Country Music Marathon...for Carrie...and the storms of life

My Nashville Country Music Marathon recap:

While on my flight to Nashville I tried to get psyched for my next 26.2, but the only thing on my mind was my IT band. I've been icing, stretching, resting, and popping pain pills like candy (ok not quite that bad, but you know what I mean). Aside from my marathons these past 2 weeks, I've held off from running, but I was still very hesitant to believe it's any better. This is not the time for my body to fall apart! I have a long way to go still, and this journey all comes down to one week at a time. Pain aside, the weather was looking to be really ugly with a possibility of tornadoes. Worst case scenario the race could be canceled and as you can imagine that would be highly devastating for me! I tried not to worry about that aspect of everything since it was totally out of my control. I tried to just focus on what I can do, which right then felt like so little!

I landed in Nashville and it was an absolutely beautiful, warm, sunny day. I was having a hard time imaging that it was going to get stormy and nasty on race day. The weather information had been all over the place from rain showers to tornado warnings. It wasn't looking good and the more information I saw, the more concerned I became. At the airport I met up with Aaron, one of my Facebook friends who had just run Boston on Monday. He was helping me with a place to stay and I was helping him with a rental car so it worked out nicely.

 Sign at the airport - welcome to Country Music folks!

We went straight to the expo and I happened to run into April, another Facebook friend who just recently ran her first full marathon. I was so happy to get to meet her and talk for a few minutes. Given the fact that there were thousands of people attending the expo it was thrilling to find her there!  I also got to meet a few other ladies that had read about me in a newspaper article and were following what I was doing. I have to say it felt a bit weird to have people recognize me, but with the tats and all I guess I do stand out quite a bit!

April and I

Me again, with Aaron

I also got to meet up with Matt Jenkins, yes another Facebook friend, and amazing (and insane) runner. He's beyond a marathon junkie and is really putting his endurance to the test this summer with a 760 mile, self supported, barefoot trek across the state of North Carolina! He's raising money for the Western Youth Network (providing after school, prevention and mentoring programs for middle school students) and similar charities. I urge you all to check out Matt's Page, and his Facebook . It's really amazing and I know he needs all the support he can get!

 And this time with Matt

From there we checked into the hotel to take a load off. I spent most of the afternoon taking it easy and desperately trying to work out the knots in my IT band. I was noticing the discomfort just walking and it made me extremely nervous. Then I got an email that sent my stress hormones into overdrive. The race committee was addressing the expected weather situation on race day, stating it was likely that they would have to close the marathon course early and those people unable to finish under 4:30 would be pulled. They had a target time for people to hit 11.2 miles and those unable to make the cut off would be rerouted to the half marathon finish. Apparently this weather was looking to be the worst to hit Nashville this year.

That news hit me like a bomb. Knowing that I had run a 4:37 and 4:38 the past 2 weekends coupled with the fact that my leg was still an issue made me feel really scared. I knew the weather was out of my control, but If it came down to me not being able to keep pace for a 4:30 finish and being pulled from the course, well , quite honestly, I didn't know how I was going to handle that. I had no confidence that I could pull off a sub 4:30, but I was going to do everything in my power to try.

Like every other marathon I got everything ready for the morning. I had yet another plate of pasta for carb loading.  Just the same, the weather, my leg, and the 4:30 possible cut off time was all I could focus on.

Race morning the alarm went off at 4:15 and very quickly I was on my way down to the LP Field to park and take the shuttle to the start. While standing in line for the shuttles I noticed the sky above was dark and red. It was an eerie sight and I wish I had taken a picture of it. Amazingly by the time we got to the start area, the sun had come up and it was looking to be a beautiful day. I talked with several people about what was going on weather wise and everyone was telling me the previous projected storm had been lightened. It didn't seem to be posing as big of a threat as before. I was excited to hear that, but still in the back of my mind I wondered if it would hold. I was very determined to make 11.2 miles before the possible cut off and kept that in the forefront of my mind. With a wave start it took about 12 minutes after the gun sounded for me to cross the start mart. Between the marathon and half marathoners there were some 30,000 participants and it was just a sea of people for miles and miles. Usually after a couple miles things become less congested, but I still found myself weaving through people 8 miles in.

 The Parthenon in Centennial Park by the start line is a full scale reconstruction of the original Greek Parthenon

Right away I felt my leg. I felt like I was running with a bit of a limp and honestly felt like I was 80 years old with arthritis. My leg just didn't want to move the way it should. These nagging pains makes it hard to focus on much else and I don't get to fully enjoy all the beauty around me. It takes away from the experience and having to feel that way at mile 1 made me very uncomfortable with the idea of another 25 to go. After a couple miles I felt a little better, or at least in a better groove. I think my muscles had warmed up and that made it a little easier, but I still felt it with every step.

The first couple miles running downtown Nashville

Nashville itself was a fun place to run and was totally dominated by the music scene. Being a huge fan of lots of different kinds of music it was fun to be in such an artistic place.

 My kind of art!

Nashville was much different than I had expected and these folks know how to party! I saw lots of spectators cheering us on while having their own little party, beer and all. They were drinking and cheering well before 9am! They even had a couple beer stops on the course and I stopped at 2 of them. I figured maybe the beer would help mask the pain a little and besides on a warm, muggy day, cold beer hits the spot, even if its at mile 11! I was determined to make this a fun day no matter what!

 Oh yeah, my kind of aid stop!

Band playing on the course

 Cool statue on the course

The crowd support was great and as always with Rock 'n' Roll events there were plenty of bands on the course to keep us motivated. I felt it was perfect that I was running a music-oriented marathon since I was running this marathon for Carrie. She is 11 years old and lives in the Ngqeleni District of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Like the other children I have run for, Carrie is an orphan. She lives with 5 other siblings and cousins. In school she likes English and technology. She likes to dance and says when she listens to music she feels happy. I was thinking of how much she would have enjoyed all the bands.

 Yes this sign was just what I needed to remember

There were lots of tributes to bands on the course, including the Kiss girls that totally decked out and rocked out for the event. And even Elvis volunteered to direct runners on the course.

 They totally rocked!

Elvis lives!

Well into the second half of the race it was still sunny and muggy. There didn't look to be any storm clouds in the sky. I started to relax a little. This was looking a lot better than projected. The miles continued on and even with my slow pace I was hitting for right around a 4:30 finish. By mile 17-18 the clouds began to shift, the wind picked up, and I was quickly realized that the rain was coming.

 Heading into this interesting tunnel around mile 17

It started to rain slightly when I got to mile 19 and then I saw a couple flashes of lightning. I crossed the mat for mile 20 and saw that race volunteers were directing us to join in with 1/2 marathon walkers. I continued on, not exactly sure if they were going to make us finish short; and as we rounded the corner there was the 1/2 marathon finish line. We crossed and I stopped in disbelief.  I looked at my Garmin and saw that I had run only 20.70 miles! I started talking with the other full marathon runners around me. One girl looked very visablly upset, as though she was about to break out in tears. I asked her, "was this your first marathon?" She shook her head yes. I can only imagine how upsetting it would be to train solely for this event and not be able to finish. Everyone was upset and by now the rain was coming down harder. They gave out medals, I grabbed a banana and abruptly left the finish area.

I went straight to my car and, quite honestly, I broke down in tears myself. I rarely cry, but at this moment, as the rain hit my windshield and the parking lot had become a battered mess of people and vehicles all trying to leave, I couldn't hold back my emotion. It had been my greatest fear that I would get to 20+ miles and be pulled. Now it was my reality.

After 40 minutes of waiting in an endless line of cars I was finally able to get out of the parking lot and I knew exactly where I was going. I changed out of my rain soaked clothes, found the closest Anytime Fitness Gym and got on the treadmill to finish the last 5 1/2 miles of my race. While driving there the weather became much more severe, with the rain falling so heavy I could hardly read the road signs and some horrific sounding thunder/lightening. The Weather Channel was listing Nashville as having a 7 out of 10 chance of tornadoes. I was just happy to make it to the gym safe without floating off the road. 

The last of my marathon, 5.5 miles in 55 minutes

I was very, very, upset about the situation, especially since the real severe weather didn't start until almost an hour after I left the race. But a phone call with my mom made me look at it differently. As there were thousands of people attending the race, the officials had to call the race with enough time to allow everyone to get out. I know safety is always #1, but I didn't know what to do with my situation. I finished my marathon on the treadmill, but I didn't finish on the course. I debated about trying to get a last minute plane ticket to Oklahoma, as they had a marathon Sunday morning. I started thinking about doing a double one weekend, running marathons on both Sat and Sun. I just didn't know what I should do. I headed back to the airport and after thinking everything over and looking into my options I decided to stick with my original plan to head home. I knew my IT band wasn't up for another 26.2 the next day and if I did a do a double I'd have to schedule that down the road.

This weekend was frustrating and stressful, but I did run 26.2, despite the conditions. Someone at the race wore a shirt that read if you want to see the rainbow you have to make it through the storm. I made it through, even if not in the way expected or planned. I have to remember that running these marathons is about impacting others lives. Storms are a part of our lives and the rainbow at the end of this trip is knowing that kids lives are being changed, Carrie's life is being changed. Maybe I had to deal with the rain and a closed course, but I know its not like the storms Carrie and these other children face, the lack of food, a safe environment, health care and most of all, someone to love them. I won't allow weather to take anything away from this day for Carrie. I hope through this, through your support and donations she will see the rainbow in her life.

 Carrie

“I ain't no saint, but I have tried never to do anything that would hurt my family or offend God. I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe” - Elvis Presley

Medal