I am running to raise money for blood cancer research, and most of all, to help prevent cancer from taking more lives.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Day 146- April 24th Race Day Tornadoes or Not here we come Part One

Here is the front of my jersey.

We had a "pimp my jersey" party the day before with the team. We had so much fun decorating our jersey and writing the names of our loved ones anywhere we could. So morning of the race, we got up at 3:30am to get ready and eat breakfast which is so important especially for marathoners. A quick recap, our team got word the day before the race that bad weather was approaching Nashville on Race Day i.e. tornadoes. Let's get real people I mean tornadoes that lift cars off of interstates (check Mississippi on April 23rd) and destroy people's houses. Our coaches and TNT staff were very calm, cool and collected about the whole thing.

They had a plan of action in case things went south. Lucky for us, they all coordinated with each other to see that we made it through our race check points on time.  They told us that there might be a chance that we would have to divert off of the course and seek shelter. I was thinking well maybe that is the worst case senerio.

After taking pictures at 4:30am jumping on the bus heading towards the start line (mind you its still dark outside), we huddle together for last bit of coach wisdom. Phrases such as "go to the bathroom now  before the lines are ridicious (Coach Alex), check your gearbag (wouldn't see that again), stretch and run your pace (Coach Joe). Since being injured, I had come to enjoy my light jogs with BSR "Big Shot Robbie; we had very similar pace. We ended up in corral 30 out of 33 not too bad. I even saw a person dressed as Moses (sorry no pictures but it was funny wig and all).

At the beginning of the race, we started with our warm up "walking mile" something that we did at every practice just to get the blood pumping. We eventually stuck to the power walking cheering on every TNTer that passed us calling them out by name. I think Robbie felt like the mayor of Nashville at some point because people were cheering for him and he would holla back at them. It was so great to have so much support on the course especially being at the very end of the pack literally. Robbie was uber special because every cheer squad on the course called him out by name-What are the chances of that happening? We did happen to pass one of our teammates, Robbie's mom Cathy, at the McDonalds. She was checking out their facilities. Later on I heard that one of our dearly beloved coaches had a mouth watering biscuit. Any takers? Coach Alex-ooppps the cat's out of the bag.

 Our first coach encounter with our coaches was around mile 3 or 4 that I can recall was with Coach Joe wearing his neon vision of course. He came up to us and asked us how we were doing and feeling. We told him that we were just enjoying the experience of the race especially all of the bands on the course. The bands were great to listen to. At this point in the race, it was about 8:30 or 9:00am and we were heading down what Robbie and I called Fraternity Row. They were outside hooting and hollaring and of course having themselves a good ole time.

I haven't mentioned that this course was full of hills-its the reason that Robbie and I took it easy later on we would find out that it was worth it. As we head into mile 7 or 8 the rain kicked in and it was heavy fat rain.  When Robbie and I hit mile 9 or 10, it hit me that I had to go to the potty and I didn't care where I went. I kept telling Robbie that going on a church lawn is sinful and probably punishable by law-there were cops everywhere on the course. It was raining, the hills weren't getting any easier and the police had started issuing weather warnings via their loud speakers on their car to be prepare to evaculate the race course. Robbie, myself, Tiffany and Coach Alex stuck together until mile 11 when we passed race officials that said you either run like crazy to make it to the finish line or be prepare to evaculate very soon.

I turned to my teammates and said "I have come too far not to cross that finish line. See ya there!" I took off running which I haven't done in a while passing people with their finishers' medals on already. Yes I know I was slow but geez. I caught up to Coach Shannon who ran with me for a few blocks and gave me those last encourage words " You are almost there!" I never thought I would be so excited to hear those words. With the rain coming down and the finish line in my sight, I started to tear up. A few weeks ago, I didn't think I would have made it with a bummed hammie and physical therapy. It was such a relief to see my teammates Pat and Cathy and then my family at the finish line waiting on me. I ran to both sides of the finish line corral to high five them all.


I've got the golden medal


Jenn, the proud mentor


The Graves' Family-We finished!

As a sidenote, none of our full marathoners completed the race. They were diverted at some point on the course. I know it was a disappointment to them but safety comes first. Here is the announcement from the race officials: http://nashville.competitor.com/results/

Day 145- April 23rd Family Surprise and a Rockin Pasta Party

I knew my family was coming to watch me cross the finish line (I think mostly because they wouldn't believe me if I did). It was such a surprise to see both of my sisters Bailey aka Aunt B and Amanda aka Momma there along with Baby Jayden and Momma & Daddie. Little punkin has grown like a weed.


I even got to see her crawl.


I kept my promise to my supporters and went totally pink for the race. Luckily my sisters and momma were there to catch all the action. My special thanks to Bailey and Amanda for their specialty in the hair color spray business. I think Bailey enjoyed this a little too much.


My hair was a little sticky so I had my stylist finish the do with the hair dryer.
And the finished look. Thanks girlies!

After my hairdo was complete, I headed downstairs for this awesome rockin pasta party that Team in Training throws before every event. Its a time to get together with all the other chapters and members of TNT and remember why we were there: our honored teammates. For me it was about remembering Mrs. Judy ZiBerna, Mr. Paul Stevens, Mr. Jim Moughon, Ms. Sheridan Pearcey, Uncle Rhea Watkins and Mrs. Barbara Maioli.

We walked in to this cheering brigade note: Coach Lauren was dressed to the nine's in her awesome cowboy hat, Coach Joe was in his strapping cowboy boots and Martin was sporting his flaming cowboy hat. It was great to see so many of our coaches there cheering us on. We headed on in to the food part which was awesome pasta pasta everywhere.


The pasta was great.


And of course dessert.

The Pasta Party definitely lived up to all of the hype that I had been hearing. I got a chance to hear John "The Penguin" Bingham, who's motto is to enjoy the experience of the race and make up a time in your head to tell people so you don't have to worry about when you are going to cross the finishline." He had a lot of great tips for beginners that are new to the racing bit. Check him out at http://www.waddle-on.com/

I think one of the things that touched me the most was to see a great many of surivivors in the crowd particularly a young girl maybe five or six years old that was proud to stand in her chair. She had really short hair and a cute dress on. It felt good to remember the reason why we were there and the reason we endured through the whole season of extreme weather because cancer sucks!


Jenn- the awesome mentor and myself


Cathy and Pat Graves


At the pasta party

Monday, May 3, 2010

Day 144- April 22nd Flying to Nashvegas

I woke super early this morning to meet the Graves Family at their house before heading to the airport. I jumped up at 3:30am brushed my chompers and hopped in the car. Traffic on 495 and 270 was a breeze but the fog was terrible. I had to stop several times on 270 to look up at the signs because their was so much fog. After 55 minutes on the road, I made to the Graves' house.

I have to admit that I was surprised to see all of them up and running that's when Cathy let me in on a secret that "Big Shot Robbie" stayed up all night instead of going to sleep. I guess you gotta do whatch ya gotta to do to be on time! After hopping in the second vehicle of the day, we made a pit stop by the 24 hour 7 Eleven (no I didn't know they were open 24 hours I guess I do now) for some cash, drinks and gum. We have to priorities. We hit the road and made it to the airport in plenty of time to check bags and go through security. The airport wasn't exactly hopping if you know what I mean.

We had so much time in fact that we had a yummy sit down breakfast at the Silver Diner (for my Georgia folks its a step up from the Waffle House). It was so nice to eggs, grits and bacon and a big glass of OJ with my TNT family. Once we finished breakfast and loaded the plane, the airline representatives made an announcement about our team being on the plane. I had such a great big smile on my face and was whooping and hollaring for my team knowing that we were about to embark on finishing touches our races and making such great strides towards a cure for blood cancers.

I had a great flight; I sat next to Coach Jack Hughes from Virginia. It was nice to talk with someone about the mechanics of running and how it impacts your body (if anyone needs help with your stride go see Coach Jack). The flight was short and that was nice because we had to get down to business: going to the race expo and eating some barbarque. We had an early lunch at Jack's King BBQ. I enjoyed the experience eating lunch with my teammates.

Yummy yummy goodness


The Race Expo was awesome. The Graves' family and myself spend over 3 hours in that thing going from booth to booth trying all the sample goodies i.e. snack foods, sport drinks, back massage, taping body parts. You name it and they had it. We had absolute blast. All of the walking around made my feet sore so I headed back to the hotel for cat nap which turned into a 14 hour bear nap.  It was well deserved.