I completed this year's Contry Music 1/2 Marathon!!!!

For those of you who dont know, I have been training for the Country Music Marathon in Nashville since Jan. 1. I added up my total milage from all of this and I have run 307.5 miles. All I can say is I am soo glad to be on this side of it all. Here is a brief recap. Around Christmas time some of our neighbors were talking about doing a half marathon. Well, I swore I would never do another one but it all sounded like such fun that I decided to do it and Allen was drug into it as well. So 6 of us sign up, pay our money and plan to train. Almost immediately Katherine realizes she has a wedding that weekend... she is out! So there goes her money. Then the next to fall (literally) was Ashley. Her IT band started hurting so she decided to take it easy for a while and let it heal... rollerblading would be the answer! That would have been great if she had known how to stop. Yes, she fell and hurt her other knee. So she never did heal enough to finish the training. Last to fall off the band wagon was Russ. Something about his foot... he was hurt and didnt want to cause long term damage. So 3 out of the 6 of us braved the race - me, Allen and Adam.

Adam didnt want to run alone but he had put a slower pace time on his registration so he was further back in the line. Allen and I decided to join him and just start with a slower coral. It didnt matter except I spent the whole race running zig zag trying to pass slow pokes! Well about mile 1 I left Allen and Adam. I wanted to do my personal best and they didnt want to hang with my speed. soooo... the next thing I know my competitive husband is right by my side. We get to about mile 6 and he knows that this is when i tend to slow down a bit. Mentally the mid way point just kills me! I feel like I have been running forever but yet I am only half way done! Anyway, that is when Allen is feeling his best for whatever reason so he says he is going to try and put some distance between us. WELLL... heck no! so he is booking it through the crowd and I stayed right on his coat tails. There was no way I was letting him ahead of me if I could help it. So he gave it his all and the next thing I know... he isnt with me. I was pretty sure I was ahead of him but not positive. So I kept running and tried not to slow down... just in case I really was in front. I just knew that he was going to come out of nowhere like a flash and leave me in the dust... if he hadnt snuck by already! About mile 10 I started feeling like I was getting blisters on my feet. By the end I was just glad I crossed the finish line. I have the biggest blister ever! I really thought I would take my shoes off to see bloody feet. But it wasnt as bad as it felt.

Anyway, the moral is that I finished in 2:00 and that put me at a 9.14 min mile. Allen, 2:11 and that put him at a 10.03 min mile.

I am the winner!!!!!!!!! Now who is the competitive one? me or him? I cant tell...


This is me in mid stride... nice shot, Ashley! The other pic she took of me could definitely be used as blackmail... it was horrible! oh well, i felt horrible!
Here we all are after the race. The three finishers!

And I especially like this shot because it looks like Ashley ran and I didnt... too funny! Wish she could have been there running beside me!