Music City Half-Marathon

    What a run! Last weekend I participated in the Music City Half Marathon, and man was it tough.  I mean it could have been the fact that I haven't ran over 3 miles since December.  Even then I think the most I had ran was 6 miles, but I knew I could push myself to finish.  Which I did!  My goal was to finish without stopping and I succeeded.  The race had many hills, they weren't very steep, but gradual hills are just as horrid on a long run, 13.1 miles to be exact.  This race was definitely harder to finish than the Navy Seal Extreme Off-Road Challenge, probably because we really just tried to have fun on that race, but I pushed for pride on this one.  I had been told that my legs tiring out would be the worst aspect of the race, and I assumed that since I had been working my leg strength up since I was 10 that it wouldn't be a problem for me.  Wow, was I wrong; by the end it felt like I had just finished about 5 P90X leg workouts in a row!  Around mile 7 my legs started to burn like no other, and those dreadful hills didn't help much either.  But, about every mile or so there was a water and Cytomax (kind of like Gatorade) station, and if it weren't for those little drinks to give me the extra burst of energy & an intense adrenaline pumping song along the way, I might not have been able to reach my goal.  I finished in 2:01:23 according to the website and came in 4003 out of approximately 32000.  It truly was an experience I'll never forget, running with that many people, but it will be awhile before I compete in anymore races.


"A lot of people run a race to see who's the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts."
      - Steve Prefontaine