Country Music 1/2 Marathon

I barely trained. It was extremely hot. The "rolling hills" of the course felt more like mountains. And yet it was the most rewarding weekend in Nashville doing the Country Music 1/2 Marathon.

First things first, I would not have done this race (so soon after my first 1/2 marathon), if it weren't for our efforts with Team in Training. When asked to participate in the event and fundraise for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in memory of our friend Amber, I - without question - said "yes." Thanks to the generosity of our friends and family, Chris and I raised $4,200! My sister and her co-workers alone raised $1,200 of that. The entire Team Believe group raised nearly $32,000!! We exceeded our goal and we all know that Amber would be proud. This is us, the night before the race, pictured with Amber's family and Travis Lee, who works for TNT.

There were 32,000 people who participated in the race. People were everywhere! Of those, 3,000 were TNT members/fundraisers. It was inspiring to see the names of people who were being honored or memorialized.

Race Day - Up at 5:00 a.m.! With 32,000 participants, we had to get to the start bright and early to find our corral, stretch, take one final potty break and then hit the road. Before we head out, a quick reminder of who we are honoring with our efforts.The course was HOT and very hilly. I keep saying that the rolling hills felt more like mountains to this Louisiana girl. I hadn't trained as much this go 'round (much less on HILLS!), so it was definitely a tough course. I added 20 minutes to my time! Yikes! But I wasn't too worried about time for this race. I just wanted to have a good time and I think we all did! The best part about the race was that I crossed the finish line with Chris. He didn't have to run as slow as I did, but he wanted to. It meant so much to me for us to complete one race together. I'm sure he won't run with me again. He's going to be chasing a PR next time!

There were country music bands every few miles, thousands of spectators and cheerleaders. The course was beautiful and everyone was extremely friendly. The race gear was very nice (always a perk for the runners!) and the expo had so much to choose from.

Oh - and did I mention that Susie and I were "the tutu girls"?? Oh yes, we made tutus to wear as part of our running gear and they were quite the hit! Spectators kept cheering, "Hey tutus!"... "Nice tutus!"... "LOVE the outfits!!"

The weekend was bittersweet as we remembered a friend, raised money for LLS, and ran 13.1 miles in one of the coolest cities in the U.S. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of those who donated money, bought raffle tickets, donated blood, and support me and Chris as we completed this process. Onto the next race........ uh, 5K race, that is.