Third time is a charm

Wow. That's really, all I can say.

We ran 13.1 miles.

In the rain.

Up and down many, many hills.

The four of us (five with Manager Markus!)  trained for 16 weeks... for something that I ultimately thought I would dread doing. A recap of half-marathon one and two can be found here and here. Want to hear something? I didn't dread it. Actually, it was the exact opposite. I. Loved. Every. Step.

On Thursday night, the weather forecast shifted to an 80% chance of rain for Saturday. I ignored it. If I dwelled on it being rainy - I thought I might dread the run, and I was finally in a happy, excited place to run this race. So I ignored it. Ignorance is bliss, right?

I held onto hope that it wouldn't rain - but no such luck. It started to sprinkle while standing in the line for the shuttle, and well - it continued to rain from that moment on.

We all finagled our way into Corral #21 (where we also met my sister and her best friend Carolyn) right as Sweet Caroline began to play on the loudspeakers as a tribute to Boston. There's nothing quite like singing Sweet Caroline at Fenway Park, but listening to over 20,000 runners sing in honor of Boston was up there on the "cool moments to experience" list. Once there, we waited and we waited... for roughly 30 minutes until our corral got the motion to start.

Miles one through three were phenomenal. They zipped past and just like that, we only had ten more miles to go. I counted down, mile by mile. Miles two through five were pretty much straight up hill. The shirts with our names on it were such a fun idea. Every now and then someone would yell "Go Sam!" or "Go Toni, Staci, Jessica and Sam!" And it always happened when I really needed it, mentally. The route was beautiful (other than it raining, did I mention it was raining?) and crossed through the most beautiful parts of Nashville. We caught up with my sister at mile 10, and Staci and Toni went ahead while I was able to run with her for a little while. Running with my sister is always a calming moment. She always motivates me to push harder and go further. She urged me on and miles 11.5 - 13.1 were just me... I became a bit emotional as I turned the corner to the finish line. I sucked back tears and lifted my arms in the air as I crossed the finish line. I did it. We did it. Final finish time came in at 2:17:38. It's a new PR and one I am incredibly proud of!

After crossing the finish line, every aspect of me began to shiver. The fact that there wasn't an inch of me that wasn't drenched from the rain really began to take its toll on me. I wanted chocolate milk, gatorade and a foil blanket. Oh and a banana. I was famished and cold and wet... and cold. We finally found each other and our dear friend Andreia (Thanks for coming!). We quickly made plans to leave. As much fun as the after-party for a Rock 'n' Roll event is, we couldn't stay. It was still raining and we all had blue lips and numb fingers. It was time to go.

If I reflect over the last 16 weeks, and well - that's what this is... I immediately give a lot of thanks to these three ladies. There was incredible motivation at points where I didn't want to run much further. Or when I needed to rest because of IT-Band issues. And even though I don't always go to AT class, I have to give that credit also. The conditioning helped us go further, faster. While waking up between 5:30 and 6 a.m. every M/T/W/F/Saturday was NOT fun - I couldn't have asked for better people to travel alongside me during this journey.

Kudos to the Rock 'n' Roll team again - another great race! Had the weather been beautiful, it would have been even more amazing than the last.

So, after half-marathon one and two, I said NEVER AGAIN. Never again, however, will I say never again. Ha - the irony, I know. The car ride home included many, many discussions about what is next for the Just 4 Kicks crew... and let's just say: we dream big, we set high goals and we smash them out of the park!

#allwedoiswin