My Knoxville Half....

Well, I have been wanting to write about my half-marathon experience before I forgot it so here goes.......

Had to get up at 5:00 am. And I was lucky that I did actually get up then instead of hitting the alarm because once I had my gear on, had eaten my english muffin and banana, and hit the road it was 6:00. And I didn't get downtown until about 6:25. I parked in the parking garage right off of Clinch Ave across from the World's Fair Park and made my way up to the start line on the Clinch Ave bridge. It was SOOOOOOOOOO cold. Everybody was huddled up inside the Knoxville Convention Center when I went in there to potty. I was just praying that would get me through the rest of the race and that I wouldn't have to stop at a PortOPotty along the way.

As 7:00 am approached, thousands of people began to line up for the race. Now choices have to be made..Do I line up with the people who run a 11/12 minute mile or does my first time marathon low self-esteem win out and I line up with the 13/16 minute mile people? Low self-esteem won and I made my way to the back of the pack. The shot gun went off and .....I stand there. Then begin to walk slowly....Then jog. I cross the start line almost 3 minutes after the gun sounded.

Well, the start of the race is wonderful, of course. Instead of freezing I begin to warm up which feels great. I begin to pass alot of people. I look down at my IPod and ...OH NO!!!!! My sensor that does my pace, etc. is laying on the kitchen counter at home. I feel stupid that I forgot it. I have a moment. But then, I tell myself that I remembered everything else important and maybe I just need to let loose and listen to my body.....Who cares about pace? I will just run and when I get tired I will slow and when I feel good I will speed up. So, there I am just running and running but having no idea how fast I am going, how far I have gone, etc.

So, we head out and go down the hill toward Neyland Stadium, then head out onto Neyland Drive. Pretty long stretch beside the Tennessee River which is beautiful. The runners really began to spread out here and for a while I was running by myself with lots of people in front of me, lots of people behind me, but no one beside me! It was kinda nice....I pretended that I was just running in my neighborhood but that now my neighborhood was next to the river.

As we began to head up a hill to Kingston Pike, I realized that people were beginning to take walk breaks. Walk break? AAAAHHHHH, what was this? I mean, we had only run about 2 miles at this point. Did people know something that I didn't? Maybe if I took a little walk break I would have more energy later? I decided to walk for about a minute. Then I started running again. I told myself my plan over and over in my head. I had promised myself that I was going to run the first five miles WITHOUT stopping. So why had I stopped and walked? Peer pressure. I start running harder to prove to myself that I am not a wimp and wave at the news guys on the side of the road.

Ok, so we head down Kingston Pike. And into Sequoyah Hills, which is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Knoxville. Gorgeous landscaping, homes, etc. Just a beautiful place to run. Eventually here they have a big mile marker beside the road....5 miles. Ok, I have done my 5 miles. Now maybe another walk break? I headed toward the water/Gatoraid station and jog by, spilling the Gatoraid all over myself as I run. Now my new goal is to take walk breaks while I am drinking. That way it will actually go into my mouth and not down the front of my shirt.

Run, run, run. See some funny things. One guy was running backwards. And seemed to for a long period of time. Also notice at this point that lots of the men are just stopping and peeing in the ritzy neighborhood yards. God bless 'em for letting marathoners do that every year. And around mile 6 is when I realize that I kinda have a running buddy...He has been beside me on and off most of the race...An old man who looks like he is at least 85 years old. He had a bright orange bandana and a fierce expression...But I bet in his mind he was saying "I will beat this little 35-year-old girl beside me and show her what's what" because in my mind I was like "please let me beat this 85 year-old. Not that I don't want him to do good but he is 50 years older than me......it's just embarrasing......"

I think that about mile 7 or 8 was when it hit me that I was actually running for 13.1 miles and that meant that I had a heck of lot of miles to go to be finished. What in the heck was I doing? I was TIRED. OF RUNNING. And there was a big hill looming....I decided to walk it. Up out of Sequoyah Hills onto Kingston Pike again...But now we are more down in Beardon. Wow. How did that happen? Now it is time to go get on the Knoxville Greenway and head back toward downtown. Third Creek trail, here I come! I am pretty familiar with this trail since we ride bikes here alot. I can do this, I can do this! I get a little bit of renewed energy and start passing people again. As a matter of fact, I think that miles 9 and 10 were my fastest of the race. I don't know that for sure though since I left my Nike+Ipod sensor at home on the kitchen counter.

Ok, so at mile 11 they were supposed to have gel for us to devour. That is that candy-like substance that you squirt in your mouth full of calories. When I got to mile 11, no gel!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was very sad. That is what had given me my boost was the thought of getting that and refueling a little bit. I think they ran out before I got there which made me doubly sad. If I had just been doing better I would have gotten it....This was my down turn. Decided to walk the whole entire mile from 11 to 12 in protest.

As I begin to run mile 12, low and behold but who runs up next to me? Little old orange bandana man. AAAAHHHH! He really is gonna beat me. And there is this other girl who keeps walking and then when I get up to her she looks at me over her shoulder and starts running really fast. She does this at least 3 or four times to the finish line. I realize that I am her "person" ...the one she has picked to beat. But my person is little old orange bandana man.

It starts to get more exciting as we near Neyland Stadium.....And oh, the joy I felt when we got to the half-marathon split. The marathoners had to keep going and the half marathoners ran a different direction. I remember saying aloud..."Thank you Jesus that I am almost through and please be with all those poor fools who chose to do the marathon...."

Now it is the home stretch. My knees hurt real bad. I slow down as I get to the finish line instead of speeding up. I am tapped out. Little old bandana man runs ahead of me and crosses the finish line before me. Oh well. As I run across the 50 yard line of Neyland Stadium I feel nothing but relief. I am just glad that it is over. I slow down, walk. All I can think is "I need food...I need food...." I make my way to the little celebration station after I get my medal and grab a bagel and shove it my mouth so fast I almost choke. And I grab a Vitamin Water and gulp it down. Everyone around me looks rested and like they really enjoyed themselves. I am the color of a beet and still have sweat pouring off my body...I look like I have been badly sunburned and then dunked in a pond.

I make my way out and begin dreaming about just getting home and getting into the bathtub. And I want more food. Now where did I park the car? Isn't it way up the hill in the parking garage? Oh no. I walked and walked and walked and walked...Which was probably good since if I had stopped my muscles would have atrophied and I would have just been frozen like the Tin Man. Got lost and got a great tour of the University of Tennessee. However, this is not the time I want to be walking aimlessly around campus. After wandering around in the cold for about an hour I finally find my vehicle. Thank goodness. I can go home and revell in my accomplishment later.

My 7 Quick Takes for This Wonderful Friday.....

Well, today is 7 Quick Takes day but I am probably not going to put myself on http://conversiondiary.com/ just for time's sake. But you can go to this website and read everybody else's 7 Quick Takes if that floats your boat.
1. So my children are spending their first night away from home tonight. Without us I mean. They are at the grandparents scarfing down cookie dough and candy like no tomorrow. The problem with that is that there is a tomorrow and when I get them back then they are going to be exhausted and full of sugar.
2. Since we are minus the children, Matt and I actually got to go see a movie together. Probably haven't done that in at least a year and a half to two years. We saw 'Four Christmases' and it was so funny. We laughed and laughed. It was much better than I guess I thought it would be, so I recommend it. Go see it! If you are able..........
3. I am doing a craft fair at church tomorrow for 6 hours. The fun part is that I am doing it with my friend Katie so we get to hang out and talk the whole time. The bad part has been that I really procrastinated and made most of the bows this week.........It is a lot of work and I am very, very tired right now of little girl's hair bows. I may just rebel and never make any again.
4. Also because my children are gone, I was able to go out this afternoon and run in the daylight! (I usually run in the dark...after Matt gets home from work.) Even though it was 3:30 in the afternoon, it was my coldest run yet. My hands and feet were completely numb when I got back in the house. It is a very weird feeling to be really hot and really cold at the same time.
5. We got a new digital camera this week. I am really excited about that because now maybe we will be able to take some good pictures at Christmas. Our old camera was getting really bad....It just stopped taking the pictures fast even with new batteries. When you have to wait 15 seconds for the pictures to take after you hit the button, you know you have gotta get a new camera. Especially with kids. In 15 seconds they are already in another room.
6. So, my husband is going to pick up the kids tomorrow afternoon by himself. My craft fair is over at 3:00 so I will actually have about 5 hours tomorrow completely by myself. I really have to say that I don't think that has happened in probably the past year and half to two years either. What will I do? The possibilities are endless. I really don't know what I will do with myself.
7. I am so excited now because some of my old Greensboro friends are getting on Facebook. It is so great to talk to them......We have been in Knoxville for about 3 and a half years now so it shocked me a little bit when after I talked to them yesterday I felt really homesick. For Greensboro. I loved it so......And I loved my life there. It was such a different life than the one I have now. I think I just really miss all my friends and my old job. But I know that I am also really having a great life here in Knoxville too.....It is just as fun but just so different for me being a stay-at-home mom and not working. I think that God really blessed me then in my life as much as he is blessing me now.......I am so grateful that I have been able to have been so fulfilled by a job and just as fulfilled as a mom.
Happy Friday!

Running Like the Wind

Well, in April I started running everyday. I had a goal....that by October I would run the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I had remembered that the year before someone had challenged me to walk it and I had wimped out. Pretty sad. But at that time I really honestly didn't know if I could walk a 5K. Sounded long to me.
But last spring I was changing my tune. I was getting tired of being pleasantly plump. Christmas of last year I weighed the most I had ever weighed (except when I was pregnant, and it was getting dangerously close to pregnancy weight for a while there) and I knew that I needed to stop the madness and the shoveling in of oatmeal cookies. But, after the Christmas goodies were over and January rolled around, I had lost five pounds. Five pounds! Halleluiah, the weight was just going to fall off because I wasn't stuffing my face with pumpkin roll, right? Wrong. I leveled off quickly and still continued my love affair with raw cookie dough.
But there is just something about spring....Knowing that you are getting ready to be hot and knowing that you have to wear shorts or you will melt. And trying on your first pair of shorts of the season. I remember looking down at my legs and realizing that even the front part of my shins (down the bone I tell ya!) had fat dimples. Good grief.
So, I knew then. I knew that it was time. Time to do something. Time to start taking care of myself without the mommy guilt seeping in. Time to move, time to groove, etc. Time to come up with an effective exercise plan that will fit into stay-at-home mommyness.
I have to say I have never exactly been what you would call athletic. I played outside when I was a little girl and rode my bike a lot. My mother always weighed 102 pounds, so I can safely say that she really had no reason to exercise or worry about poundage. Our family had an aversion to sports....It was called the "I don't really want to pay for this or take you there" aversion. The best I can remember about my childhood foray into sports was trying out for cheerleading in third grade...Let's see, I was the only girl in the 45 tryouts who could not do a cartwheel. And there was the fourth grade basketball team which to date has been my one and only organized sports experience.
That basketball team thing was a hoot. My dad was proud....Until he realized half-way through the season that he was carting me to the elementary school so that I could sit on the bench in every game. Bless his heart, I do remember that I made one basket during the whole season. It was during a practice, so it wasn't even in a game. But that did not stop him from grinning at me cheshire style while he was driving me home. I still remember sitting in the back seat of the car and him turning around to say "Em, that was real good. Real good."
Middle school was a nightmare sports wise. PE was a horrific experience. Same for high school. I remember playing dodge ball when I was a junior and thinking "if I can't do this by now....."
But lack of sportific ability wanes in college. There are other pursuits and people don't really care if you can't serve the volleyball. That is the time that I just revelled in the fact that I didn't have to do anything physical for 4 years....except that darn PE credit again. One semester of badminton. Which I made a C- in by the way. Lowest grade of my college career.
There is a point in our adult life where being athletic kinda goes by the wayside....and it all becomes about 'working out'. People ask each other "Do you work out?" All the old sports heros of yesteryear are on the treadmill with everybody else. So, adulthood brings a more even playing field in that respect. At least to me!
So, what were my options? Going to the gym and elipticalling myself to thin, or doing the weight machines that I can never figure out how to use correctly. Or I could work out to my superduper workout DVD's in front of the TV downstairs while trying not to slip on toys or kick my children in the face. Or I could run....
I chose running. The first thing I did was download my training schedule off the internet. 'From Couch Potato to 5K' it was called. The couch potato part was certainly appropriate. My friend Gina and I made a pact that we really would run the Race for Cure in October......and I was off and running. Ha! Well, I was actually more like off and jogging for 30 second increments.
There were some rough days ahead. There were days when I really wondered what the heck I was doing....There were days when my legs and my feet and my back hurt so bad that I took 3 ibuprofen instead of the 2 that the bottle recommends. There were days when I barfed, days when I would almost pass out, and my favorite...the days when I really did feel like I was going to have a heart attack because that little vein in my shoulder was pulsing and I felt pain down my arm.
I made my goal...And not too shabbily either. I ran two 5K's in October. Ran both races at about a 10-minute mile pace. I have to say that I was really proud of myself for making a goal and sticking to it. And I was proud of myself for another reason too.....I can actually do something physical that most other people can't do. For the first time in my life. And I am proud of myself that even though my races are over and it is cold outside, I am still running.
Running itself is a beautiful thing. It is a mental exercise as well as a physical one. Some runs are so hard it feels like you have a snow plow tied to your back. Other runs, like my run tonight, are spectacular.....energy courses through your veins and you really do feel like you can run like the wind.
Am I really running like the wind? Absolutely not. And in all actuality, I am probably more jogging than running. But this girl feels better and is 20 pounds lighter than the pumpkin roll Christmas of last year. Sure, I could be upset that technically I am probably still considered clinically obese by health insurance standards (just ask my husband...he just changed jobs and is downstairs wrestling with health insurance papers right now!) but I am not going to let that get me down. I am just going to keep running. Running like the wind.