at it.

It definitely helps with making the week go by fast but man..there isn’t time to enjoy it.

Friday after work, I packed up the minivan, got Graham and headed down south.  It was a nice little get away. No work, barely any cell reception, grandma was there to spoil Graham.

Saturday I was able to do a little alone shopping. Which was nice. It’s the little things once you have kids.

So I headed down to Carbondale to grab some lunch and some retail therapy.  I of course had to stop at Quarto’s. One of my college fave pizza places. And…as always they did not disappoint.

And you get to keep your cup too J I swear I had a cupboard full of Quartro’s cups in college.

Sunday, my brother and his girlfriend came up and we all had breakfast and opened Easter baskets…Yes we still do Easter baskets.  After Graham went through all his stuff, we went outside to hunt Easter Eggs!!

My mom gave me a hard time because I placed all the eggs in 1 area…he grabbed a few then wanted to head to the tractor so I then asked if she seen why I placed them the way that I did?

The rest of Sunday consisted of face timing w dad, Family time and eating.

Monday, my grandma and grandpa came over to go fishing and Graham caught his 1st fish.

It’s hard to see his excitement in this picture but he was excited when he went to reel the fish in at first. However,once it was out of the water…he wanted no part of it.

We made a few detours on the way home..Chic Fil A, Sam’s… you know the necessities.

Since the weather was so nice when we got home, I decided to do some yard work. Graham of course wanted to help…in nothing but his boots and….yup nothing else.Gotta love country living.

At What Point Do You Call Yourself a Runner?

Sorry I've been MIA...I've been swamped at work and have finally gotten a moment to slow down.

Two weekends ago I finished my 11^th half marathon.

The weather was perfect for a wog (that’s what I’m calling it now).

 It’s walking + jogging=wogging

The Springfield ½  isn’t a large race, it’s actually quiet small. They finally had over 2,000 people sign up for this year’s race. I will say that next year, please have more porta potties. There was such a long line at the beginning that I knew there was no way we would get in to use them before the race started.

But I should of just waited then crossed the start line because at the start of the race we were hanging with the 2:30 group for about 2 miles. Then the 1 lone porta potty was sitting there are mile 2 and I had to potty. So knowing there wasn’t many other stops along the route I should stop now. Almost 10 mins later….we were able to use the facilities and get back into the race.

Sadly, my motivation to catch back up with the 2:30 was not gonna happen. I was in no place to even try it. I hadn’t trained or had done any sort of running since the Little Rock Marathon a month before. So what did I do…we just enjoyed the beautiful sunny and took our time.

Which I’m glad we did, because I was not even close to prepared for this race. I didn’t bring anything with me so around mile 7, I was STARVING!!!

I can only speak for self when I say with both pregnancy, when I get hungry I have about a 5 mins window before I need to get something into my system.  Well that definitely wasn’t going to be happening so luckily the next few water stops had some Gatorade so I was able to get some sugar into my body.

Note to self, for the RnR Nashville at the end of the month…I’m bringing snacks :) 

 Yesterday I received a few emails with pics from the weekend’s race and we got on the discussion at what point do you consider yourself a runner?

(I’m the squirrel in the snow leopard compression socks and sweat band on the right)

Many people tend to think that I must be fast because I’ve done, as they put it “so many races”.  In compared to others I know I have not done that many. I think people believe that because I have my medals displayed in my office.

So far I’ve completed:

5K=a lot I haven’t actually kept track of them my last count was 10

10K= 1

1/2 marathon= 11 (I’ll be completing # 12 later this month)

Full Marathon= 4

In all actuality, I’m not fast at all…not even close. 2:20 is my fastest half and 5:30 for a full marathon.  I’m telling myself after this baby…I’m actually going to train and put out a little effort just to see what I’m capable of. 

I think that is what is keeping me from calling myself a “runner” is that  I don’t train, I just finish races.

Since I’ve started “running” I’ve learned that there are no stereotypes in runners.  Runners come in all shapes in sizes. You see a  lean in shape person in front of you before the race and tell yourself “man, I bet they’re fast” and then you’re passing them along the route. On the other hand, you can come across someone who you may feel is larger than you and they leave you in their dust.  We cannot stereotype runners, they will amaze you every time.

At what point do you consider yourself a runner?