This past Friday my daughter and son-in-law, Kandice and Kasey, along with their good friends Lindsay and Crystal, drove about 5 hours to Memphis for the St Jude's marathon. It was a fun an carefree ride with lots of talk about running and fund raising for charity. I love talking with Kasey about fund raising, he is such a passionate young man and really wants to make a difference in people's lives'. Both Lindsay and Crystal are involved with The HOPE Foundation and are very selfless as well. So needless to say it was a wonderful group of people I had the pleasure to travel with. We arrived in Memphis and went straight to the Expo to pick up our packets for the marathon. We were all excited, especially Lindsay and Crystal as this would be their first marathon. I love to see the excitement of first timers.
We picked up our packets, checked into our hotel and then had a nice dinner. We did the final prep for the marathon an went to bed early. A very wild bunch:) We arrived at the start around 7am, the start was 8am? Which I thought was a little late but we did get to sleep in. The weather was perfect, about 45 degrees at the start and around 65 when we finished. The run started in waves so we, being in the back, started about 8:20am. We started slow an tapered:) My goal was to insure Kandice didn't have any problems with her IT Band and PRed. She has struggled in both of her marathons and I wanted this one to be different. We cruised along taking walk breaks every mile as well as walking any significant hills, which really didn't appear until the second half. It was a nice course that covered all of downtown as well as going through the St Jude's parking lot. This was very emotional for Kandice, as most of you know this is where my granddaughter Megan was/is being treated for cancer. It is horrible for a parent to go through this, Kandice hung tough through this. She has endured many trying times in her life but she always comes out strong. She was a marathoner in life long before I started doing these trivial endurance events. Anyway, so of course going through the crowd of patients at St Jude's was an emotional moment for her. She made it through and we continued on, the first 16 miles or so were problem free. Around 16-18 is where my tough little girl started whining like an Academy award winning actress:) She was SOOOOOOOOOO tired, TIRED, TIRED. Really??!! Of course your tired it's a marathon:) I was not very sympathetic! I told her to get over it and move on. Now I didn't say it exactly like that, I was a little more compassionate. Sorta! Fatigue is part of the game and you have to deal with it. So I joked with her for the next few 8 miles, well I thought I was funny. She mentioned that I had crack in my Gel because I was too happy:):) Speaking of Gel I used Chocolate #9 gel and I would highly recommend it. Check it out http://www.chocolateenergygel.com/. It is agave and cocoa, organic as well. The slow burn of the agave is great, I can usually us ! gel every 2 hours or so with no problem.
Back to the marathon. As we were closing in on the finish she had NO IT Band problems until mile 25. That's huge!! She has been dealing with this problem for some time. Her last run was 2 weeks before the marathon, she had severe IT Band pain on that run and was unable to finish. So I put her on the elliptical and she saw the chiro and massage therapist a few times before the marathon. So all things considered pain setting in at mile 25 is great! This being a "real" pain and not mental fatigue, I was a lot more sympathetic. We did a walk run the rest of the way and had a very strong finish. She also PRed by 12 minutes!!!!! I am so proud of her and her accomplishment. She did a great job even though she whined a little:) Lindsay and Crystal finished before us, so Kasey and the girls were waiting for at the finish. We ate pizza, stretched and headed back to the hotel.
We went down to the pool which was way to warm to do any good. We went back to the room for showers and much deserved rest. While all the "kids" napped I took an ice bath an a very long shower. We had a not so healthy dinner at Westys downtown. Great food and wonderful service. From there we made our way over to Beale street, which is a wanna-be Bourbon Street. We also discovered a growing tradition in the country called "Stumbling Santa Saturday". Apparently on the first Saturday of December people dress like Santa and get drunk. I love traditions:) They were everywhere!!! It was mildly entertaining. It was a fun and entertaining night, nothing really out of the ordinary. No fights, nudity..... it was still fun. everyone was tired but we made it until midnight the went back to the room an crashed hard.
I have really enjoyed running my marathons this year with Kandice. There aren't a lot of people who are able to do that, I am very fortunate. I thank GOD for the relationship that I have with her and Kasey. They are wonderful parents, great role models and are devoted to helping others. It was a great weekend!!
The St Jude's marathon was well supported, well marked with a fun finish line. The course took you through glorious neighborhoods with beautiful houses as well as covering the Urban setting with new condos and apartments. You see all sides of Memphis, very eclectic. They had a few bands scattered throughout the course for entertainment. It is definitely a top 5 of all the marathons I have ran.
NEVER STOP RUNNING!!!
Choose to Succeed
Koach Karl
http://www.koachkarl.com/
http://www.k2ultrarunning.blogspot.com/
http://www.k2rawrudeandright.blogspot.com/
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