I have wanted to run the St. Jude Marathon as a Hero fundraiser for years and this was my year! (The date fell the weekend ahead of our anniversary AND the Christmas recital did not overlap.) I recruited Christina to run with me, and we joined a team of other Vicksburg runner friends who planned to run the half, helping each other through the long training runs and preparing for the race. We rented a condo for the weekend and turned it into a moms weekend away!
Sarah, Christina, Marisol, Michelle, and I right before we hit the road for Memphis, then arriving in the rain (but ahead of the storm that would cause a delayed race start).
Picking up our race packets at the Expo:
The race morning started early with anticipation!
(Our condo was heavily Memphis themed)
We didn't leave the condo until 8:30am, as the race start was bumped an hour to wait out the lightning. Once at the starting line, we waited another half hour before our wave actually started, so our first problem of the race was lack of proper nutrition timing (breakfast 3 hours ahead of our actual race start...) By the time we hit the Gibson factory corner, we were pumped though! Corral J was ready to RUN!
(I was just a wee bit excited as we crossed the starting line!)
For us, and many other runners, mile 7 was a turning point. About an hour into the race (for the faster runners - longer for us!) the timing of breakfast combined with the heat and humidity that followed the storm started a downhill battle for a surprising percentage of racers. As we neared the split-off point for the marathoners and half marathoners, Christina and I were certainly debating pulling the plug and heading in, but we decided to just slow it down and accomplish what we came here to do, regardless of finish time.
By the halfway point, we were feeling a little better. Or maybe we just smiled in order to "fake it 'til you make it". Either way, we decided to ENJOY the race as best we could, walk as much as we needed, and appreciate the MANY spectators that lined the entirety of the race route (a surprising things actually, since usually they thin out after the half marathon split).
Eventually we ran down the biggest party street of the course (where I tasted shots of moonshine, followed by cheap beer for electrolytes), past the zoo (photo op with some animals), through a beautiful park, and back around to the return miles (still many, many to go).
At mile 20 we saw Elvis (who had relocated from mile 3 AND changed his outfit) and took some more pictures to send to Jay and the half marathoner ladies that were by now waiting on us to finish.
The best quarter mile of the race (which we walked in full, and cried throughout) was this stretch of banners of St. Jude survivors, depicting the children during treatment and where they are now. The success stories were beautiful and encouraging. I thought of the names of the survivors and fighters on the back of my singlet, and also those who fought so hard and whom are so very missed. I didn't know at the time that Christina had snapped a photo, since we'd decided to give each other a little space during this stretch of the race, but I'm glad she did. THIS was the reason I wanted to run this particular event, to experience the presence of St. Jude in Memphis and to be a part of something big. I am thankful to the many of you who donated to myself or our team to help the children and families of St. Jude - I raised almost $800 dollars for St. Jude, with my team totaling over $4300!
With less than 2 miles to go, the half marathoners found us on the course to cheer us on, bring us some Gatorade (they were serving Nuun at the aid stations, which is just the weirdest electrolyte drink ever), and snap some photos:
Then they high-tailed it to the finish line to capture those final moments for us - thank you ladies!
We were SO HAPPY to be done (tired, sore, beyond hungry, you get the idea). While it was my longest marathon time ever (by over an hour), I simply didn't care. I didn't run this marathon for a PR or for any goal at all other than to raise money, enjoy the experience, and prove to myself that I could still train for and complete a marathon post knee surgery. Mission accomplished!
After we met up with the girls, we grabbed our free pizza and beers (and a few more photos, with a different Elvis, and a "completed" group photo):
Christina and I celebrated heartily that night with burgers and beers at the brewery across the street from our condo:
Would I do it again? Probably not. I may or may not ever run another marathon (though another trail 50K is more likely, since they're so low key). And it's unlikely that I'd return to St. Jude for a half marathon (while the energy there is amazing, it's not an easy place to race hard and I tend to prefer new locales for race events, plus the date usually overlaps my anniversary and Jay has no interest in an anniversary spent running). But, I'd love to travel with these ladies for a race again some day!
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