Ohio - It's a State...

In October 2011, at the Detroit Free Press expo, George & I had registered for a drawing for the Capital City Half in Columbus, Ohio.  We ended up both winning a free entry, so though it wasn't my choice of race for Ohio I figured why not.  I followed the race on Facebook for months and they definitely hyped it quite a bit, so I thought it'd be a decent experience.  Given that the race was the day before The Great Train Race (one Garret does annually in Fredericksburg) it was definitely just a quick/squeezed in race.  I headed up Friday to hit the expo...expo didn't show me much.  To begin with it was very small, additionally directly across the hall was the Hell City Tatoo convention...we had to walk through it to enter the expo.  It's not that I have anything against tatoos...I actually have a few I plan to get when I have enough of a break from races...but the attendees personified the title "Hell City"...and Garret was rather wide eyed as we made our way through the colorful folks.  After picking up my bib and shirt and Garret's tee for the kids' race we headed out to find dinner, then back to the hotel to crash.

Race morning I headed down to the start line and started checking things out.  The first thing that struck me was how many portapotties there were.  It was serious overkill, but kinda funny at the same time. 

I headed over to the corrals and jumped in my spot but the music was insanely loud and making things miserable.  I couldn't wait for the race to start just to get away from it.  As we waited they had a "special guest" speak...a guy who had dropped of a heart attack just before last year's finish line.  He was ready to run, dedicating his race to the EMS personnel who saved him the previous year.  I thought it was rather dangerous as it could encourage others who were not prepared to run the race to push too hard for the 'celebrity' status.  Shortly after we were off...I was in the first corral and cranked it out to find an opening. 

Overall the race conditions were really good..it was overcast and in the low 60s.  The race course was rather boring.  We wound through a bunch of streets with nothing in particular to look at.  There was some course support but not much (in the way of spectators).  Eventually we ended up around Ohio State and there were quite a bit of people cheering us on, but overall I was not impressed with the course what-so-ever.  It was nothing bad but nothing great.  There was plenty of water stops though. 

Just around mile 8 I began noticing people falling out and ambulances.  From mile 9 to 12 I noticed more people being loaded into ambulances than I have ever seen in any race and I started paying attention to their condition.  It was just ridiculous.  At one point I passed two girls that were obviously running together (matching cutesy outfits), both laid out on the ground, each with their own ambulance and crew attending, and both covered in vomit and lying in puddles of vomit.  Shortly thereafter I witnessed a woman being loaded into an ambulance that was COMPLETELY out of it...her head just flopped to the side and her eyes rolled back.  I literally lost count of ambulances speeding from the race course.  My take away from this race was nothing more than amazement that people would push themselves so hard.  You don't just hit that point immediately with no warning...if you are in that rough of shape you feel it coming on and need to back off.  I finished the race in a respectable 2:16:07 and then lined up at the start line for the kids' race with Garret. 

The starting line and time for the kids' race was well defined, but we had NO idea of the course or the distance.  As we stood at the line there was chatter amongst the parents wondering about the same things.  We mostly thought it was a one mile course, but we couldn't determine how that could be the face that just a few yards in front of the start line was the main course for the half and there were still plenty of racers coming through.  The race started with no warning and everyone was off.  I lost Garret quickly trying to avoid trampling little ones...

Oddly enough we ran the few yards to the main course, merged with the course, and crossed the finish line.  It was chaos.  Had I been amongst the racers just finishing up I'd have been VERY irrate.  I'm all for kids' races and getting them involved in running, but throwing them in the final .1 miles of a half  as these folks finish up 13 miles didn't seem to be well thought through.  The finish line support staff was equally confused, some handing the kids 1/2 marathon finishers medals and other handing them the kids' finishers medal and all of them giving all of the adults that ran with kids a 1/2 marathon finishers medal.  I grabbed Garret, got a picture, and bailed.

The medals were nice, but other than that...this half marathon...well, I checked off another state...my 25th to be exact...halfway done with my challenge.   

A Little Bit Country...

After months of sending Emily workouts a week at a time via text it was finally time to head to TN and run the Country Music Half Marathon with her...her 1st!  But along the way there were a few Hard Rock Cafes to hit!  We headed to Gaitlinburg, TN on Thursday morning, leaving at 3AM to get there by 11:00 for lunch.  We made good time and got there a little early so we popped in Cooters across the street.

A big Dukes of Hazzard fan growing up, I was thrilled and thought Garret would think it was cool as well...not so much.  As I pointed out a die cast General Lee, the General Lee and Sherriff car wrist racers, and many other treasures that all currently reside in my mom's attic from my youth he was unimpressed.  When I tried to sell him on buying the Season 1 DVD set to watch on the drive his response was "nah"...when dad pointed out the penny masher by the door he was VERY excited.  I huffily told him he couldn't have my cars from Gran's attic then and we headed over to the HRC (after he mashed his penny, of course).  While waiting for our lunch he started talking about the Dukes of Hazzard and watching it.  When I looked confused and said we didn't get it his response was, "I'll just watch yours from Gran's attic".  Hence admitting that Mom's soooo old they didn't have DVDs back then and I actually watched TV! What a concept.  Lunch, shot glass, and it was off to Memphis for dinner, a little trip down Beale, and crashing for the night.  Of course the point of adding Memphis (an additional 6 hours of driving - 3 each way) to our trip was the HRC, but I voted we have real Memphis BBQ for dinner and then HRC for dessert!  You can't go to Memphis without eating the BBQ can you?  My dinner:

 Apparently you can if you're 7 years old....Garret's dinner:

Though I highly recommend not being talked into the "large" order by the waitress if you KNOW you NEVER eat that much food....my leftovers:

After dinner we headed over to Beale and took a horse and buggy ride around, then hit HRC for dessert and a shot glass.

Then headed back to the hotel...every exhausted...except, of course, Garret...who is never tired when the hotel has a pool.  Thankfully the pool closed at 11, but he still got in an hour of cannon balls before Mom was able to get some sleep.

The next morning after a getting showers and grabbing a quick breakfast we headed back to Nashville to meet up with Emily at the race expo.  We had to do packet pickup for Garret for the ING Kids' Rock and the Country Music Mini Marathon as well as for Em and I for the half...plus surf the expo and visit friends of course!

Then it was off for lunch before heading to the ING Kids' Rock.  Nashville's Kids' Rock was MUCH larger than DC's, but still went off fairly smoothly due to an incredible amount of organization by the Competitor Group and it's employees and volunteers.  Garret had a really solid run.

Afterwards we hit the HRC Nashville for dinner and another shot glass, then headed back to the hotels to crash.  Of course Garret wanted to hit the pool but with race morning so early that was a big negative.  Emily came in for a bit of a pre-race prep including logistics review for our support personnel (Paul, Stephen, and Nancy)...yes, I am an organization freak and emailed AND printed instructions, maps, and agendas which included estimated times we would pass projected points they were to be waiting at.  And though they may tease me, I'm not the only one...Nancy had her emails printed and highlighted (and was able to pick us out because of them) and Paul had his phone out checking texts for our splits on race day.  But after our quick review it was time for bed.

Race morning started with a bit of confusion due to the advice of a well meaning but poorly informed hotel worker who thought he was helping get us to the start and avoid traffic.  After a ten minute delay of chaos/rerouting, we went back to our plan and everything went off without a hitch.  Emily, Garret, and I were dropped off at the startline.  We had just enough time to do one last potty break and grab a few sips of water then head to our corrals.  The Mini started 15 minutes before the half and full and though called a "mini"...it's not a kids race.  It is a 2.6 mile race and was run mostly by adults, though there were some kids running with their parents.  The minimum age for the race was 8, but Garret was granted a waiver at 7 1/2.  I'd thought through all possible scenarios before agreeing to this and knew he'd be fine, but walking that little feller to his corral and leaving him after reminding him to "stay on the course and don't leave the finish area until Dad gets you" was rather tough.

There were 31000 runners...people were everywhere....and that little guy could've easily got lost in the shuffle.  Emily and I headed back to our corral (Corral 10) and as we were doing a little last minute race prep (her fussing with her iPhone to get her music right, me wrapping my shirt around my hand and then teaching her to do the same) she had to laugh at me.  Yes...I was standing on my tip toes, trying to "see" Garret in the crowd of thousands in front of us.  After she laughed and pointed it out I settled down and we waited to start.   The mini got underway and we knew Garret was off.  By my calculations he should cross the finish line just before we started given the wave start.  Seeing the pictures afterwards I wish I'd've been on the sidelines to cheer him on...he was so cute running with all those big people...but I wouldn't have missed running Em's first half with her for anything.

 My phone lost signal just before we started so I fought with it for about half a mile then just restarted it.  Sure enough as soon as it regained signal I had a text that Paul had collected Garret.  He did really well, finishing in 36:15.  A very respectable time having never tackled hills and given the heat...both things Emily and I were about to become ridiculously aware of.

Knowing that Garret was safe I was able to focus on our race and enjoy the experience with Emily.  As we tackled the rolling hills she quickly realized why I'd given her such torturous workouts of hills the last few weeks and admitted that she hated me for it but was glad.  As we approached mile two I let her know her Ma and Stephen should be on the corner we were coming to...we scanned the crowd but didn't see anyone familiar.  Then she yelled "Ma!"...very distinctively and there was Nancy, camera in hand!  We smiled and kept going, still feeling good...it was early!

We never did see Stephen but found out later we'd looked right at him and he got some good pictures of us.  We then settled in for the long haul, knowing we had another 85 minutes until we saw them again.  I pointed out the sites to Emily who was lost in her music and her own world...the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, RCA Studio B, lots of recording studios...really neat course with a neat perspective on Nashville (Great Job - as always - RNR series!).  Emily pointed out every critter to me...never realized how many people have their dogs out to cheer on the runners (and she didn't miss seeing a single one) and have NEVER seen anybody have a bunny on the side of the course with a sign saying it was free to a good home before...and was VERY glad someone had already provided that home...especially since it was at mile 4...or we would've been figuring out how to do 9 miles with a rabbit.  The girl loves her critters!  A guy ran by somewhere around mile 4 yelling "hydrate early, hydrate often" and Em asked about it.  I explained that it was really hot and the humidity was high so we needed to keep well hydrated.  She said she was fine and I told her that would change.  We literally choked down the water at each water stop for the first few...not the best tasting water ever, but it was wet.  That changed soon enough as the hills kept rising and falling and the sun kept beating down. 

Around mile 5 we were starting to feel it and I wanted to take her mind off things so I tried to take a picture while running...it took 4 tries to get 1 picture (the 1st I wasn't in, the second was just flat hideous, the 3rd was a video), but finally we got a decent picture and I texted it to our support crew with an update.

We both agreed as soon as I'd sent it that taking the picture was harder than the run so far and chuckled to ourselves at the fact that we were winded from it.  We recovered from the picture and kept tackling the seemingly endless hills as the heat intensified.  I started dumping a cup of water over the back of my hair at each waterstop...that ponytail can hold some heat...forgetting the iPod clipped onto the back of my sports bra until it died 5 miles and several cups of water later...oops. 

As we approached the RNR inflatable guy I backed off a bit so I could get a pic of Emily running under him...

Then I caught back up and we pressed on.  Somewhere around mile 10 I started fighting the mental demons...my goal had been to push her to do her best, I now found her unknowingly pulling me.  I pushed the negative thoughts aside and let her know we'd be seeing them shortly and they wanted us on the left side.  As we wound our way through runners to the left we realized the GU stop was on the right, so we got back across, grabbed our GU, and headed to the left...only to see the water stop on the right...back across...I was beginning to feel like I was playing frogger...grabbed our water and pressed on...it was at this point that I realized we'd each grabbed a Gatorade and 2 waters...no, the taste hadn't improved, but our hydration levels were definitely low enough that taste didn't matter.  We got back to the left and as we approached a medical station Em grabbed some vaseline...her lips were dry...we shared and then saw our support group waiting just steps ahead...

We were hurting (not muscles, just mental...the heat and hills were getting to us), but we knew he had less than a 5K left and we definitely had that in us.  Anxious to offload any excess baggage I wiped the sweat off my face with my shirt one last time

Then tossed it to Garret as we charged by

mile 11 was just steps away...we were good, but several times over the next 2 miles had Emily said she had to walk I would've easily agreed rather than push her like I should've.  Thankfully, she never said it.  I'd told her all through her training that little voice in her head telling her she couldn't do this was lying...thankfully she listened to me and found it in herself to believe in both of us and keep pushing.

I needed a distraction and thought she probably did too so I asked her how she wanted to cross the finish line.  She decided she wanted to cross holding hands with our hand up in a V.  That passed about a quarter of a mile...ugh...another distraction please...

She'd asked me early on (around mile 3 or 4) if that had been the worst of it referring to a particular hill.  I admitted to her that the worst mile would be mile 12...it was uphill and at the end, and somehow it always seems that mile 12 is the worst anyway.  Soon enough we found ourselves approaching mile 11.5...and I saw the PF Chang dragon just ahead of us.  I knew if you passed the dragon you got a free appetizer and not that I cared about the appetizer but it had seemed like a good goal to try and pass him...though now with him in sight I wasn't sure we had it in us...but it was a distraction.  I pushed a little harder than I should've at that point but we closed the distance.  

A little further and we passed him...but we had to keep pushing to not be passed by him...we managed to stay ahead of him!

As promised, mile 12 was the worst...I don't know if it was the hill, the heat, or the pushing to pass the dragon just before, but we were done...we kept it going and got up the hill and suddenly Emily started cursing like a sailor and took off!  Her long legs throwing her down that bridge so fast I didn't have a prayer of catching her!  I literally hollered "Hey, you've got short legged people back here!" and she let off the throttle long enough for me to catch her.  She let me know she was about to vomit and I pointed out that the finish line was at the next corner.  We powered through and crossed the line, together, holding hands, hands raised (with some big guy directly in front of us in ALL of the pictures...so much for our Hallmark moment!) in 2:21:09 and 2:21:10 (her timing chip was on her left foot, mine on the right, and we both crossed with our right foot first)!  LOL

A quick stop to the medical tent for some ice for her knees

And it was off to the VIP tent to celebrate with our friends. 

We had to hang around for a bit to get to see George and David as they ran the full. 

As for the course...do it!  It's a GREAT race and a good challenge!  Make sure you include hills in your training because they are constant!  It has a large field so be prepared for a lot of runners on the course.

But it's very well organized and unike some races I did not feel like I was jammed in.

It's going to be HOT...hydrate early, hydrate often.  The water stops are ample and they have ROWS of tables...don't jam up at the first table, there are plenty of them at each stop.

The course support is very good as well.  There were several people down and medics helping out.  The course support is there...but listen to your body.  If you need to throttle back a bit do so!  Don't plan to set a PR on a course so full of hills and heat, just go out to challenge yourself and have some fun.

After the race (and showers of course) we did a little sight seeing and met up with members of the 50 States Club, then headed to the Grand Ole Opry to really experience Nashville.   A word of caution...the directions on the website and brochures are horrid, the road signs lead you in circles, and even the people that you ask for directions don't see to have a clue how to get there...so give yourself plenty of time and if all else fails...do like we did and set your GPS for Aeropostale (someone told me the Grand Ole Opry was by the mall, I've never seen an Aeropostale that wasn't in the mall)...once you get to the mall you can see the building so just park in the mall and walk across.  Now that said...this shows just how messed up those road signs are...

Because 25 MPH may make a HUGE difference?!  I have never seen a speed limit that didn't end in 5 or 0 until this!

Whether a country fan or not, the Grand Ole Opry was definitely something to experience....

But was apparently just too much for the youngest runner of the Country Music Mini that day...

Which, unfortunately, left me to carry his 68.5lbs all the way back to the car...which made we WISH we'd been able to find the actual parking lot rather than park at the mall.  But hey, my legs got a good workout that day, guess my arms needed one too!

The next morning, first words out of the boy's mouth, were questioning swimming.  So we all sat visiting in the pool area while he swam for an hour.  Then it was quick showers and time to hit the road.  We drove home through Louisville, KY...stopping at the HRC there for lunch.  As we navigated to the cafe we saw a sign for the Louisville Slugger factory and museum.  Despite the fact that we weren't going to be getting home until midnight without the extra stop, knowing how much Garret loves baseball, we decided it was worth the trip.  And it truly was...he was amazed by the huge bat out front, really liked the museum, thought the factory was cool, and REALLY liked hitting the batting cages.  The day was topped off with a Louisville Slugger with the MN Twins logo and his name on it.  Then it was a LONG drive home...arriving just after 2AM, yet still making it to school in the morning. 

I recommend running Nashville.  I also recommend checking out Gaitlinburg (and Pigeon Forge), Memphis, and Louisville...but I definitely don't recommend doing it all in 4 days like we did!