Nashville....

I normally don’t do this, but I wanted to document my first marathon in Nashville. Madalyn and I flew down to Nashville from Chicago on Thursday, April 24, 2008. I picked her up from school early and we rode the bus to Midway…we had some good daughter mother bonding time. Our flight to Nashville was a little bumpy, but overall a good flight. We sat next to the nicest man (a former tri-athlete) who helped Madalyn read the Spanish on the seat back and held on to her drink while she worked on her 1st/2nd grade workbook. I was mortified when she took off her Crocs and her feet were black! She was waving her feet all around and wouldn’t put her shoes back on. This guy was dressed in business attire and I was so afraid Madalyn’s filthy feet were going to touch him! Anyway, we picked up our luggage, took the shuttle to the Embassy Suites hotel and arrived around 8pm or so. My parents flew in from Michigan and arrived at the hotel around 9pm. I was starving, so we went down to the hotel restaurant and ate a late dinner. After dinner, we went to bed.

Friday, we got up and ate a huge breakfast…I ate a made to order omelet with mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, ham, black olives and cheese with a side of bacon and hash brown potatoes. I also ate a bowl of southern grits (yummy) and some honeydew melon (I wanted to get fueled up for the race). After breakfast, we headed over to the Marathon Expo. I picked up my race packet and changed my starting corral from a 4:30 finish time to a 4:00 finish time (corral 12 to corral 9). Then we walked through all the different vendors. OMG, I couldn’t believe how many people were there! I bought some Pure Fit power bars, a really cool fanny pack, called a “Spipack” to carry my small items during the race and an awesome MuscleTrac roller thing to loosen up my muscles. I also bought my mom and I key chains and magnets/stickers (13.1 and 26.2) so we can be reminded of our experience. My dad and Madalyn were getting tired, so they waited upstairs while we wandered around…we all called it quits after about 3 hours. After the Expo, we went to a free museum downtown. The security guard looked like Elvis, with huge lamb chop side burns!! There was a lot of cool stuff there…I actually enjoyed this museum and was fascinated by the way the early explorers lived and we even saw a 3,000 year old mummy! We made it back to the hotel in time for Happy Hour (which my dad needed after hanging out at the Expo and museum all day)! My parents enjoyed Happy Hour while I sat in the hot tub and watched Madalyn swim. I ate a late dinner of Lasagna and bread at the hotel, and after 7 seven hours on the road, Mike and Andrew joined us at the hotel around 9pm. After dinner, my mom and I organized our things for the race; I took a quick shower to shave my legs and hit the sack a little after 11pm.

The alarm went off at 4am on Saturday morning….it’s “go time”! I was already wearing my sports bra, so all I had to do was lube up with Body Glide, brush my teeth, wash my face and get dressed. I did all that & quickly ate a banana, but for some reason, we didn’t leave the hotel until around 4:40am. The plan was for my mom & me to drive the van and park at LP Field (where the Tennessee Titans play football) and take the free shuttle to the starting line. Mike, Andrew, Madalyn and my dad would take a cab later so they didn’t have to wake up so early. The drive from the hotel to the parking area should have taken 15 minutes, but it took an hour and 15 minutes. I drank a bottle of Gatorade and was working on a bottle of water not knowing I’d be in the car for over an hour. I had to pee so bad I couldn’t stand it and I was getting nervous that we’d miss the shuttle to the starting line (which was scheduled to stop running at 6am). We finally parked at 5:55am and ran over to the bus area…no time to use the port-a-potties!! I thought we’d have plenty of time by leaving so early and at this time I was afraid that we’d actually be late. We hopped on the bus (thank goodness because it was raining) and took what felt like the longest bus ride ever to the starting area. I ate an almond Pure Fit bar on the bus to top off breakfast and drank a few sips of water to wash down the dense and sticky power bar. My mission was to find a bathroom!! We got off the bus and followed the other runners toward the starting area. There was a huge row of port-a-potties (thank goodness)!!!! What I didn’t see at first was the crowd of about 2,000 people waiting to use them! I thought I was going to die…I even considered going in the bushes, but that was almost as crowded as the potty line. We waited and waited and this guy in front of us found a shorter line, so we quickly followed him. I was a bit relieved, but our line wasn’t moving very fast. Come to find out, one of the johns didn’t have TP. A girl behind me found someone with their own roll and asked for a little. She doled out a few squares to a couple of us. I ended up going in the potty with no TP and finally was able to pee (what a relief)….the only bad thing is that I also had to take care of business. The few squares of TP this nice girl gave me weren’t cutting it, so I had to tap into the stock of four tissues I had in my pocket. I ended up using all four tissues right off the bat hoping I didn’t need them later! Okay, now the bathroom mission was complete, the next thing on the agenda was to get to the starting line…it’s now about 6:55am and the race was scheduled to start at 7am! I’m practically knocking people over trying to get to corral 9. I made it just in the nick of time…I gave my mom hugs and kisses, handed her my hoodie and rain jacket and lined up behind the 4:00 hour pace group. I didn’t have time to get a good stretch in earlier, so I was trying to get my stretches in while waiting for our corral release.

Corral 9 took off around 7:15am…it’s now or never and with the craziness of the morning, I wasn’t sure my head was totally in it! I started out running with the pacer (I don’t know how those guys run for 26.2 miles carrying a little stick) and was feeling pretty good. We were right on pace for the first mile (8:59). We were running in the rain to start, but it didn’t matter because of all the built up excitement and adrenaline…the “rolling hills” didn’t even seem so bad at this point. I’m not sure when it stopped raining; I’m guessing round mile 2 or so…it was overcast and somewhat cool (50’s or 60’s)….good running weather. I wore my name on the front and back of my shirt and it was exhilarating hearing so many people cheering for me! A runner behind me commented on how popular I was and I said with a big smile, “I wonder why?” There was a college student passing out Country Music Marathon wrist bands shouting that he’d been up the last 48 hours studying (yeah right). Others were handing out tambourines and everyone rang red cow bells. At some point in the race, a group of people sitting in lawn chairs outside their house cheering everyone on had a huge sign with my name on it! It was even spelled the right way…even though it wasn’t meant for me, it was at that moment. I stayed with the 4:00 hour pack for about 4 miles, and then at the 4 mile mark, I felt really good (especially since I was going downhill). I struggle going up hills, so I was hoping that if I gained some ground, that I’d be able to keep up with them at the end. I was actually ahead of the pack (mile 5 - 8:44, mile 6 - 8:59). I kept hearing Ron Plantz’s voice saying “stick to your plan” and I thought I was doing so well that my plan was to put one foot in front of the other and keep running under a 9 minute mile….I even had visions of Boston in my head (I wasn’t really thinking straight). Well, that didn’t last long and at mile 7 I slowed down to a 9:15 pace and the pacer caught up to me (Mr. Steady Eddie). I hung with the group until about mile 12. Then the real fun began!
The ½ and full marathon courses split at about mile 11. The ½ marathoners went off to the right and the full marathoners went straight up a hill…oh the hills! I was starting to loathe them…they probably weren’t all that big, but my legs were getting really tired and the slightest incline was killing me! At this point I even thought that I’d turn right, go with the ½ marathoners and be done with the madness, but I kept on plugging along. The 4 hour group was getting farther and farther away, but according to my Garmin, my chances of a 4 hour marathon were still good. I wore a bracelet that gave me the time at each mile to accomplish a 4 hour finishing time. I also had the same information tattooed on my left arm and as a back-up a 4:15 finishing time table on my right arm. I was actually on target until about mile 16. The spectators had thinned out and it seemed like more than a mile would go by when I’d see the next band. Some bands were really good, some were bad (too loud and too much rock). I actually enjoyed the country bands even though I’m not a big country music fan. I think somewhere around mile 12 I saw the runners from corral 1 running by me (in the opposite direction). I marked the time (1:43) and remembered a building (some Packaging company) and 1 hour and 6 minutes later I passed the same building (around mile 18)! Whoa, they were running fast! The high school cheer leaders were awesome…I loved them. They’d cheer real loud and even ran with some of the runners. A lot of them would shout out my name real loud all at the same time. There was even a group of nuns cheering us on, then a “holy water” station right after (of course at the top of a hill). I needed all the help I could get at that point! I saw a blind guy running the full marathon with a guide. The guide was in the front and held onto two horizontal white poles while the blind guy held the poles behind him. How amazing is that! Sometime before mile 16 we went off the road and onto a paved trail…it was really desolate at that point…just runners and volunteers and a couple spectators here and there. Some lady tried talking to me and she said this was her 5th marathon; her personal best was something like a 4:26 and said she wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace. I didn’t feel much like talking, but I told her this is my first marathon…she gave me some encouraging words and I wished her well and started to walk. Shortly after that, I was getting the feeling that I was going to have the “runner’s trots”. I had eaten 2 chewable Imodium tablets before the race started and I had two more in my pack. Fortunately, there was a row of port-a-potties right when we came out of the trail (someone was looking out for me)! I ran to the nearest one and took care of business and thank goodness there was ample TP!! This is the first time I stopped moving for about 2 ½ hours…even with this minor break, I ran an 11:28 mile. I ate the remaining two Imodium tablets in hopes that they’d cover me for the last 10 miles….I was out of tissue and now out of Imodium! The next four miles were a blur and after the potty stop, my hope of a 4 hour marathon was gone. I started referring to my right arm which had the 4:15 finishing table on it. I tried to think of so many positive things, like my family (Mike, the kids, my parents), my friends and co-workers (you know who you are) and even asked for Jennie Hamilton’s help. I trained with my friend Tracy (who just ran the Boston Marathon in 3:49) and I was really missing her company. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get rid of the pain and I really wanted to be done! I knew I had blisters on my feet, my left leg hurt from my ankle up to my knee (I’ve been contending with plantar fasciitis, shin splints and knee problems), then my pelvic bone felt like it was splitting in half and the outside of my hips bones hurt so bad I could hardly run. Going around a corner at around mile 18, the nicest lady spectator cheered me on and said, “You’re almost there Kristi, you’ll be so happy when you cross the finish line”. I acknowledged what she said and started to cry, although no tears came out...those words carried me a while and kept me going. A little bit after that, I actually ate a packet of salt! It wasn’t even that bad especially since I chased it down with some water…what the heck, while in Rome, do what the Romans do….I then saw Mike, Andrew, Madalyn and my dad right before mile 20. I gave them high fives and I got all choked up again.

Okay, so everyone says the first half of the marathon is the 1st 20 miles and the second half is the last 6 miles. This couldn’t be more true!!! To make things even more challenging, the sun decided to come out to raise the temperatures (I could have used a little rain at this stage in the game). The last six miles looped around some park. We ran to the park, ran around a lake or pond, then back out of the park to LP Field. Going in and out of the park, the runners passed one another, so when I was at mile 22, I could see the 25 mile marker on the other side and boy I couldn’t wait to get to that other side! At one point when I started to walk, another nice lady runner said, “Come on Kristi, I know you can do this. I’ve been watching you for a long time.” I tried to pick it back up when I could and I’d pass her, then I’d walk, then I’d pass her, then I’d walk and so forth. She also helped keep me going. At another point during the last six miles, there was a Hispanic couple running by me speaking Spanish and jingling tambourine bells. At this point, everything was getting on my nerves and I couldn’t take it any longer…I finally stopped and walked to get away from the noise (although this was probably an excuse for me to walk). Some cheerleaders were handing out candy and I grabbed a piece of Double Bubble…I popped it in my mouth, chewed about 3 times and realized it was too much of an effort to chew the hardest gum in the world, so I immediately spit it out toward the lake. I was actually getting pretty hungry at this stage in the race, and I had already eaten all four of my Clif Shot energy gels…all I wanted were some orange slices and there were none to be seen! After going around the lake, some volunteers were handing out apple slices and Jolly Ranchers…this would have to do, so I grabbed an apple slice and a green apple Jolly Rancher. The candy gave me something to distract me a little, but I still took walk breaks every few minutes. Even with all the walking I did, I was in good shape for a 4:15 marathon until mile 25, then all of a sudden the 4:15 pacer and her group went flying by me….my new mission was to finish, whether I walked, crawled or rolled across that finish line. When I passed the 25 mile marker, I got all emotional again, even though I only had just over a mile left, I didn’t think I could do it anymore, my eyes welled up, but no tears would come out. Some people were handing out beer at around mile 25…I seriously considered taking one, but passed up the offer…no amount of beer was going to numb my pain and I was too close to the end anyway…I think they were also passing out coffee at the end too….kind of weird! I was getting ready to walk again when some guy shouted out, “You only have 0.6 miles to go, you can do it!” I thought, there’s no way I’m walking now…I can’t cross that finish line walking, so I picked up the pace and gave it my all the last 0.6 miles. The crowd was yelling and cheering so loud. I ran so hard that I couldn’t feel anything anymore…as I crossed the finish line, a guy announced my name….wow, what an amazing feeling after all the craziness that just happened; it was just amazing. I’ll have to say that this was a very humbling experience for me because I am an overachiever and thrive on success, on meeting and exceeding my goals. I had my heart set for finishing in 4 hours (if you couldn’t tell from my narrative), but I’ll have to say that I’m very happy that I finished my first marathon in 4:21:12.

My family (Mike, Andrew, Madalyn, and my mom & dad) were there at the finish. They looked a little confused when I saw them and I think it was because I wasn’t jumping for joy. They asked if I was okay and I probably said no. My body hurt and I was starving! I needed something to eat, so I walked over to the tents to get some food. All I wanted were some orange slices and there were none to be seen…I guess I’ll need to bring my own oranges next time since that’s all I wanted to eat. Mike joined me while I ate a bagel and two little containers of peaches. I also found a little patch of grass so I could stretch. After a few minutes, I got up, grabbed a bottled water, had my picture taken with my finishing medal and walked over to my family. Before we left, I stopped over at the medical tent to have my blisters and knee taken care of. Thank goodness I had my Crocs because my feet were a mess…two really nice girls took care of my feet and wrapped an ice pack around my left knee. I grabbed my free beer as I hobbled over to the car.

My mom ran the half marathon. This was her first ½ marathon and she did awesome! She enjoyed every second of the race and I’m so proud that she accomplished her goal. In fact, she beat her time goal by about 15 minutes! She wanted to finish in 3 hours and she finished in 2:46:38. She was grinning ear to ear the whole day and she was celebrating in all of her pictures during and after the race. I’m so thankful that I was there with my mom for her first big race. She even carried her 13.1 mile keychain (the one I got her at the Expo on Friday) the whole way! She was able to survive on eating only one package of Jelly Belly Sport Beans and also avoided drinking the horrible tasting Accelerade. My mom now wants to run a full marathon….this running thing sure is addicting! I’m so very proud of you Mom!!

After we got back to the hotel, my mom and I relaxed on lounge chairs and iced our legs while Andrew and Madalyn swam. I debated on taking an ice bath, but I couldn’t bring myself to sit in ice cold water. After the kids were tired of swimming, we got around and went to Darfon’s Restaurant for dinner. I ordered grilled salmon…mmm, it was so good! Mike, my mom and I enjoyed a glass of Crane Lake Merlot and decided to have another, so I said, what the heck, I just ran a marathon, let’s order a bottle! At home, we can buy a bottle of Crane Lake wine for $3...it was so weird to see “cheap” wine on the menu of a nice restaurant for $20/bottle! After we finished dinner, we actually made it back to the hotel in time for Happy Hour! I had one more drink…what the heck; I just ran a marathon, right? That was my excuse and I was going with it for the rest of the night….it’s not every day that I run 26.2 miles and burn over 4,500 calories; I figured I deserved a treat! We went up to the hotel room; I played a game with the kids, and then went to bed relatively early.

My parents left at 4am on Sunday morning to catch their flight back to Michigan. Mike, the kids and I took our time getting around in the morning…we took advantage of the complimentary breakfast one more time, and then hit the road. We stopped in Kentucky on the way back to Indiana and took a cave tour at Mammoth Cave. It was a nice little side trip and we all enjoyed the sights of the caves. We arrived home at about 8pm Sunday night…back to reality and back to work on Monday. I’ve already been asked if I’m doing another marathon….without question, the answer is “YES”! I just need some time for my shin splints to heal and I’ll be back at it again. Now I know what it feels like to run a full marathon so my goal next time around is to figure out how to quarantine the pain and not allow it to beat me down. I will get a 4:00 hour marathon before I leave this planet…it may not be the next one, but with time and experience, I know I can do it!

Before I close, I want to thank everyone for your support. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people. I also have to thank my family for supporting my running...this is something I do for myself and it takes me away from you, but in the end it makes me a better person. I love you all more than you'll ever know....Mike, thanks for holding things together the last several months while I was working and running. Finishing this marathon really means a lot to me and again, I appreciate everyone's support, prayers, cheers and well wishes. "Don't follow your dreams; chase them" (quote by Richard Dumb).