"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare" - Juma Ikangaa, Tanzania
"A lot of people run a race to see who's the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts" - Steve Preontaine
"God determines how fast you're going to run; I can help only with the mechanics" - Bill Bowerman
'Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore i don not run like a man running aimlessly, i don not fight like a man beating the air. No, i beat my body and make it my slave so that after i have preached to others, i may not be disqualified for the prize' - I Corinthians 9: 24 - 27
"The Lord is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation" - Exodus 15:2A
Heather and the kids went to Illinois to see Heather's grandmother who is 90 years old this year! So I am alone this weekend. When I ran the 18 mile course I really struggled at the end and was really sore after running. Also, the goo was not good at all and actually made me sick. Is there an alternative to the "goo". I stopped by Fleet Feet in Murfreesboro to see what else is out there. They were very helpful. They showed me some gummy type substance that you can eat while running. Three gummy bear type items equals 1 full goo package. She let me try one while I was in the store. She was right, the gummy bear type energy food was A LOT better than the goo. But now I have the issue of how will I carry the food. At Fleet Feet they had some "fanny pack" type belts, but they are very expensive (about $30 - $40). Ouch. I didn't want to spend that much on a fanny pack. I went to Play it Again Sports to see what they had. I actually found a fanny pack runners belt for $15. Still expensive, but doable. The pack holds one bottle of water and has two packs to hold items (food, energy items, etc. One interesting thing is Fleet Feet actually recommended chewing gum while I ran. That is interesting. I never heard of that before, nor did I think about it. I stopped by Krogers on the way home and purchased some gum. I'll try it on the 20 mile run and see how I like it.
I got home and watched a bit of the basketball tournament (Actually Tennessee was playing in the sweet 16). I had to stay up and see if Tennessee when to the Elite 8. They won!! It was a close game, but they pulled it out.
Time to hit the sack, because I will getting up early tomorow morning. I went to bed around 8:30.
I wanted to make this 20 mile run just like the actual race. I plan to test to make sure my plan works. The alarm went off at 4:45 am. It was early, but I was excited about the run coming up. I laid in bed until 5:00 and got up. At least there is no getting ready. I had all my stuff together for the run. My main test is making sure I ate the right food.
We have a wireless weather station at the house. I checked to see what the temperature was outside. It was 28 degrees! I was not prepared for a cold morning. Am I going to have to run with sweats or a warmer shirt. I know that once the sun comes up it will warm up. I brought sweats and my UT shirt to wear over my running shorts and running shirt. My thought is that maybe I would have to shed the sweatpants and warm shirt while I was running. I could hide it so others couldn't find it. After I run, I would go pick it up.
I scrambled 4 eggs, toasted 4 pieces of bread and spread peanut butter on each piece of bread and also planned on drinking 2 bottles of water. I needed to leave in time to set water bottles out on the course. I ended up leaving around 5:45. I ate most of the food on the drive up to Nashville.
I had mapped out a course in Nashville. I wanted to make it a new course so I don't get bored. Once I dropped the water bottles off it was time to go to the start line.
I am now at the start line and ready to go, but it is cold outside. I think it probably was about 35 degrees or so. I decided to not wear the sweat pants but wear the warmer shirt. After my normal stretching to "Eye of the Tiger" (tradition for me). I was ready to go. It took me a long time to keep rolling the mileage to 20 miles on my IPOD PLUS. I kept seeing the mileage go higher and higher. I sent Heather a text message letting her know I was leaving on the run. I was about to run the longest distance I have ever run in my entire life! This was a big deal to me. My goal was to run the whole course.
My starting line was accross the street from the Belle Meade Kroger. Off I went. The first song on my IPOD started "Cotton Eye Joe" the live version started up. This is always the first song when I start running and then my IPOD shuffles the remaining songs from my running song playlist. It was cold, but not too bad. I knew it would warm up. I was excited about starting up. I ran up West End Avenue, past the old Hills Store, St. Thomas Hospital, MBA and then to I-440. Kept running past my old office when I used to work for Rayburn, Betts and Bates and then by the Blue Cross Blue Shield building. I noticed that there were more runners this morning then there have been in the past.
Melinda had told me in her experience running in the morning is so much easier than the evening or afternoon. I normally run late at night or in the afternoon after working. She was right. I felt like I had a lot more energy than normal. I really looked cool with my new fanny pack. I was worried that the pack would really bother me, but fortuately it was not too bad. I am surely I was making a lot of noise with the fanny pack, but with my IPOD on I couldn't hear it at all.
Got to Centennial Park. Police officers had blocked the entrance to Centennial Park and it looked like a race was going on. I took this time to imagine what the start line would be like. Passed Lowes Vanderbilt Plaza. This is the hotel I am planning to stay at before the race. I worked through in my head if I had made the right decision on the hotel. I was now at 3 miles. I felt really good. West End from Centennial to downtown is fairly hilly. I had the course memorized and where each mile marker should be. The mile markers were fairly consistent with what I remembered. I saw quite a few runners on West End. Some were very friendly waving and some were very focused. At mile 4 (Across from Beamon Toyta near I-40) I had a water bottle hid and it was time to shed the warmer shirt. I left the shirt in some bushes and went on. It is actually fun running downtown. There is a lot to see. I hit mile marker 5 next to the Bridgeston Arena (I think that is what they call it now). I was listening to Bon Jovi on my IPOD and I noticed that Bon Jovi's concert will be here in April near the marathon date. I figured it was probably sold out, but it would be fun concert to go to. It is now time to try the gummy food for energy. Didn't feel a need, but the Fleet Feet people told me that if you feel you need it then it is too late. The gummy candy was good! I ate three of the gummy candies.
I chewed gum a part of the first 5 miles. It actually was good. I actually liked the gum. It gave me some good flavor. I chewed it half a piece at a time for a few miles then I threw it out.
Time to turn at the Country Music Hall of Fame and try out the large hill from the Country Music Hall of Fame to Music Row and Belmont. Up Demonbreun there were quite a few walkers. I think they were walking together. It actually helped me in my running to be able to pass by each of the walkers. The hill didn't bother me much. I actually can do this. I feel like I am in pretty good shape. Got to mile 6 at the Music Row Circle. Ran down Music row passing by all the recording studios. I tryed to remember which artist were with what music label group. I have arrived at Belmont University and the Belmont Mansion.
A shoe store near Belmont Unversity had set out some water tables beginning at Wedgewood Avenue. I am glad I had my water with me. Not sure if they set it up for the those training for the marathon or half marathon or if they were having an event. Time to turn down Belmont. I passed by 3 runners. Made me feel good to be passing some runners. I was around mile marker 8 and was passing runners. I felt good. I figured in my head when I should eat more of the gummy candies. I had 2 bags of the food. One bag should keep you going for about 2 hours of running. So I had some more. It was acatually really good. It didn't bother my stomach at all like the goo did! I'll have to make sure I bring these with me on the race.
There were a lot of runners on Belmont Blvd. It looked like most were training for the marathon or half marathon. Even though I didn't talk to them it was nice to be running with others. I actually passed more runners. That really gave me some encouragement.
Once I passed over 440 on Belmont the number of runners dwindled down. It was just me. I arrived at Lipscomb University and took a road over to Green Hills. The road to Green Hills was a steady hill. I felt a little fatigue on the hill, but not too bad. I was now at mile 10. Half way!!
I passed by one runner. I recognized her. I figured out that I actually had passed her on West End near the Blue Cross Blue Shield building. She must have been running the same loop, but the other direction.
I ran past Macy's Shopping Center. On Thursday my mom was taken to the emergency room from Macy's. They ended up taking care of her and now she is better. I passed by Macy's in her honer.
As with other runs I wanted to make sure I ran on overhill road. This is a large hill back to Lipscomb. I got at the foot of the hill around mile 11 and started going up. The hill really slowed me down, but I kept running. Running down the hill made for a nice easy pace run. I probably made up some time running down the hill. I then took Shackleford back to Belmont Avenue. I ran up the hill at Liscomb's Intermual field. That was a very very steep hill. But, I focused on running up the hill and keep running.
Ran past Lipscomb back up Belmont Blvd. I ran past mile 13 and mile 14. Ran through Hillsboro Village. Now there were lots of runners. I was not alone. In fact when I turned on Wedgewood Avenue by Vanderbilt Hospital there was a large group of women all wearing pink with pink hola hoops. Some were walking and doing the hola hoop. That really takes talent. They were on the other side of the road, but I passed by them.
The helicopter from the Vanderbilt Hospital left and gave me something to watch. Someone really needed some help to have the helicopter heading out to get them. I said a prayer for who ever it was. Someone could have been in excellent shape and then in one instance had huge issues.
At mile 16 I got fairly tired. My legs got fairly heavy. I had slowed down and my pace was about a 10:30 minute pace. In getting back to West End Avenue I was starting to get tired. Not too tired, but I could tell I had run a long way.
Ran back over I-440 and I knew I was getting close. I was seeing some of the same people throughout my run. The lady on the IPOD said 2 miles to go (Mile 18). I had a burst of energy to run the last 2 miles.
I actually arrived at my car at mile 19.5. So I had to get in .5 miles just running around. Finally, I heard 400 meters to the goal, 300 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters. At 100 meters I picked up my pace to about an 8 minute pace to finish. Finally, I heard "Congradulations you hit your goal". After stopping the run, Lance Armstong came on and congradulated me for running my longest run to date with the IPOD PLUS. I had done it!! I was tired, but I could walk. I had brought a large gateraid to drink after running. I drank all of it and took a cool down walk, while I listened to my theme song "Eye of the Tiger".
On my phone each kid had called and cheered me on. Very cute.
I drove to pick up my shirt I had left on Broadway. I got out of the car and my calves felt really tight (after sitting down after running so much).
I actually ran the 20 miles, 3:25 minutes, 10:14 minute pace (that is acutally my race pace!!) I only had 6.2 miles left to go to get the whole marathon in. If I ran the last 6.2 miles at 12 minute pace, I would only have about 74.4 minutes left to run. Which means with the last 6.2 miles being a 12 minute pace I would have run the marathon in 4:39. That is awesome!! I ran the 20 miles in my pace I was hoping for.
After running, I needed to go into the office and work. I actually had the energy to work. Heather and kids got back Saturday evening.
I am mentally and physically ready for the race!!!!
This is the longest run before the actually marathon.
