My Half Marathon….I Did It!!

Well, if you listen at all to my Mid-Day Show, then you probably have heard me mention that I was training for a half-marathon. After a few months of training, the Nashville Women's Half Marathon was this past Saturday......I DID IT in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 37 seconds!!!The trip was going to be a blast even thou I had to squeeze in running 13.1 miles!!! Haha! I met one of my best friends Heather Scalf, a Kappa Delta Sorority sister of mine from WKU, in Bowling Green Friday afternoon on the way down. (So, maybe I did stop at Gigi's for a cupcake!!) We were meeting another friend from college, Ashley Richey, in Nashville. We stayed in the coolest hotel off of West End and wanted a quick place to grab some dinner. Well....there just happened to be a fun little bar and grill, Loser's, within walking distance. (This is really close to where my band always practices, so I'd been there a time or two!! Or twenty!) Well.... let's just say that it's a good thing we put a two beer limit on ourselves, we could have stayed there all night! And, you'll never guess who I saw there??? Brett Eldredge! Haha! He was so much fun!

Well, even thou we didn't get to bed until after 12:30am, (we were like three middle school girls at a slumber party, haha!) the wake-up call was coming at 5:15am. We had a mile and a half walk to the start line, so we thought that would be a good warm-up!

Once we got downtown Nashville, the nerves started. About 5,000 people were running the race!! How cool is this??? JoDee Messina sang the National Anthem!! And...she ROCKED it!! It really was inspirational....I was pumped and ready to go!

Some friends from Owensboro, Katie Cecil and Suzanne Cecil White, were in my corral....so we were locked and loaded!! And, how cute are they?!?! Look at those tutus!!!

Needless to say, this is the second hardest physical action that I've ever done. (Let's not forget I pushed a baby out!!) I knew beforehand that the course was hilly, but Lawd was I not prepared! Haha! About mile 8 I realized my GPS was off.....yea! It told me that I was at 8.78 miles, while I was just at 8!!! Yes, mentally I almost lost it! Maybe I should have contained myself, because apparently I didn't say those adult words as quietly as I thought. The people handing out the water perked up real fast when my mouth opened! ;) I almost quit twice...seriously, I wanted to! I even tried to walk at the hill at mile 11. But, I took three steps and started running again. I knew if I didn't, I wouldn't start running again. And, Lord knows...I didn't train that hard just to quit!!

So, here I am....a half-marathon finisher!!! WHAT?!?! I'm crackin up at that!!!! 2:07:37...and even thou I REALLY wanted to finish right at two hours, I really am proud of myself!

We were SO lucky that some of our sorority sisters from Western came to support us! Lesley, Courtney and Jessica (plus baby!) were such awesome friends and cheered us on during the race!! It's amazing what a weekend with old friends can do for the soul!! Ahhh...LOVE those girls!! (My favorite part of the whole trip may have been while we were all getting ready to go out Saturday night. Five girls sharing a bathroom, helping each other pick out our outfits and shoes!! It felt like we were back at Western, I love that!)

It just so happened that the Randy Rogers Band was playing at The Tin Roof that night! What?!?! What a show!! I LOVE them and it was just an awesome ending to a fabulous day!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the support via calls, texts and facebook! You have no clue what that meant to me and how much it really helped me throughout the race!!

Hope you enjoy these pics!!

PS....I'm just now walking normal again! Haha...those hills were terrors!! I mean, I've walked up Broadway in hoo(well, you know where I'm going with this!) boots several times, but that doesn't even compare! Haha!

Confession....I hit up Gig's again in Nashville after the race! I mean come on....I burned over 1400 calories during the race...sista needed some sugar! ;)

Thanks again!!