A Day in the Life: Country Music Marathon

Last year, after my disappointing performance at the Napa Valley Marathon, I cheered on the CMM and thought it was such a fantastic experience. I didn't think that I would be able to maintain my running schedule this clinical year of fellowship, but thanks to the dedication of my running partner Kate, who was willing to drive over and meet me at 5 am on Wed and Fri am, I was. There is no way I would have kept it up without the accountability of Kate waiting for me, and bless her heart, she just delivered her second child last week. I should mention I ran with her when she was 37 wks pregnant. With that sort of encouragement, I decided I was going to sign up for the CMM half marathon even knowing I was going to be 22 3/7 wks pregnant when it occurred.

On top of it, my friend Lisa C. had signed up to do the full marathon and would be visiting with her family for the weekend. Although I didn't actually register until the last day, I had started increasing my weekend runs well in time to be ready for the half. Much to my surprise it felt great to run the long distances even as I got further along and "Mildred" got bigger. I kept promising Mike that I had nothing to prove and wouldn't race it, fully knowing that I probably would and that I could finish it under 2 hrs if I wanted, but there was really no need to.

Fortunately for me, Lisa wanted me to run with her. The first 11.5 miles of the half and full marathon run together. I normally would run a faster pace than her, but promised that I would keep myself in check to keep her company and cheer her on as long as she wanted me by her side, and as long as she promised to tell me to leave her if I was either annoying, running too fast or just plain she didn't want me there anymore. It started out as a nice cool morning, but without much time we were baking in the sun and it was hot and hilly. Miles 3-9 of the race were part of my normal running routes and therefore I was totally comfortable with the course. At mile 8 Lisa had had enough of me and asked me to go on (running your first marathon can be a very personal experience even when there are 30K people around you. I totally respect her for telling me when she needed me to go having been there a year earlier). I had 40 min and 5 miles to make it in 2 hrs, was feeling great from not killing it for the first 8 miles and decided to make a go of it. Plus the course started in for a good 3 miles downhill. Overall I finished in 2 hrs and 48 seconds, and it felt great and I had a fantastic time. I was super happy to have run with Lisa and finish strong rather than kill myself early and feel bad, especially since I was pregnant. "Mildred" hung in there too and seemed to enjoy the ride.

Lisa did amazing too. She finished her first marathon, and while it may have been disappointing for her (and I TOTALLY get it) everyone was super proud of her. It was HOT out and a tough course to boot. After both of our husbands and kids and ourselves being out in the sun from 7 am until 2 pm, we all came back to the house to chill out and have some well deserved relaxation. We put the kids to bed and had a nice dinner just the adults before calling it quits.

The cheering squad. Fortunately the race went right by the end of our street, and our husbands were troopers loading up the car with the kids to see us as many times as possible on the course.