the country music half marathon...I finished!! had fun!! and hurt my back!!

I am proud to say that I not only survived an extremely busy GMA week last week, but I finished the Country Music half Marathon in 2 hours and 28 minutes on Saturday. And for those of you who keep up, I am proud to tell you that I ran the entire race, except for 2/10 of a mile on part of mile 12...at that point I knew I was going to hit my goal time (my goal was 2:30), and there was yet another hill...so when I got to the top, I grabbed my breathe so I could make a roaring finish. My friend Suzie always saves enough energy for a strong finish, when often I am too impatient and just get to the end...but I wanted to run through the crowd with my fists pumping and smiling because I completed anther goal. If you recall, when I did my marathon in January, I was using the "run-walk" method where I ran for 5 minutes, then walked for 1 minute throughout the entire race. It is an amazing method for long distances...but starting in February I began to train myself to run the whole thing...no walk breaks. So I am dually proud that I finished, but that I ran, and that I met my goal.

The race was so much fun...people were everywhere cheering for us; it was like a big party. People were literally tailgating down Belmont Ave. The bands are never really great, but it is fun to have the distraction for like 30 seconds as you run by.

The best part was running with my friends...Suzie was along for the run, as usual...she is like my alter-running-ego, and now she is gung-ho bout the triathlon season coming up. Also, my dear friends Rebecca and Laura came down to run with me--they both have been training and it was a joy to run the streets with them. We literally sang songs, laughed, and helped each other through. If it wasn't for them, there is no way I would have run the whole time--they kept me at it. The older I get the more I know that the best friends are the ones that you can pick up with wherever you left off--Laura and Rebecca are friends from Lexington, from my grad school days...they came and visited me when I moved to Florida (surviving some brutal sun burn) and now they have dropped in on Nashville--it is great to have pals who love you no matter what and it can just be fun, with no strings. Laura's hubby Brent came down too...he was the honorary "Sheriff" of Nashville for the weekend, and kept it real with Tim as the cheer squad.

The worst part of the weekend is this lower back / upper butt pain -- I had this pain at about mile 19 of the marathon...and it came back at mile 6 on the half on Saturday. Today I went and got a cortisone shot and stayed home from work. Man it always seems like when you take a sick day all of these great TV shows and movies will be on...I got nothing. I slept, checked email, and that's about it. My back does not feel much better...but I do have some drugs for the rest of the week, so we will see. The moral of the story is that I need to stop skipping sit-ups at the end of each workout and get my body in shape!!

Well I hope you are doing well...

Off to my next race...my 1st triathlon on 5/28/07 here in Nash...

Leigh