Nashville Country Music Marathon

Race: Nashville Country Music Marathon

Distance: 26.2 miles
Original Goal Time: 3:30:00
New Goal: Have fun! Run with UB! Finish the race
Actual Time: 04:24:11 (10:04 min/mi)

This was one of the most difficult races I have ran, due to situation. I had hurt my left calf muscle, two weeks prior. I chose the CMM (Country Music Marathon) for one primary reason, to run with my UB (Uncle Bert). After training for months, I should have ran a 3:30:00. My body was well trained, my peak mileage at 70 miles per week. I enjoyed the majority of my training, but sadly, hurt my leg, just before the race; I chose to run anyways.

As I was walking down to the race, my leg was hurting, quite a bit. I tried to "hide" this, as I had 26.2 miles to run. UB, my friend Ed, and I started off together. The three of us ran the first 6 miles with one another. Ed stated that my gait was pretty bad during the first few miles, which did not surprise me. UB kept going (thankfully!) and Ed and I kept up together until just before the half marathon split. I had to slow my pace down for the second half of the race.

My Dad, cheering me on, ran a little bit with me around (mile 18?) and asked how I was doing. I could not help but cry, I was in pain. I continued to run (if you could call it that) even though most of me just wanted to stop and cry out in pain. At mile 25ish, Dad came out and ran me almost to the finish, this was a huge blessing, as I knew the end was near, but Dad knew the course, where as I was clueless. He told me what to expect and cheered me on. This was incredible! I am super thankful for both my parents who came out to cheer me on. Mom was the photographer, when Dad threw the camera for her to hold, while he joined me. Mom blesses me with her presence; I love how I can hear her cheering me on! What a blessing it is to be encouraged in a race that you've spent months training for!

I don't have any great thoughts to leave you with; I'm not sure why God allowed this to happen. In fact, I am still frustrated at the situation. After work, I massage, ice, and elevate my leg. The swelling has gone down, although it is not fully healed. This type of pain can happen to anyone, doing anything...urgh! I must hold onto the fact that I run for fun and more importantly, I run to glorify God.

UB (Uncle Bert) and I at the Expo