Nashvegas 2011

All the runners post race in St. Louis

Dad, Caitlyn, Emily, me, and Jason pre-race at the Expo

Dad with the basket from Michelle

Brianna, Jason, me, Mike, Regina, and my Dad

So back in November my friend Becca talked me into signing up for the Nashville Rock n Roll marathon. We then talked my dad, sister, brother, and cousin into doing the full marathon. My running friend Amanda ran the half marathon. Becca ended up moving to Australia a couple of months ago so she wasn't able to run with us. We missed running with her!!!

One of our family friends Michelle made us a race basket with all kinds of goodies to help with pre and post race. It was packed with all kinds of yummy goodies and foot cream and stuff to decorate our car with. She had run the Nashville marathon 5 years ago with her family.

My aunt Mardi, and cousin Mikan came out with Caitlyn to cheer us on. Brianna came with us too. They were the best cheerleaders. It was so fun seeing them along the race.

We drove to Nashville on Friday and then we went to the Expo and had lots of fun picking up our race packets and lots of freebies. My aunt Mardi, cousin Caitlyn, and I won free t-shirts. Em and I got some matching headbands that say, "Bad Ass Mother Runner." We then had a pre-race dinner at Jason's deli just down the straight from our hotel.

Race morning we headed down the street from our hotel to the starting line. There were thousands of people. The newspaper said 27,000 ran that day. 5,000 in the full marathon and 22,000 in the half. Of those 5,000 only 4,000 finished the race. It was a beautiful, sunny 80 degree day which is not good running weather when you aren't used to heat yet. We all finished the race with my dad coming in first of the group, then my sister, then my cousin, then brother, then me. The craziest part for me was around mile 12 when a man just passed out and fell to the ground. At that point, I just wanted to focus on finishing the race and not getting sick or passing out.

After the race, we went to a fun restaurant with Becca's brother Mike and his wife Regina. Then we went to the Montgomery Gentry concert for the race participants. After the concert, we enjoyed some frozen yogurt and then headed to bed.

We all had such a fun time running the marathon we are trying to decide which one to do next. I am thinking the Kansas City marathon so I don't have to travel during hockey and football season for the boys.