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.

St Croix...Here I come!!!

Last week, when I was driving home from the Little Rock Marathon, in the worst winter driving conditions that I have ever been exposed to, I received a text about Space A travel from a friend from work. As much as I wanted to help her out, I was in no place to chat. I politely told her it will have to wait and I’ll stop by her office when I get back into work.

Once I safely made it to my parents, I had decided to go ahead and get back a hold of her. I’m a wiz at Space A travel (military hops). I used to fly from Germany back to the US for like $15!!!! We were able to take a week long girls trip to Hawaii and only paid $130 apiece and that was for the lodging, rental and the flight was free!!!  I love me some Space A travel!!!!

So I just assumed that she and her husband where going to be planning a trip, little did I know what was in store for me.  She asked if there were Space A flights to the Virgin Islands (St. Croix specifically). After some research, I could not find anything too promising. I checked the commercial flights and the prices were not too bad.

That’s when the most awesome questions was asked…”So did you see the email I sent out about the triathlon?” My response was no because I had been out of the office.

“it looks like they are going to fund for us  to send a team and I need a coach because I won’t be able to make it due to my daughters prom, bday and other obligations.  Do you want to be the coach?”

Are you SERIOUS!!!!

Pay for me to go to St. Croix to coach the triathlon team!!!

 HECK yea when do I go? 

I would love to participate but I’m doing the St Jude’s ½ marathon the weekend prior and I will be 20 weeks pregnant at that time so I figured it wouldn’t be fair to participate when there are others who will be much faster than I.

I’ve never been to the Virgin Islands so I’m stoked!!!! 

All I have to pay for is anything extra that I decided to buy.  Travel, food, rental car, lodging is all covered.

Now…I just have to learn the enter workings of a triathlon.  I’ve always wanted to do it but never took the plunge.

And of course start researching the sites to see while I’m there.

Any triathloneers have any pointers?

Little Rock Marathon Recap

Little Rock Marathon Recap

Well the medal said it all “EPIC” with a lightning bolt as the “I”.

The weekend started well, we left Springfield around 1030 and drove to Southern Illinois to meet my mom so I could drop Graham off with her. From there we hit the road and made the trip to North Little Rock in about 7.5 hrs. 

The temp was amazing, in compare to what we had been used to in IL. It was in the 50’s at night!!!! I didn’t even have to wear a jacket outside!!!!  Friday night, we got into North Little Rock, grabbed some food,went to the hotel room to settle in and get some sleep.

Saturday was overcast but the temp was still holding strong in the mid 50’s. I wish the race would have been Saturday versus Sunday, but what can you do.  Anyway we roamed around the expo for a little bit and checked out some of the vendors, went across the street and had a late lunch. 

After lunch we weren’t ready to head back to the hotel room just yet so we checked the area out some and found this western store and decided to check it out.  I’m super glad we did because they had a pair of the Corral boots that I’ve been wanting for about a year now and I just couldn’t bring myself to spend the money on them.  Once I made it back to the boots I seen a pair in a 7.5 marked down!!!! But then I found a 9 and 10 at regular price. So I asked the lady working what the deal was and she said that the tags must have came off they  are all the sale price!!!! SCORE….I checked online 1^st and all the prices were still the same so  couldn’t pass them up.

There were a few other people from work running the race too so for dinner Sat night we all met up.  We ended up waiting over a 1.5 hrs to eat at Olive Garden.  Definitely was not worth the wait but the company was good so that helped. One of the girls running the race has been in Little Rock since November for a military school so she came over for dinner too.  We made it back to the hotel room about 9:30 and hit the sack.

Sunday Morning….Race day!!!!

So the morning started off well. We signed up for the early start and I’m really glad that we did.  We got down town about 0530, got situated, and meet the other girl from my office that was running with us. There ended up being 4 girls from my HRO office that ran the marathon.

The race kicked off at 0600. When we started…it was 55 degrees. PERFECT running weather.  I had brought a camelback with me because when I was 7 months pregnant with Graham I did a ½ and my dr stressed hydration so I made sure I had enough water and snacks. I was not going to be out all day with no food; I would not have made it.  I had on my compression socks, capris, a tshirt, along sleeve dri-fit and a headband that covered my ears. About 2 hrs into the race…the rain started. Thank GOD for the trash bags we packed. We were able to stay dry and somewhat warm with the trash bags on us.

The race came in waves..there were points that were ok and others that just sucked!!!. I had taken my long sleeved dri-fit shirt off around mile 3 and tied it to my camelback  and it wasn’t until mile 19 that the temp had dropped almost 20+ degrees.  I was so cold that I had to stop and put on my long sleeved shirt. I have never had to add layers durning a race before. Like I said those trash bags were a life saver. About mile 18-23 is a down and back in a park area…there is nothing but a path and trees and on Sunday a timing mat and volunteers.  Anyway…once we got to mile 21…volunteers started telling us that the race had been cancelled due to weather and that we need to take shelter…WTF we are in an area with no shelter WTH are we supposed to go?

Yelp…I got that answer…”Go to the next business and busses would be there to pick us up”..you wanna know where the next business was….3 miles down the road at Walmart…so at mile marker 24..there was Walmart and a line of people to get on a bus. I said screw it I can finish 2 miles faster than what I’m going to be able to get on a damn bus full of people. So the 3 of us decided to keep going.  I’m glad we did because the buses dropped people off about .2 miles from the finish line and they were able to cross and still get their medals. I can’t be too mad…because  it wasn’t their faults.  I had a friend that was stopped at mile 15 and another at 21.

Then the kicker was the the Little Rock Marathon had posted on Facebook that the race had never been cancelled…the course had been “re-routed” so there was people who left the course because some of the volunteers said that it was cancelled and the police informed us that if we kept going, we were on our own with no road support. However, there were a lot of cops that stayed. It was a hot freaking mess!!!

So in a nut shell…the race sucked, time was terrible but I don’t care I finished the damn thing and got my medal to prove it.

The drive home!!!

I’ve grew up in the country and other than farmer john, that lives down the road, who would “plow” our roads…I grew up driving on substandard road conditions. But on Sunday-Monday…this was the worst I have ever driven on.

After the race I called my mom and dad to see what the weather was doing in Southern Illinois, that was going to be my deciding factor if I stayed an extra night in Little Rock or drove to their house. When I talked to my dad around 2 he said that IL didn’t get hit like they had thought and everything had already passed through, so go ahead and come on home. So I went to the hotel, showered and packed up.  About an hr into the drive I started to get really tired. So I pulled over and took about a 30 mins cat nap.

Well of course, it was never a good sleep and my phone rang and it was my dad.

Dad: “um…have you left yet” 

Me: “yes dad I left an hr ago why?”

Dad: “Well your about to drive in to the heart of the storm”

Me: “well I’m almost to Memphis and there’s just rain, so I’ll play it by ear.”

Once I got past Memphis it was like I was in a whole new world.

The roads where TERRIBLE. I could only drive 15 mph. Semis, cars, trucks were off the road. Vehicles just stopped in the middle of 55 with their hazards on! It was insane. It took me over 3 hrs to drive 55 miles. I was so scared and sick to my stomach. I called a hotel in Blyethville and once I finally got there I was done of the night.

I woke up in the middle of the night to go pee and I noticed that the digital clock was off but I was so tired I didn’t think twice so I went back to bed.  When I woke up…ther power was out and ther was snow in my room by the air conditioner and my room was 57degrees…BRRR

So I brushed my teeth and went out to the van to find it frozen over from all the ice durning my drive and the night. Of course…where is the ice scrapper and my gloves…in the truck…at home!!! So I grabbed my brown Army undershirt, wrapped it around my hand like a glove and found a wide toothed comb in the van and started breaking through the ice. 35 mins later I was able to get it all off.

I was just about to get on the interstate and the other 2 people from my office called and they were at a hotel right down the road and their car battery had died. So I went and picked up her husband and took him to the deserted Walmart so he could get a new battery. Luckily they had one and everyone worked once the new one was installed.

We were about 10 miles are so from the Missouri state line and as soon as I crossed into Missouri I could drive about 20 mph for awhile. It wasn’t until I hit mile marker 36 nest Sikeston Mo that I was able to go over 25.  I just kept plugging along and finally…once I got to IL…the roads were perfect. 70 MPH the whole way. 

This was seriously the worst driving conditions I had ever been in and I hope to never do it again.

It took me 28 hrs to make it home and the other 2 ladies from my office it took them 19 straight hours in the car to make it home yesterday.

  

26.2 Reasons Why I Run a Marathon



Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend. 

My weekend was full of military training all weekend.

 

I was talking to one of the ladies that will be running the Little Rock Marathon with me today.  This will be her 1st marathon so we were dicussing what to expect, ect.  I am not a marathon professional but I've completed Little Rock twice now so I have a pretty good feel for the course.

 

We have a MONTH to get ready for Little Rock...I'm seriously insane.  As we were talking there were a few people walking by and their comment were:

 "Why would you do that to yourself?"

"You know that's gonna hurt, right?"

"I don't even like driving 26 miles."

 

So I started to think...why the hell do I do this to myself. So here are my 26.2 Reasons Why I Run a Marathon.

 

1. For the purpose of Little Rock...it is TOTALLY for the medal. It's HUGE



2. You get to Carb Load and no one will judge you when you tell them why :)

 

3. Beer taste even better than ever after you have ran 26.2 miles

4. 26.2 miles allows for a lot of me-time reflection. I have came up with some of the best solutions, solved the world’s problems and finished 26.2 miles all at the same time.

5. You will meet some amazing people along the way. Almost everyone has their reasons to complete a marathon. As you talk to people along the way you will meet some amazing people.

6. After parties are pretty nice. even though you can barely walk but it’s a good time

7. You will feel like a EFF-ING Rock Star. Sore, yes...but you will feel the best that you have ever felt in your life.

8. From this point on....you will compare life events to what it was like to train and finish a marathon, you will say "I got this, i've finished a marathon" to almost anything

9. You'll be amazed on the new things that you will try. After my 1st race...I said I would never do that shit again...well here I am...working on marathon #4

10. Who knows...you could be someone else’s motivation to run a 5K, 1/2 or marathon.

11. There is a certain amount of self confidence with comes after finishing a marathon.

12. I get to put those bad ass 13.1 & 26.2 stickers/magnets on my car :)

 

too much?

13. You will know what it’s like to not give up. There has been plenty of times that I told myself...i can cut off at the 1/2 and no one would know...but i didn't i kept going.

14. You will mostly likely lose some weight or tone up during the training process.

15. You will most likely complete another marathon and you will want to do better the next time. You'll want that PR (personal record) time.

16. The crowds along the way are amazing. Kids holding signs, strangers yelling your name for 26.2 miles, college students holding out beer and playing music to keep yea motivated. complete strangers doing what they can to help.

17. You get to travel to a new place…or a place you’ve been to before. But I bet you’ll see something new

18. Running on a treadmill can be painfully boring…what a better way to save up some dough and ditch the gym membership and it the open roads

19.  Give back to charity.  Many races are geared towards some sort of charity event. 

20.  No matter what your time is…you will still be amazed when the elite runners go blowing past you at record speeds.

21.  Gives you another reason to update your ipod.  Gotta have a good play list. Unless you’re a run in silence type person

22. You will be part of a unique group of people.  Not everyone runs 26.2 miles…why that shit is hard

23.  Gives you a reason to get some new gear.  Shoes, running clothes, GPS, Ipod you name it

24. Swag bag. Most races give out some free goodies in their swag bags. Some are pretty nice. Have you seen the Nike Women’s Swag from DC...it's on my list now.  Hello Tiffany'

 

25.  I don't know why it is...but you will fall in love with whatever song is playing when you get to the finish line.  True story...I finished 2 halfs and Mylie Cyrus "Party in the USA" was playing...and I now that song is my Lady jam.

 

26.  New town= new eateries.

 

26.2 You'll start plotting the map for more races to run.

 

I will leave you with my favorie youtube video.  This SERIOUSLY brings tears to my eyes. It cracks me up.  Enjoy!!!

 

                                                          

OK...so I seriously have a problem. My name is Kira and I ‘m a Medal snob.

I am not a good runner, heck I really don't even call myself a runner. I finish races.

I've finished a several 1/2's and so far 3 full’s and a lot of 5ks. Anyway, I have never trained for any of them.

I'm not trying to be arrogant, you can hate me if you want to, I just get bored while running. It’s

weird I know. Many run because it is their outlet, blah blah blah.

I do it because I semi like it…not so much at the time…but I really do it normally for the medals. 

I’m a Medal snob!!! I pick races because of their medals. Other Than St Jude’s races, I do those for

 

the cause.

I blame my husband.  There are a few of us where I work that run/finish races. Well my husband (BF

at the time) was reading Runner’s World and seen an article about a race.  He looked it up and came

into my office and said…”we have to do this race…have you seen the medal?”  At the time I have

only complete 1 marathon (Bataan Death March) I rucked 26.2 miles in a full military uniform and a

weighted backpack.  I said that I would never do another race again….what can I say…the bug bit

 

me.

 

Anyway, I asked him when it is...his response, "in less than 3 weeks!" are you freaking nuts!!! Less than 3 weeks to prep for a 26.2 run. Oh man this is gonna hurt. It definitely didn't feel good, but we finished.

 

 

2 years later…we were dumb enough to do it again.

 

 

This year...the medal is bigger than last year. I wasn't going to do it until 2 ladies that work in my office had decided to do it.  Dang it...I couldn't not have that big huge medal too!!! I had to ask myself,  "Self, could I pass by their office and see it hanging there in all of it's glory?"  Nope I sure can't!!!! So, I signed up for my yearly 26.2 mile race...8 weeks out.

 

Wish me Luck!!!! 

It's Super Hero themed this year....what should I dress up as?