The Memphis Half!

Hey guys! We had a GREAT time in Memphis. We both improved our half marathon times dramatically over November's half (me by 8 mins, Brent by 11 mins) and had a lot of fun racing.

The race started at 8 am, a GREAT time because I really don't like getting up super early. We woke up, toasted some bagels in our room, and headed out to the race start. A ton of runners were staying in our hotel and were congregated in the lobby so race excitement was everywhere. The weather ended up being great - an overcast day, mid-40s with slight wind. Start location was just a couple of blocks from our hotel, so we walked over with a throng of other runners around 7:45. There was also a 5K associated with this race that started at 7:45 - we walked up just in time to see them on their way! They had 5 or 6 corrals (which they really needed about 10 because the corrals were CROWDED!) and I had decided to get in the 3rd corral, which had a half time of 2-2.07. Brent got in Corral 4, which was 2.07-?. A little over 3K people did the half and about 1.5K did the whole.) This big guy behind me was turned around talking to a group behind me and kept backing up into me so I gave him a few swift elbows and moved up and talked to a girl who looked about my age from somewhere in Arkansas until the gun went off. They spaced the corrals a minute apart, so I was about 3 minutes behind the clock. I forgot to start my watch when I hit the mat because I was too busy snapping pictures, so I mentally subtracted 3.5 minutes off all the clocks all along the way. (It turns out I was just 11 seconds slow.) The start was great, not overly crowded and everyone in my corral seemed to be in the right place.

I kept my camera out to snap pics the first few miles as we ran through downtown. Everyone once in a while I'd reach my arm up and snap a pic of the stretch of runners ahead of me. Once I heard a guy behind me say 'That one's not going to come out well', and he was right. It didn't. A lot of them did though. For the first 4 miles we swerved throughout downtown. We ended up down on Riverside Drive, running right next to the mighty Mississippi River. It was a beautiful sight, with the Hernando Desoto Bridge and the Pyramid in the distance, with barges floating down the river. I ran past the restaurant we ate at before prom (where there was a stabbing that night) and past Mud Island before we turned and went back up to run Beale Street. On Beale Street there was the 1st "Elvis" singing. He was right in front of an Elvis statue, and at first I thought it was just a DJ so I missed taking his picture. Brent saw another Elvis a few miles up but I missed that. (Every so often there were bands, cheer groups, or DJs. I think all the 'big' races are starting to do this.) Running up Beale was cool, there were a lot of spectators and music blaring from various clubs. We turned and hung a left and ended up running past the Convention Center and started our way out of downtown.

For miles 4-7 we were running from downtown towards midtown. Around mile 5 we ran past St Jude Children's Hospital, the sponsor for this race. St Jude is a wonderul place, they won't turn away any child regardless of whether or not they have insurance or can afford treatment. Several times throughout the race volunteers would cheer out for us to stay strong and remind us we're doing this for the children. I had printed out two pace bands for myself, one for a 2 hour half (dream goal!) and a 2.05 half. At each mile marker I'd check my bands, and to this point I was hanging right with the 2, and feeling really good about it being a possibility. Past the hospital we ran through some boring neighborhoods and started hitting some pretty older houses around mile 6 as we moved towards the zoo and Overton Park. Around Mile 6 one of my new favorite songs came on my playlist - Melissa Etheridge's new song "I run for life". I've only heard it once on the radio and it is so unbelievably moving. In it she talks about her battle with cancer and how she 'runs' now for herself and all the other women she knows. It's great. After just passing St Jude, I was already thinking how fortunate I am to be strong enough to do these events, and the power of this song really overwhelmed me at that moment. It was exactly what I needed to hear to stay strong mentally and think about all the special people I know that I was running to honor. Around Mile 8 we headed into the zoo. The Memphis Zoo has some special pandas, and someone was dressed in a panda suit outside the zoo giving high 5's with a snow machine blowing behind him. Of course I ran over for a 5-er and got a really nice and soothing mist of fake snow in my face. I'm a total race ham. I love to wave, cheer and high 5. I'm sure that's not in the training plan to become an elite but it's a helluva lot of fun. I wave at police officers, I wave at people stuck in traffic, I wave at people who look like they're looking for specific people just so they may think I'm that person. It's just fun. You've trained so hard for the event that sometimes you just need to remember to have fun with it. Right past the zoo we took a back road into Overton Park. This is when I really started to lose some steam. Crowd support was minimal, and I'd been pushing myself to stay at a near 9 pace in the chance at coming in under 2. It was really starting to wear on me, but I didn't want to back off because I'm terribly stubborn and headstrong. Overton Park was pretty, with lots of beautiful leaves and mature trees, but it was empty except for us runners. I started to slow myself down a bit and told myself I still had 5 miles to go, and I needed to finish well. I knew I would hit 2.05, so I decided I'd hit under 2 in either the Tom King in March or the CMM in April.

Coming out of the park we were around Mile 9. From studying the course elevation map it had appeared Miles 10-13 were pretty much downhill. This course was pretty flat - there were some slight hills but nothing like our last half. The whole race I kept telling myself '10-13 are downhill, 10-13 are downhill!'. Also around this mile we passed the Target St Jude House. This is a house where out of town families can stay while their children are going through their radiation and chemo treatments. Several of the kids were outside with their families cheering, and one adorable little boy who had to be 5 or 6 was outside with his hospital mask on giving the runners high 5's. Of course I veered over to him, and he was exactly the strength I needed at that moment not to mentally check out. We headed on to Mile 10, I grabbed some water. I swear it was the best water ever (up to this point I had been drinking out of my Fuel Belt). It was so cold, I dumbly chugged the whole cup down way to fast. I chased it down with 2 gummi bears and immediately had a wretched side stitch. Grrr!!! And we were headed up another blasted hill. WTF?? Miles 10-13 are supposed to be downhill. I AM AT MILE 10, WHERE IS MY DOWNHILL?? To top it off 2 pretty overweight women were walking up the sidewalk with little tiny medals on and I was thinking a) how did THEY finish before me and already end up about 2 miles back and b) why the crap is the medal so tiny????. Near the end of a race I become evil Rachel. It doesn't matter how long the race is - about the last 15% I am not anyone's friend. Brent thinks it's a very good thing I don't train with a group because I start becoming pretty nasty. Around this time I also start asking myself why in God's name I keep doing this to myself and trying to figure out what part of this is even remotely fun. And I vow never to do it again. Ever. Ever ever. Finally, we hit Mile 11 and I tell myself 2 more miles, 2 more miles, less than 20 minutes. At this point my pace was under the 2 hour mark, and I had given up hitting it. I just wanted to finish well, and not push myself too hard. The side stitch was gone but it had left me with a twinge of that nauseated feeling and I did NOT want to vomit!! We also passed the place where my mom had always gotten her allergy shots, so that perked me up for a bit. We finally hung a turn and I could see the large ballpark lights of the Autozone Park - where we would finish. Just knowing it existed and was somewhat within sight helped. We approached mile 12 and before long the marathons split off. I watched them continue on as we veered right and thought 'Better You than me suckers!! HA! I'm almost finished!!!!' (Remember, I'm still evil Rachel.) The last mile was forever long! It was a long, straight run into the ballfield. Almost cruel really, in that you could see it forever, there's absolutely no one out there cheering you in, yet it's still so far away. I had already decided I didn't have much left to kick in, but I did slightly pick up my pace. My stomach was still pretty grouchy though, so I'd pick it up and then hang it back and repeat. Finally, right outside the ballpark I saw the 13 marker, and doing the math I realized I was hella close to finishing at 2. So, I kicked it in, everything left in my weary, angry body. FINALLY - a downhill, steep, straight through the dugout. I knew it was less than a .1 to the finish, so I let my legs fly out of control. I knew I was in danger of falling because of my exhausted state, but I didn't care and I knew it would make for great race photos for the cameramen and stories for everyone else around me. I ran, and ran, and it wasn't that easy because it was suddenly some sort of gravel/sand mix. "Where the hell did that come from" thought Angry Rachel. And I ran, and ran toward the finish clock - and I made it - 1.59.45. 15 seconds under 2 but that works for me!! I gave that race everything I had. Start to finish. I still can't believe I made it in under 2, that's really not a pace I can keep (or thought I could keep) for that long. I can't wait to see my 'official race photos'. I was making some seriously ugly faces as I crossed the finish. I saw the photographers, but I was in a battle of me vs 2.00.00 to get across that line and I wasn't about to slow it down until I hit that mat. So there won't be any cute photos of me with my hands raised or smiling at the camera - it's going to be me with an evil gleam in my eye and some strange gravel/sand flying up behind me.

Then I almost puked. Yup. It was all I could do to keep it down. I think the swift change in pace at the end really shook it all up a bit too much. I kept it under control, got my medal, chip removed, grabbed a water and a mylar blanket and headed back through the stands to watch Brent finish. Just as I got a spot in the stands here he came! He's really catching up too quickly to me, I need time to get a good vantage point!! Once he came out of the finisher's area we headed up to the finisher's refreshment area. They had a TON of good eats! Everything from sodas, water, cocoa, Powerade, through all the fruits to hot soup, pizza, doughnuts, cookies and beer! The food was definately top notch. We grabbed some goodies and a seat and watched the first marathon finishers start coming in. We hung around for about an hour before we headed back to the room for warm showers and a short nap.

All in all, it was a great race! We both overachieved our goals and had a lot of fun. At some points the course is pretty dull - but it would be greatly improved if Memphis supported its race and came out to cheer! Crowd support was minimal at best - but how would they even know about the race! It wasn't covered by the news AT ALL! There was not a single news camera down there, and on the 5 pm news they didn't even mention it until 5.05, about the 6th story in - and of course they had no footage! That's amazing to me, the CMM here is HUGE! It dominates the news for weeks leading up to it and there are reporters everywhere covering the race.

That's it for now! Brent has busted out the Dance Dance Revolution pad so it's time for me to get my groove on! I'll share some more pics and my splits tomorrow!