My first 13.1 (in detail)

Well, it has taken me some time to get to this post, but I'm here and here it is.  I'll get back to that in a bit.

So, the week before my 13.1 I was carb loading.  That was probably my favorite part (just kidding).  I did get to enjoy a nice multigrain/granola and fruit stack of pancakes at Cracker Barrell the night before we left town.

Friday morning was the day to head out of town.  I got all packed.  Packing for a race is rather stressful because if you forget something it could be the difference in being miserable or enjoying the race.  I made my list and double triple checked it and had others check to make sure I didn't leave something off the list. Finally I was packed.

We headed out of town.... I was ready but very nervous.  Not nervous like I had been early in the week, I was now more excited than anything.  I was really going to do this!!!

 I was glad my hubby took a day to go with me as well.

I was still being all girl on the way to the race, I freshened up my nail polish and had to dry my nails out the sunroof, it was quite effective!

 I got butterflies when I saw the Nashville skyline, only 45 minutes from home, I've been there a million times, but this time was different.  I would be running through the skyline this time and it was a bit different.

After a snack at Chic-Fil-A, I was ready to head in and get registered!

 Once I had my bib and my shirt there was no turning back!!! I was so excited!!!

 HERE I AM!!!! Ready to Rock'n'Roll!!!

 I was amused by the fitting room in the Brooks merchandise area.

 I got a super cool gait analysis at the Brooks area.  I got on a treadmill, they used an ipad attached to the back of the treadmill to video my running.  They then paused it on each foot and used their angle thingy that you see here to determine how much I pronate.  It turns out that I do pronate, but not as badly as I thought I did.... the girl there told me that she has seen ankle bones touch the ground before OMG!!!! They talked about types of shoes that would be good for me (my Sauconys that I run in fit my gait well... yay! Good to know the night before a race... can you imagine them being like "your shoes are a terrible fit for you" the day before.  YIKES.  They emailed me my pictures and info.  This is just a picture I took while she talked to me. You see below that my hubby also did the gait analysis and found out that he too runs in good shoes for his gait!

 I found some Cancer Society ribbons for my bib that I was excited about.  When you run across things like that it makes what you are doing so real and it makes you so thankful to have the ability.  My buddy Zach is a former student that is fighting Leukemia at St. Judes and Nola is one of my best friends from College (and before) that is my age and currently fighting bladder cancer.  She found out she had cancer just a week or so before my race.  She has undergone one surgery and is scheduled for a second this week. Please keep her and her husband in your prayers.

I really liked seeing the convertible Nissan Miranu.  Very cool idea.

 Here are my bibs the night before.  I added my ribbons and then also had a St. Jude bib to wear in honor of my buddy Zach. (i ended up not getting to wear it, but sent it to him afterward)

 Here are my people I was thinking of while I prepared for my race... they are frequently in my mind and heart.

Ready to load the shuttle

Below you see us riding the shuttle, at that point it was a nervous feeling... my brother was still feeding me WHeat thins (spoken like on the family guy commercial) and I knew there was no turning back, even though there had been no turning back since Nov. it felt real now.

So our dad has this amazing ability to be an "emergency ninja" when the need be, well the need was that morning.  I left my time chip in the bedroom at the condo.. oooops, so I was freaking out, my brother was calm and my sis in law was in the middle... lol. Somehow, dad got out of bed, found the chip, got dressed, drove downtown and was at the swag bag check before the shuttle got us there.  crazy skills dad.  thanks.

Jason attaching my time chip, now its really really real

 I think I'm ready. Notice the super tight shirt, we had a printing fail with my shirt that I had picked out for the race, so my brother loaned me one of his.  My brother is a thin guy, I'm an overweight girl who's  chest measurements aren't the same as my thin brother. This made for a very tight shirt, but it worked out well, it was comfortable, it felt like a second skin..... looked like it too, LOL

Port a potty line!

 Waiting in line, candid video, didn't know he was videoing. lol Shout out to Cousin Dave who's facebook status I was reading.... the funny part is the last second "are you video taping me?"

 More port a potty lines

 Dropping Jamie off at her corral

 Port a Potty 360* picture, seriously everyone needs to pee

Jason and Jamie

 360* view of the corrals

 READY or NOT here we gooooooo!!!

At this point I needed to pee....

 I still needed to pee and look at all the people looking for a place to pee, even if they look ready, they weren't I guarantee you they needed to pee.

 We tried a few spots to pee, Panera was deceiving, looked empty, had a long line... Jason said "Sometimes when you are really hydrated you feel like you need to go but you don't, just get started running and we'll see"

My response, "no, I gotta pee, please believe me!"

I found a secluded parking lot tucked between a few buildings.  Thank goodness for super short compression shorts under my running skirt, treat it like a swim suit, pull the clothes to the side, squat and go!!! (can't believe I"m posting this, but its the honest truth of the day) Funny part was I wasn't alone back there, but all those other girls didn't have the luxury of pulling clothes to the side, bless their hearts!

My brother laughed for quite some time.

 Now, relieved from my need to pee here I am focused on the task ahead.

See the gal in the NY had and blue tank right behind me.  Ok ... true story.  I follow at runner on twitter @katierunsthis and she posted something the day after the race about being thankful for our bodies abilities to run,  so I posted back and said I was thankful for my soreness.  I gained a follower or two from that post and noticed that one of them had just run her first 13.1 the day before as well.  (keep in mind 40,000 people ran in Nashville).  So, I tweeted to her and asked where she ran.  Well I couldn't believe it, she ran in Nashville.  I mentioned that I ran in a run2walk shirt after learning that I was at her finishing pace when I began and we started in the same corral, so then she remembered seeing me run by in the run2walk shirt.... so next, I look at her profile picture and recognized the NY hat and looked at this picture and tweeted it to her.. That is her RIGHT BEHIND ME! Unbelievably SMALL WORLD!!!!! 

 Off we goooooooooo!!!!!

At this point in my mind "13 more miles to go... oh my goodness!!!!"

 Hydration was so important, but I normally had to slow down a bit to drink water... I drank at EVERY SINGLE STATION... so important. Let me tell ya though two things:

*** wet wax cups get slick!!!

*** sloshy stomach is no good (i only got it once from gatorade, it went away quick)

 This is a couple that always sets outside dressed to the nines with champaign... tried to take a picture with them, ended up as a video.. oh well.

 Here I gooo, still feeling good

 uphill.... I had a rule, "I will not be a hill walker" lots of people walk up the hills and run down and on flat ground.  I didn't want to do that.  As far as Nashville being hilly.. yes it is, but I trained some in Knoxville on some super mean hills.  So I did fine.  At mile 6 I stopped at a port a potty!!! DISGUSTING! Runners dont have time to be neat about it... but my brother was like "I'm so glad you had to pee!, because a lot of people at this point aren't hydrated enough, the fact that you peed at the half way point is awesome" Lots of pee talk!

Mile 10ish, I was exhausted and these girls are HILARIOUS!!!

Their signs said "run like there's cake at the end" and "you're sexy and you know it" They were playing LMFAO "Sexy and I know it" sooo funny.

After this point when I got GU (my favorite part), my brother had me pick up my pace to the end.  It wasn't easy but I went.

 Almost done here... feeling good.

I got VERY tired at the end, my legs were hurting, I was just exhausted, but the people cheering for you the last few miles makes it easier, Also sprinting the last .25 miles is awesome!!!!

Ice the knees at the end, you can see the exhaustion in my face here for sure, soon after this picture, very soon is when I hit the medical tent for the next hour to get my heart rate steady again.

At the condo afterward.... ready to shower!!!!!!! 

 My bib and metal afterward.... a bit of wear!!! My brother had my metal engraved for me.  Very nice!

 Jason and Jamie bought my 13.1 sticker for me and gave it to me there... Dad put them on for me! YAY!!

 check out those dirty sweat marks.  That's a sign of hard work in my book!

 Epsom salt and Runner's world in the bathtub the next day.  Relieve the soreness from yesterday and plan for the next time I run.

 I went to the doctor for the heart episode I had after the race.... he ran an EKG (normal), bloodwork (normal) and told me to reduce stress, so I headed right to get a pedicure, it was sooooo great!

Below you can see the super fun heart monitor that I've been sporting for two weeks now.  I only have a few shirts that completely hide the monitor and so I just had to embrace it and sport it.  After getting the monitor I'm not going to lie, I got a bit down about it all.  I had been excited to run another half, but now I'm scared to run one because of the episode that I had after this one.  My doctor cleared me before I ran nashville, so I'll just have to get his clearance again. I don't want to live in fear of these things.  God doesn't want me to live in fear, so I'm trying to have the best faith that I can that whatever caused the episode will be determined so that I can run again with no episodes.

I quit running, I quit eating right.  It started out as a week "off" and now thats turned into three weeks off, as my blog readers know I have taken three weeks to make this post.  That is unusual for me and I apologize.  School gets out tomorrow and I have full intension to get back at this full force, I saw myself in some photos on the band slide show during the band banquet earlier this week and was not pleased with what I saw.  I've lost inches since then for sure, but I know I don't want to go back and I have so much further to go.  Sometimes I wonder if I can ever get to that goal weight and be thin.  It seems so far away, but not exercising and not eating right certainly won't get me there.  Two weeks ago my husband go a pink slip at work, its kinda complicated, but he is a GREAT band director that just happened to be lowest on the totum pole in our county.  Long story short after 4 days of stress and emotional eating the superintendent personally gave him his job back and had figured out a way to keep him.  So that is no longer an issue thank goodness.... those of you that follow me on Twitter were praying for me and didnt' know why, but that was why.

I have a plan to get faster at my 5K time, so I will be starting couch to 5K again along with continuing some long runs.  the couch to 5K is not because I'm on the couch and can't do the 5K, but it is an excellent interval workout and will help increase my speed.  My trainer texted me in the midst of my stress with the job situation and asked what she could do to help.  I just requested that we meet asap and continue training during the summer months while I'm off work.  I hope and pray that this summer can be a real breakthrough for me and my workouts/weightloss.  I'll be back on myfitnesspal this weekend and will be blogging much more frequently... please help me stay motivated until I start to see success again.  I truly appreciate my twitter followers, my facebook friends, my friends on myfitnesspal, and my friends and family to keep me accountable.  I have accomplished a huge goal, it is no time to stop.  I must go on!!! I will go on!!! Below is a picture of me this past Saturday in Nashville (that shirt hides the monitor super good) I was at a car show at LP field with my husband and father in law.  The finish line is still on the pavement.  Nothing like walking back across that finish line and getting a kick in the booty to remind me that I'm off track.  

Run2Walk, our half training for teachers, and the choir's Zumba night got blurbs in the healthy living section of my school's year book! YAY!

Thanks for reading my VERY long and detailed post about the half marathon.  Please ask questions about anything that I may not have discussed that you wondered about.  Please keep in touch and keep me accountable as I move on to set and accomplish new goals!

Thanks!!!