Country Music Marathon

My third marathon took place in Nashville in April 2008. My aunt Sandy had been asking me for a while to run in the marathon in Nashville. They live in Franklin, so she said we could stay with them and she would pay for my race fee. I really prepared well for this one. It was a really organized marathon. I had no idea how big the race was going to be. They had over 20,000 runners. It was huge! Auburn and Melina did a mile run the night before the marathon. They did well and got a real medal for finishing the race. They had a lot of fun. They got to shake Jeff Fisher's (Tennessee Titans head football coach) hand as they crossed the finish line. They had no idea who he was. Daddy knew and thought it was cool. The course had more hills than I anticipated. I held up pretty well the first half of the marathon. I was determined to reach my goal of running under 4 hours. I stayed with one of the pace runners. They have runners that hold up a sign during the race for what time they will finish. I found the one with 4 hours and I was going to stay with him no matter what. We had about 30 people running in the group. Unfortunately, we only ended up with 3 of us at the end. You have so many emotions that go through your mind when you are running a marathon. You get angry, sad, happy, and there are usually some tears mixed in there. Towards the end of the marathon, I was starting to get mad at the pace runner. I couldn't figure out why he was running so fast the last couple of miles. I don't think he was running faster, I just think I was really tired toward the end of the race. I stayed with him. I had to hit it pretty hard the last couple of hundred yards to make sure I finished in time. My finish time was 3 hours 59 minutes and 17 seconds. I actually did it! I was so excited. My body sure paid the price. I didn't hit the wall during the race, but I felt like I ran into one after the race. When I stopped running at the finish line, I almost collapsed. I was hurting pretty bad for the next couple of days. The whole drive home from Nashville, I was thinking about which marathon I was going to run next. Marathons are addicting. I started out only wanting to run one and now I want to run as many as I can while I am physically able to do so. The Nashville Marathon was by far my best running experience. I look forward to the marathons in Miami and Tampa for 2009. Next up is the Boston mini-marathon October 25. My dad is going to run that one with me after having double knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago. He is excited and he will do great. I am there to run at his pace and cross the finish line with him. Hopefully his knees can hold up so he can run the marathon with me in Miami.