It's Official

As of yesterday, it is official.  I am forty.  Do I feel any older?  Nope.  In fact, I feel pretty amazing, especially after a great weekend celebrating with so many dear friends.

I kicked things off on Friday evening by having an early dinner with Jeffrey then heading out to Hickory Alive for some live music from one of my favorite bands, Baby Black.  The cool thing about Hickory Alive is that it is like a mini-reunion, I get to see and catch up with folks I haven't seen in a while.

Saturday morning I went for my very first trail run to help prepare for my July race, which is the Xterra Harbison Half Marathon Trail Run.  It was just me, the squirrels (there were so many squirrels!), and two runners who were obviously not trail runners.  I chose Riverbend Park, which I for some reason had convinced myself was flat.  For the record, it is NOT flat.  Trail running is a whole different animal.  What have I gotten myself into this time?

After my tough & sweaty run, I rinsed off and headed to Britter's pool for the day.  I was much smarter about sunscreen application this week (still a bit red from LAST week's pool day) and wore a hat to protect my face.  We had a relaxing day floating around with some good tunes. 

While getting ready to hit the big H-Town, I found myself singing "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark", so I decided to turn on the radio.  Guess what song was just starting.  Yep – it was Fall Out Boy!  Do we really need any more evidence that I am Vader?  The force was strong in me this weekend. So, light ‘em up, up, up . . .

Britt and I settle into the back of Mumbai cab headed to dinner

Finally, it was time for the main event.  The Mumbai cab picked us up, and Jeff, Z, Britt, and I headed to Youssef 242 for appetizers and a pre-dinner drink.  We were then joined by a few dozen of my closest friends for a fantastic dinner.  The food and staff were amazing.  I cannot thank Youssef enough for being willing to accommodate our group.  If you have not been, you should definitely go.  Not from Hickory, well, it's not the end of the earth!  Come visit, yo!

After dinner, we stopped by Alessio as a way point before heading to the new dance club, Club Blū to get our dance dance on.  The club was ok, but there really aren't many options for dancing in Hickory.  The cool part was that I talked our way into the VIP area.  Told ya - Vader.  (Hand wave) You WILL provide us with the VIP section and a bouncer to keep away the riff raff.  BOOM!

After the super-active festivities of Saturday, I was ready to bring it down a notch on Sunday.  Anna & Britt came to pick me up and we headed to Rock Barn to enjoy a spa day.  We had lunch and pineapple mimosas and floated around the mineral pools until our massage appointments.  Then, we floated away the afternoon. 

I finished the day with trip to Sweet Frog with Anna-banana.  Now, I need to pull myself together and focus so that I can survive the remaining six half marathons for this year.

PS - If you are reading this, whether I got to see you in person or not, thanks for being part of my Fabulous Forty journey.  I am very fortunate to have so many great friends and family members spread out all over the world.  Thanks for being there.

Nashville Country Music Marathon & Half Marathon in Review

Fourth Stop:  Nashville, TN

This was our first visit to Nashville.  I’ll be honest, as someone with absolutely no love for country music, this has not been high up on my list of cities to visit.

Our first stop was to head downtown for the race Expo.  The downtown area was very much what I expected.  It was congested, touristy, and gaudy.  There were large neon honky-tonk signs everywhere.  It felt like gridlock of both auto and pedestrian traffic.  I did not find this appealing at all, but most of the people in our group found it thrilling and could not wait to come back the night after the race.

Ready to carb up Nashville style

Aside from the downtown honky-tonk zone, the other areas of Nashville that I witnessed during the run and near our hotel seemed very nice.  Jeff and I declined the boot-scootin’ excursion after the race, choosing instead a nice little Irish pub near our restaurant.  We enjoyed our time in Nashville, but I see no need to hurry back, unless it is to revisit the race itself.

Can you teach me how to boot scoot?

Race Review:  St. Jude Country Music Marathon & Half Marathon

I have to start with a disclaimer that our experience of this race was colored by the weather.  This was without a doubt the rainiest race experience in our running career.  It rained continuously, and most of the time heavily, from the time we were dropped off an hour before the first wave start until I crossed the finish line (when it suddenly stopped raining).

Despite the rain, there was great course support from the race organizers and the spectators.  I would like to go back and try it again without the rain to get the true experience of this race.

This was the second stop in the Rock & Roll Race Series using our 2013 Tour Pass.  As I’ve previously mentioned, these are some really well-managed races.  Some of the usual perks played out a little differently because  of the rain; there was recorded music playing rather than the bands whose equipment would be ruined and the finish-line was less of a party atmosphere because who wants to party in the rain?  Of course there was the usual awesome expo, really nice race shirts and the true wave start.  The true wave start that I love so much . . . slightly less fun when waiting for almost an hour in a torrential downpour.  Again, not something the race organizers can control.

The good:

• Great course – we went through some really neighborhoods and I was left with an appreciation for Nashville that I otherwise would not have
• AWESOME spectators & community involvement – some of us paid money to spend several hours in the rain, others chose to join us on the sidelines with never wavering support and encouragement.  I can only imagine what it would be like if it had not been such an awful day.  Way to show your hometown pride Nashville!
• Fresh towels – shout out to the woman around 6.5 who had her SUV backed up to the road and the big sign that said “Fresh towels,” it felt SO good to be able to dry off my face for little while
• Hot coffee – I have also have to give props to that non-race group who set up a station to offer hot coffee to all of the runners
• The parties – so many homes had what looked like their annual marathon party going on in their front lawn.  Those with canopies partied on through the rain, and shared their joy with us as we went past
• Race staff – I stopped mid-way and got some Biofreeze and Tylenol at a med station.  This is my first med stop during a race.  I don’t know if they are always so nice and committed to getting runners what they needed, but these folks were awesome, right down to opening some bottle water to help me wash the Biofreeze off my hands after application.
• Magic Massage – ok, this has little to do with the race itself, but I discovered them at the Expo.  I had thrown my back out that morning, and this little device made it possible to finish the race.  Were it not for the awesome Expo, they would not have been there.

 

I may be becoming a bit of a race bling whore

The not-so-good:

• The rain – no fault of the organizers, but it was pretty darn miserable.  I did the whole race in a plastic rain poncho. 

As you can see, I really couldn’t find much to criticize about this race that was not related to the rain.  I will repeat – if the race experience was this good WITH the rain, I can only imagine how ridiculously awesome it would be under normal circumstances.

The Home Game

A couple of weeks ago, I completed half marathon #6 of 2013, the Charity Chase Half Marathon.  This is a challenging race, hot & hilly (it IS June in Hickory, NC), but it is our hometown race, so I didn’t want to miss it.  So, I decided to suck it up and just walk the race, despite my poor bruised tailbone.

I am not going to lie.  This was a very tough race.  There was not a time I did not feel my tailbone.  It’s amazing how that works.  You can go your whole life knowing the tailbone is there, but in reality unaware of it until BAM!  You fall several thousand feet and land on it. 

I was worried that I might not finish in the allotted time of four hours.  Luckily, I know most of the race committee and one of them who is a very good friend told me she’d save me a medal and be there at the finish for me no matter how long it took.  Gayle is the same friend who during my very first half marathon ran back out to me with a mile to go and helped encourage me up that last never-ending hill to the finish.  This was after she had completed the entire 31.1 miles herself earlier that morning.  It was also during this same race, the first year of the Charity Chase Half Marathon.

The Charity Chase will always hold a special place in my heart for many reasons.  It was not just my first half marathon, as previously mentioned.  It was also the first race in which I was involved in planning.  It started out as The Hickory Jaycees Charity Chase Half Marathon, and I was on the inaugural committee.  In fact, have you seen that cute little logo for the race?  I designed it.  That first year, the race raised money for the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, then the fund raising was expanded to include local charitable groups.  The race was spun-off into its own non-profit to give it room to grow, and it has.  I have continued my involvement whether as a volunteer and/or participant every year of the race except for one, when I was in New Orleans for a convention.  This was the 8^th year of The Charity Chase.

Now that's a good looking race logo :)

So, back to this year’s race experience.  As I expected, I started off and maintained a position at the back of the pack, like back with the tail end police cruiser.  This did not bother me, I’ve been there before.  I made some new friends with some ladies from Fayetteville who were doing their first half marathon.  About three miles in, I was unable to keep up with their pace, so I was the lone person in the back.  The edge of the road was banked, so I moved to the sidewalk to provide more stability for my lower back and tailbone.  I don’t know why, but the tail-end officer took this as a sign of surrender (Ha!  He obviously does not know me.)  So, I was kind of on my own for a while, but still on pace to finish in time. 

Fortunately, the course loops back to the finish area, where I let the race staff know that I was still at it and I was going to finish.  This proved to be unnecessary, as I caught back up to the tail end at about the mid-way point.  This time, the ladies could not keep up with me, so I no longer had to worry about being the lone gunman on the course.  This was not because I was moving fast, far from it.  The day was hot, I was in pain, but I was determined to finish.  I actually passed another couple of people around mile 9.  Woot!  (I don’t know why passing someone makes me feel good, but it does.) 

On the last mile, there is one last killer hill before turning to the home stretch.  A young volunteer decided to join me as I plodded up the hill, he kept telling me that I could do it and to keep going.  Finally, I cleared that %$#(*& hill and turned the final corner where I could see someone approaching me from the direction of the finish line.  As I got closer, wouldn’t you know it?  It was my friend Gayle, once again sensing my struggle, who came out to bring me home.  It was not a heroic finish.  I was sagging, dragging, and hobbling to the finish, but I did it and within the time limit.  Oh, and I beat five other people.

I was not the only one to struggle that day.  Jeff and Z also had rough days, but that is their story to tell.  On the positive side, one of our Jaycee friends, Salil set a PR that day.  Also, a new Jaycee friend, Alison finished her very first half marathon.  Way to go, Alison!

That'll do, Pig . . . Pork Chop, Jeffrey the Ham, and Alison, the first-timer

Next month, I will be taking yet another new turn.  My July race will be my first trail run.  I am a bit nervous that this clumsy chick might trip and break her neck.  We’ll see.  Hopefully my still sore tailbone will cooperate.