What can I say but to sum it up like this: 26.2 miles is worth respect. Lots & lots of respect.
The whole 2 days of the weekend have been a blast. And here's the jest of it. Good luck with reading!
St. Jude Hospital Tour
Walked in to the lobby of St. Jude Hospital to check in for the tour and immediately met someone from online. I'm really love social networking; blogs, Twitter, Bacebook. You can meet some awesome people that way. Anyway, I met Kevin from Run Dando Run!. I found his blog one day and made a comment about one of his training runs. We were both doing our first marathon and using the same training plan. I've been following his blog for a few weeks now.
Brent & I went on the tour, along with Kevin, we it was again, so moving to see. This time we went into the Chili's Care Center which I didn't get to into last year. Unfortunately, last year we were able to go into a wing where they do the treatment for the patients but they closed it off this year. So I'm glad I was able to go last year and see the patients getting their chemotherapy. Made it all that much more real. I must admit, the tour guide was not as great as the one I had this year. But he said that he doesn't give many tours at all.
St. Jude Expo
Then it was to the Expo where Brent & I picked up our packets and went through the booths. I did in fact buy something from OneMoreMile.net. Last year, my father bought a shirt that said 13.1 miles Been there, Run that. This year, I bought underwear that said 26.2 miles Been there, Run that. I dropped off my remaining money at the St. Jude Heroes section and then also picked up my tickets for the Pasta Dinner.
Brent & I then went to our hotel in Southaven and got all situated in that we laid out our clothes and put our chips on our shoes and our bibs on our shirts. I had 2 outfits to choose from (Outfit 1 and Outfit 2) and then what I was going to wear no matter what and then my St. Jude jersey.
St. Jude Heroes Pasta Dinner
We headed to the Peabody Hotel where the Pasta Dinner was held. We arrived a little early but there was still a line. Once we got our tickets checked and our table, we waited for Kevin & his wife. When they arrived, we all sat at a table together. It was so great to share this with someone. Dinner was severed in that it was a buffet and the best part it was ALL VEGETARIAN!! They had a speaker that was a father whose adopted daughter ("born of our hearts") developed cancer. He choked back tears the entire speech which made it hard for me to do the same. After the speech, they handed out the awards for top teams & individual fundraisers. It was pretty much the same team from last year except for one.
We went shopping at Wal-Mart to pick up last minute items and back to the hotel room to try to get some shut eye. I did in fact get some sleep but 5:45a came way too early. They had a St. Jude Heroes picture at the start of the 5k at 6:45a unfortunately we didn't make it there in time. Kevin told me at the dinner that he didn't get a St. Jude jersey but I had grabbed one from this year but I thought it was way too big for me so I used last years. I told Kevin that I could give him the one that I picked up. So he met up with us at the start of the 5k and he was very thankful for getting it. No problemo.
St. Jude Memphis Grizzlies House 5k
Brent did in fact dress up as his chicken. He was very brave to do it! I got a few pics of his at the start of his 5k at 7:15a and he took off running. I went to the stadium to get a good place near his finish line and just waited for him to finish. Luckily, he arrived with 10 minutes before the start of my race. I got good pictures of him running across the finish line and then getting his medal. "Why did the chicken cross the St. Jude 5k finish line?" "To get his medal!"
St. Jude Memphis Marathon
We made it over to my corral with 5 minutes to spare!! So Brent was still wearing chicken outfit. He was getting all sorts of pictures taken of him with other runners. Then a guy I recently met on Twitter came over. He was dressed as a parrot. He knew that Brent was dressed was dressed up as a chicken so he asked about me. We had a friend in common on Twitter and he asked if I've seen her but there was so many people and I just arrived that I hadn't. Then the gun went off. We all moved up and Brent stayed behind. I had told him where my family was at. Unfortunately, as I was moving up, my iPod crashed. :-( So I texted my brother John saying that I was going to give him the iPod and hopefully he can fix it before 3 miles. I dropped it off to my Dad and told him that it was broken and that John was going to fix it.
Then I went off running for 3 miles without music. There was enough people talking though that it wasn't too bad. I even heard that one lady was talking about running into her students at bars and it just weird. Then I remembered what my friend Rob said about being friended on MySpace & Facebook so I mentioned that to her. She said what Rob did, she pretends to ignore it until the end of the semester.
Along Riverside Dr. there was nothing but a bunch of clothes on the ground. I wore Brent's fleece and running pants. I knew that by mile 3 when I saw my family, I would take off my fleece so I waited. There was one tree that was growing clothes!!
John did in fact fix my iPod so I was able to get it on and gave my fleece to Dad. Brent or David and his family wasn't there at mile 3. And off I went on with my run.
10k mat and I was estimated to finish in 4:22 and I was very happy with that. Soon 8 miles just flew by. And I was still feeling fine. This is great! Soon I was entering in Overton Park. Then I saw a costume that I saw last year, the gorilla but this time he was joined by a banana.
Back out of the park and to the split area of the half & full marathon. It was lonely looking at the half marathoner's go one way and I go another. Especially when I looked in front of me and there were quite a few less than before (8,000 in half and only 3,000 in full).
Cross 13 miles. I knew that my family was waiting for me again at halfway. Then I saw 13.1 and the mat that I cross that tells my time and those who signed up for my tracking. I looked for my family and there was the big ole chicken! I stopped and changed out my orthotics for my regular insoles since the orthotics were starting to hurt my feet. And the ball of my foot was hurting anyway so my orthotics weren't doing anything to fix the problem. Good job doctors! Grrr >:-[
A few pictures were taken while this was happening. Then Brent said that he was going to run with me from 13 to 14 and he had on his chicken suit. Needless to say, he was getting all the attention as we were running down Beale Street and turned the corner to the other road. A professional photographer was on that road. They took a picture of us. A lot easier to take individual photos since there were less of us, so I'm sure that the photography team will have individual photos of me this year.
Then at mile 14, he was stopped off with my family and I was on my own from there on until the stadium finish. Also, after that I started to get passed now. But that's OK. At mile 15 I started to walk about every mile and I was perfectly fine with that.
There was a beer table. I stopped to have a shot of beer. Someone also was giving out cut bananas. Oh My Gosh, I was so thankful for that!! I needed something in my stomach besides gel or beans.
At mile 18, I FINALLY decided to stop off for the bathroom. After 3 minutes in there, I had stiff legs.
After that we turn and start heading back north and it got prettier but busier in terms of traffic. A lot more cars on the road, E. Parkway. In fact there was one point, in which I was coming up to these 2 older guys walking and one of them, without turning around, started to wave at a car holding up traffic (one lane was blocked off for us) wanting to turn left. He was telling them to go but the driver saw me coming up behind and wouldn't go. Then the guy started yelling at the driver to go and waving his arm frantically. I was yelling NO NO NO! And ended up cutting the driver off but i guess the car did go after I passed. Mind you I was still running and I knew that if I had to stop, I probably wouldn't get going again. About 8 minutes later the older guy came up to me and passed me and apologised to me about it. He said that he didn't know that anyone was behind him. Well, he didn't look.
Then I turned left and heading back to the river and west. This was again a very boring part. Hit Mile 21, then 22 and then 23. Up and back down over an interstate. Cold. Windy. Right before Mile 24, I started to see the Pyramid and St. Jude Hospital again. Turned left and headed south. Then I saw Mile 25. Then I saw Mile 26 and BRENT! He was standing at the turn around spot where the runners turn immediately 180 and head straight up a ramp to turn into the stadium. I stopped at that time and took off my bright blue jogging pants. I wanted to cross looking good and not hastily put together with last minute items that don't match (I'm a girl, I like to look nice even in a marathon!) I also was debating whether or not I should do the arms raise. I decided yes and as I crossed tears were starting to form. I'm not sure if they were from the pain or just from finally finishing.
The pizza was cold at the finishers area. I ate one slice and felt nauseous. Grabbed a couple packages of Oreos and a Coke. The massages were closed as they had reached the cutoff. So we found a secluded area inside the stadium and I stretched myself as best as I could. Brent was really worried about me as I looked like I was going to collapse at some point.
When I found my family, I was talking and coherent and kept on walking and moving my legs but my thighs were hurting so bad. At that time, tears were in my eyes and I was telling them that I'm never doing this again; I'm sticking with half marathons. I was saying the same thing on Sunday saying that I'm going to beat my time in a half marathon and go under 2 hours. On Monday I was saying maybe in 10 years I'll do another marathon. Then on Tuesday, when I stopped walking like an old lady and could stand up and sit down without saying "Ow!" I was thinking, heh, maybe I'll do the Honolulu Marathon after all next December (I'll be turning 30, figured it would be a good present to myself). Then today, I'm thinking, maybe I'll do the St. Louis Go! Marathon in April after all. I have until the end of this month to decide as that's when rates go up again.
Saturday night we went out to Beale Street and we shared a giant bucket of "fun."
I limped all weekend long. It was really bad on my thighs. Standing up or sitting down just hurt. Finally on Tuesday, I started to feel better but I still got a massage in St. Louis anyway. My first and totally worth it.
So yea, I think I will do the Go! St. Louis weekend. Either the half marathon or the full. I have to look at the route and see if it's all that hilly. Cause I don't want to do another hilly race after I did the half in St. Louis beginning of November, I may say screw it. I will also look at the marathonguide.com website and see what the reviews are.
The whole 2 days of the weekend have been a blast. And here's the jest of it. Good luck with reading!
St. Jude Hospital Tour
 |
| 2008-12-05 St. Jude Hospital Tour & Pasta Dinner |
Brent & I went on the tour, along with Kevin, we it was again, so moving to see. This time we went into the Chili's Care Center which I didn't get to into last year. Unfortunately, last year we were able to go into a wing where they do the treatment for the patients but they closed it off this year. So I'm glad I was able to go last year and see the patients getting their chemotherapy. Made it all that much more real. I must admit, the tour guide was not as great as the one I had this year. But he said that he doesn't give many tours at all.
St. Jude Expo
Then it was to the Expo where Brent & I picked up our packets and went through the booths. I did in fact buy something from OneMoreMile.net. Last year, my father bought a shirt that said 13.1 miles Been there, Run that. This year, I bought underwear that said 26.2 miles Been there, Run that. I dropped off my remaining money at the St. Jude Heroes section and then also picked up my tickets for the Pasta Dinner.
Brent & I then went to our hotel in Southaven and got all situated in that we laid out our clothes and put our chips on our shoes and our bibs on our shirts. I had 2 outfits to choose from (Outfit 1 and Outfit 2) and then what I was going to wear no matter what and then my St. Jude jersey.
St. Jude Heroes Pasta Dinner
We headed to the Peabody Hotel where the Pasta Dinner was held. We arrived a little early but there was still a line. Once we got our tickets checked and our table, we waited for Kevin & his wife. When they arrived, we all sat at a table together. It was so great to share this with someone. Dinner was severed in that it was a buffet and the best part it was ALL VEGETARIAN!! They had a speaker that was a father whose adopted daughter ("born of our hearts") developed cancer. He choked back tears the entire speech which made it hard for me to do the same. After the speech, they handed out the awards for top teams & individual fundraisers. It was pretty much the same team from last year except for one.
We went shopping at Wal-Mart to pick up last minute items and back to the hotel room to try to get some shut eye. I did in fact get some sleep but 5:45a came way too early. They had a St. Jude Heroes picture at the start of the 5k at 6:45a unfortunately we didn't make it there in time. Kevin told me at the dinner that he didn't get a St. Jude jersey but I had grabbed one from this year but I thought it was way too big for me so I used last years. I told Kevin that I could give him the one that I picked up. So he met up with us at the start of the 5k and he was very thankful for getting it. No problemo.
St. Jude Memphis Grizzlies House 5k
 |
| 2008-12-06 St. Jude Gizzlies House 5k |
St. Jude Memphis Marathon
 |
| 2008-12-06 St. Jude Memphis Marathon |
Then I went off running for 3 miles without music. There was enough people talking though that it wasn't too bad. I even heard that one lady was talking about running into her students at bars and it just weird. Then I remembered what my friend Rob said about being friended on MySpace & Facebook so I mentioned that to her. She said what Rob did, she pretends to ignore it until the end of the semester.
Along Riverside Dr. there was nothing but a bunch of clothes on the ground. I wore Brent's fleece and running pants. I knew that by mile 3 when I saw my family, I would take off my fleece so I waited. There was one tree that was growing clothes!!
 |
| 2008-12-06 St. Jude Memphis Marathon (John) |
10k mat and I was estimated to finish in 4:22 and I was very happy with that. Soon 8 miles just flew by. And I was still feeling fine. This is great! Soon I was entering in Overton Park. Then I saw a costume that I saw last year, the gorilla but this time he was joined by a banana.
Back out of the park and to the split area of the half & full marathon. It was lonely looking at the half marathoner's go one way and I go another. Especially when I looked in front of me and there were quite a few less than before (8,000 in half and only 3,000 in full).
Cross 13 miles. I knew that my family was waiting for me again at halfway. Then I saw 13.1 and the mat that I cross that tells my time and those who signed up for my tracking. I looked for my family and there was the big ole chicken! I stopped and changed out my orthotics for my regular insoles since the orthotics were starting to hurt my feet. And the ball of my foot was hurting anyway so my orthotics weren't doing anything to fix the problem. Good job doctors! Grrr >:-[
A few pictures were taken while this was happening. Then Brent said that he was going to run with me from 13 to 14 and he had on his chicken suit. Needless to say, he was getting all the attention as we were running down Beale Street and turned the corner to the other road. A professional photographer was on that road. They took a picture of us. A lot easier to take individual photos since there were less of us, so I'm sure that the photography team will have individual photos of me this year.
Then at mile 14, he was stopped off with my family and I was on my own from there on until the stadium finish. Also, after that I started to get passed now. But that's OK. At mile 15 I started to walk about every mile and I was perfectly fine with that.
There was a beer table. I stopped to have a shot of beer. Someone also was giving out cut bananas. Oh My Gosh, I was so thankful for that!! I needed something in my stomach besides gel or beans.
At mile 18, I FINALLY decided to stop off for the bathroom. After 3 minutes in there, I had stiff legs.
After that we turn and start heading back north and it got prettier but busier in terms of traffic. A lot more cars on the road, E. Parkway. In fact there was one point, in which I was coming up to these 2 older guys walking and one of them, without turning around, started to wave at a car holding up traffic (one lane was blocked off for us) wanting to turn left. He was telling them to go but the driver saw me coming up behind and wouldn't go. Then the guy started yelling at the driver to go and waving his arm frantically. I was yelling NO NO NO! And ended up cutting the driver off but i guess the car did go after I passed. Mind you I was still running and I knew that if I had to stop, I probably wouldn't get going again. About 8 minutes later the older guy came up to me and passed me and apologised to me about it. He said that he didn't know that anyone was behind him. Well, he didn't look.
Then I turned left and heading back to the river and west. This was again a very boring part. Hit Mile 21, then 22 and then 23. Up and back down over an interstate. Cold. Windy. Right before Mile 24, I started to see the Pyramid and St. Jude Hospital again. Turned left and headed south. Then I saw Mile 25. Then I saw Mile 26 and BRENT! He was standing at the turn around spot where the runners turn immediately 180 and head straight up a ramp to turn into the stadium. I stopped at that time and took off my bright blue jogging pants. I wanted to cross looking good and not hastily put together with last minute items that don't match (I'm a girl, I like to look nice even in a marathon!) I also was debating whether or not I should do the arms raise. I decided yes and as I crossed tears were starting to form. I'm not sure if they were from the pain or just from finally finishing.
The pizza was cold at the finishers area. I ate one slice and felt nauseous. Grabbed a couple packages of Oreos and a Coke. The massages were closed as they had reached the cutoff. So we found a secluded area inside the stadium and I stretched myself as best as I could. Brent was really worried about me as I looked like I was going to collapse at some point.
When I found my family, I was talking and coherent and kept on walking and moving my legs but my thighs were hurting so bad. At that time, tears were in my eyes and I was telling them that I'm never doing this again; I'm sticking with half marathons. I was saying the same thing on Sunday saying that I'm going to beat my time in a half marathon and go under 2 hours. On Monday I was saying maybe in 10 years I'll do another marathon. Then on Tuesday, when I stopped walking like an old lady and could stand up and sit down without saying "Ow!" I was thinking, heh, maybe I'll do the Honolulu Marathon after all next December (I'll be turning 30, figured it would be a good present to myself). Then today, I'm thinking, maybe I'll do the St. Louis Go! Marathon in April after all. I have until the end of this month to decide as that's when rates go up again.
Saturday night we went out to Beale Street and we shared a giant bucket of "fun."
I limped all weekend long. It was really bad on my thighs. Standing up or sitting down just hurt. Finally on Tuesday, I started to feel better but I still got a massage in St. Louis anyway. My first and totally worth it.
So yea, I think I will do the Go! St. Louis weekend. Either the half marathon or the full. I have to look at the route and see if it's all that hilly. Cause I don't want to do another hilly race after I did the half in St. Louis beginning of November, I may say screw it. I will also look at the marathonguide.com website and see what the reviews are.
3 comments:
Yay! You did it! I was following your times via text and rooting for you all day.
That's too bad that your orthotics didn't help. Boo!
And I think feeling like you'll never run another marathon only to change your mind a few days later is totally normal. We'll see what happens to me when I run one in 2010.
There you go marathoner!! Back in the saddle and ready to run more 26.2s!! I may do St. Louis in 2010. I have family up that way. I really enjoyed your blog and the pictures. Your pictures made me run the race all over again in my head and it hurt again. I think I am sore from looking at your pictures! The Country Music Marathon is in Nashville in April. It is supposed to be really good with country music bands at every mile but pretty hilly. If you and Brent ever decide to run it, you'll have a place to stay!
At mile 26 I saw the chicken man too. Have you ever seen Saint Ralph? It is the story about a kid that sees Santa Claus as he runs the Boston Marathon.. Well I didn't see Santa Claus but the chicken man appeared to me at mile 13.1 and at 26. I saw the chicken man and he gave me inspiration and hope.
It was so great meeting you guys! I look forward to following your blog and marathoning journey! I'll save seats for you guys at the Pasta Dinner in 2010! =)
Kevin
Great race report Lindsay! Congrats on your finish! Perhaps I'll see you in St. Louis....
Oh, and be sure check out the latest post on my blog :)
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