Country Music 1/2 Maraton 2010

Before

(Notice the long line of people waiting to use the porta potties, that always cracks me up. We saw some without lines where we parked and went there so we wouldn't have to wait in this line. We've also learned from past experience to bring our own TP and sanitizer. Steve brings a roll to share with people who are desparate.)
We did it again and this year was bittersweet for me. I was sad my family wasn't here because ever since we started participating in this race my family has done it with us, but this year they weren't able to make it. It was a little sweet though because Steve and I got our best times yet!

Ok, so I am a little competetive with myself and I was really hoping at the beginning of the season to get a time closer to two hours flat. Sometime back in the snowing cold winter that we had here in Tennessee I stubbed and broke my baby toes on my right foot. I didn't think it would be too big of a deal but it took forever to get better and now I appreciate just how important our toes are to us. I tried to find ways to get around the toe and still exercise but since I didn't want to make the huge effort to swim I had to finally take a two week break. The two weeks quickly turned into 3 weeks and even though my toe got better, I lost my fast running base. I hope to never get a bad injury that would keep me from running forever so I decided not to push it as far as speed in my running training. Steve and I crossed trained with Tony Horton's P90X program and we feel it was really advantageous for us. We didn't get sick of working out since we ran twice a week, then lifted weights or did one of P90X's cardio programs three times a week. The best part of running for me is that I get to do it with Steve. He keeps me motivated.

We lucked out too because as soon as we got our gear from the UPS trucks at the finish line and took this picture it started to rain and soon it was a total down pour. We were late getting to the start line because of all the traffic so Steve finally pulled up onto the grass just outside one of the parking lots. Since we were parked on the parimeter it was fast and easy to leave once the race was over.

After