Chris & I decided a couple months ago to train for a half marathon together. I had completed one already in 2009 - I ran the Kansas City Half Marathon. For Chris, this was his first half marathon. We decided to find a half marathon in a city outside of KC so that we could make it a long weekend.
We both thought Nashville would be fun to go visit. Also, the Nashville Rock 'N' Roll half marathon has the opportunity to participate and fundraise for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. St. Jude's is an organization that I enjoy supporting. While in college at KSU, my sorority's philanthropy was St. Jude's, so I am familiar with the hospital. St. Jude's is beyond amazing - the support and care they give to their patients and families is unbelievable. The hospital runs and thrives off donations. I knew that since we were going to run this half marathon that I wanted to participate in the fundraising aspect. I set a goal to raise $1500.00 and with the help of family and friends, I ended up raising over $1500! I donated some money and pledged to donate a minimum of $1/mile that I ran while training. To put it in perspective, $1500 would help support 1 day of chemotherapy for 2 children (each day of chemo costs approx $750!). It was a very rewarding experience.
Being a part of the fundraising, they had a few additional perks while in Nashville:
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| Pasta Dinner and Celebration the night before the run |
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| Grand total of the St. Jude "heroes" {Wow!} |
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| A father sharing his personal story |
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| CEO of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital |
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| Chris {after dinner, during the JoDee Messina concert} |
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| JoDee Messina |
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| JoDee Messina |
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| JoDee Messina |
One of the "perks" was the pasta dinner that was held the night before the race downtown at one of the hotels. They had some families share personal stories of their experience while at St. Jude's - which was very touching, tears were shed! They had some speakers and employees from the hospital and, to wrap up the night, they had JoDee Messina perform a mini concert. She is a strong supporter of St. Jude's, as well. It was an amazing evening - just made you appreciate what the hospital does and makes you thankful for your health and your family, too.
After the dinner, we headed back to the hotel and got things ready for the morning.
Saturday - race morning:
Chris & I stayed at a hotel that had a shuttle to take us down the race area {our hotel was very nice! If you are staying in Nashville and need to be near downtown area, look up the Hutton}. We woke up bright and early, got ready, and got on the shuttle to go down to the starting point. Thankfully, the weather was nice in the morning!
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| At the hotel |
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| All ready to head out! |
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| Ready to go! |
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| Around the park area near the start of the race {pre-race} |
We got all checked in, checked our bag to pick up at the finish line, and then got in "line" according to our pace time and waited for the race! There was only about ... 27,000 other people!
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| Waiting for the race to start |
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| At the starting area |
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| Almost ready to start! The sun is coming up! |
Chris & I ran the half marathon, not quite in the time we expected, but nonetheless we finished! One thing that we did not prepare, or train, for was the HILLS! Kansas City is relatively flat, so when we were training outside, we never trained on the hills that we ran on during the half marathon in Nashville. The worst part of the hills was around mile 7-9, which is the time that you feel like you're starting to hit a wall and your second wind hasn't quite kicked in! We had a tough time with all the hills. Yikes!
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| Post-Race, Recovering! |
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| Recovering |
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| We are so happy to be done! |
After the race, we refueled with some drinks and food. Then, we headed back to the hotel and took a nice, long nap. We woke up, got ready, and headed downtown for some lunch/dinner.
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| Downtown Nashville |
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| Eating downtown |
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| Finding some new shades |
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| Enjoying some street "entertainers" |
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| Enjoying some street "entertainers" |
On Sunday, we walked down the Pancake Pantry - everyone raves about this place and it's been featured on TV several times. As you can see, we weren't the only ones who thought they needed to try this place out:
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| The line is out the door, around the corner |
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| The Pancake Pantry |
We waited in line for over 2 hours. Was it worth it?... It was good, but not sure about the long wait. It worked out though because we didn't have anything else to do! We got to talking with the couple that was standing in front of us in line and they shared with us their experience at St. Jude's and that their daughter had been a patient there recently; but, now she has been going back for follow-up MRI's and what not. It was crazy to hear their stories and all the wonderful things they had to say about St. Jude's. I was so glad we got to talk with them - really makes you appreciate your health and the health of your loved ones.
After breakfast {or nearly lunch}, we walked to the park area and just hung out for a couple hours. We had a late flight that evening, so we had a couple of hours to kill....
The weekend in Nashville and the half marathon was amazing!! I'm so glad Chris & I ran a half together and I look forward to doing another one! I loved the St. Jude experience, too. I wish we could have had time to visit the hospital, but it's in Memphis so it wasn't close to visit. If you want to look at more information on St. Jude, visit their webpage:
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
