St. Jude Half Marathon

My last pre-race post was about it being expo day. We had such a great time getting our things. It became real when I pulled out that number and then activated it... in fact I was activated as Donna Sue Brigham, age 43 because I bought a friends bib. It didn't matter, I was Donna and my bib was activated. It was a 'this is really happening' moment.

Though we were beyond excited, we couldn't shake the nerves of the unknown. We knew we were as prepared as we could be, but 13.1 is a long run... for us. This was a big deal that not many people ever even attempt in a life time and here we were about to tackle the challenge in 2 days. So we walked around the expo looking to see if there was any gear we thought would benefit us. They were selling all kinds of different running apparel and we thought we'd browse through. The weather was crazy warm, but that morning when we'd be getting there would be cold, so we were baffled as what to wear.

Enter sleeves.

Except mine were hot pink and allie's were bright blue. These were perfect. we wore fitted capris, short sleeve shirts and these sleeves. Then when we got hot we just pushed them down.
 
Yes, we were less than 48 hours away and couldn't believe it...

Friday night we had a pasta party at allie's. We lounged around in comfy clothes and ate pasta and bread. Then we enjoyed cobbler and coffee. It was fabulous. Having not done this before, it seemed to be the perfect way to prepare for race day. (and now being on this side of the race its was for sure!) We just relaxed and went through the details of the next morning: what we would need, where we were meeting, details of the course, etc. I headed home about 9:00p.m., laid out everything I would need for the next morning and was in bed before 10:00p.m. I really slept well (unlike allie who got maybe 2 hours all night!) and when the alarm went of at 4:00a..m. I snoozed it more than once. :) I needed to pick allie up at 5:45 and I wanted plenty of time to make sure I had everything together without being rushed.

We were on the interstate heading toward downtown at 6:15. We had everything we needed with us. Now it was just a matter of time. We parked on Riverside and made the short walk to the start line where allie had a group picture at 6:45. She was running as a hero for a little boy named Ingram. After the picture we walked around trying to loosen up.

You can see the sleeves well here despite how ridiculous we look.

8:00 the first group was off. 10 minutes later our corral  crossed the start line and we were off. 16 weeks of training, countless drops of sweat, crazy early morning runs, Saturday long runs all over the city... and now it was time to put that training to use. Miles1-4 were exhilarating. There were crowds of people almost continually. Beale Street was the best. You seriously felt like a super star. I was humbled by the encouragement, cheers, and high fives from total strangers. Miles 4-5 were when we ran through St. Jude. I began to tear up as we passed under the balloon canopy. What an amazing hospital that is doing wonderful things for these precious sick kids and their families.  Though there didn't appear to be many patients out, there were still tons of grateful families encouraging us. Miles 6-8 were a little boring down parkway, but we saw so many fmailiar faces that it was energizing. Mile 9 Allie began to not feel well.... or at least thats when she voiced it. She is always the one pushing me. She's much faster and it is always a great challenge for me to keep up with her. So when her steps were slower I knew something was up. She did great but expressed she was feeling dizzy and nauseaous. We slowed down our pace for miles 9-12. Then we saw the entrance to autozone park. We were home... we were a mere mile from reaching the goal we had been working hard towards for 4 months. All those hot, humid runs, all the sore musles, all the feelings like I was going to barf in someones yard... all was worth it in that moment. We ran the last 100 yards with a smile from ear to ear.



We entered into the outfield of autozone park with hands held high.... We did it. Not only did we train to run 13.1, but we finished it and finished well.

Our finishing time was 2 hours and 17 minutes. With Allie 100% I'm certain we could have finished under 2 hours. Guess we'll just have to run another one and prove it. I def. have the bug now. I loved every second of that race. I loved the challenge of the distance, I loved the hills, I loved the crowds, I loved running with my buddy who had trained and challenged me for so long. And now... I'm ready to do it again.