Country Music Marathon

On Saturday, I ran the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN. This was my third time to ATTEMPT this course! The first time I ran it, I ran it in 4:57. The second time I ran it, I did it in 4:13. Then, this time I did it in 4:26. My goal was 4:00, but oh well! I did all I could do! This was the 10th Anniversary, and they said it was the hottest one of all 10! I will not argue against that. When I passed mile 16, I saw a sign that said it was 80 degrees. I have not trained in any hot weather. However, I have trained in sleet, snow, high winds, and thunderstorms! Our whole group was a littled bummed because of the conditions. None of us were able to acheive all goals. Sadly, a 26 year old man collapsed at the finish line and died. I have never seen so many sick people out there on the course. They said over 40 runners were taken off by ambulance. Even though it was the hardest thing I have ever done (yes, even harder than my first one), I have no regrets! It was still a wonderful weekend. Here are several pictures from the weekend. I hope I do not bore you, but it is an amazing site to see. There were over 31,000 runners!

Austin brought me this yummy cookie on Thursday. He helped me "CARB UP" for my big day!
This is Mr. David and I after the race. We ate BIG at Hard Rock Cafe.

This is Mrs. Shelley, Mrs. Lisa (a running buddy), and me at the Expo on Friday. We went there to pick up our race stuff and shop a little. We laughed that we all 3 showed up wearing green.

Mrs. Shelley and Mrs. Lisa ran the 1/2 marathon together.

This is an amazing site. The wheelchair particpants make me cry every year. All I can say is WOW!

In the black and yellow is my brother. He just finished the 1/2 marathon. Next to him is Mrs. Lisa. Bless her heart, she is just a crying!

Her comes Mr. David headed to the finish line.

He had a great race until about mile 20. His goal was 3:30, but finished in 4:06. Last year, he finished in 3:45.

Here I come. I was so happy to FINALLY see someone I knew on the side!

Then, I saw some more friends from church on the other side. I could not believe it!

There I am taking off to the FINISH!

Here I am coming up on the finish line with two friends from church, Brad Stepp and Ron Woodall! Thank you guys for pulling me in!!!

This is the start line.

This is all of us complaining at the end!

We were all sharing our horror stories. The best part of the race was the sponges they gave us at the finish line. They were soaked in ice cold water. Man, they felt good!

Mr. David, me, and my brother after the race!

This is one our good buddies, Patrick Rasco, at the finish line. He finished in 5:35. Last year, he finished in 4:57.

Brad and David after the race with their shoes OFF!

This is me wishing my brother good luck at the start line!

This is us waiting to start!

Still waiting to start!

Several of us waiting to go to the start line! I was a nervous wreck! The feeling in my stomach was YUCK!

Here we are! Mrs. Shelley, Megan, Lisa, Me, Reese (Lisa's husband), and Patrick. Where is Mr.David and my brother?

Here we go to our position at the start line. We were all in corral 6.

A picture of the start line.