All decked out in PURPLE! Love how the race gave TNT special purple bibs!
A TNT purple manicure? Sure, why not?!
Team Tennessee met down in the hotel lobby at 5:00 am. What's funny about this is that generally at a race you think "Oh - just meet in the lobby. Got it." Because there usually aren't 100 (or more) people in a hotel lobby at 5:00 am. But yet, there they were. TNT Teams from all over the country were meeting in the hotel lobby at 5:00 am. And everyone was in purple. It was quite the sight and kind of made it hard for us to find everyone. Somehow, Gwen (from Knoxville) snagged a little alcove where we could see everyone walk by and grab them before they wandered too far. After a photo (obviously), we headed down to the Metro to take to the race.
Julie, Lauretta, Gwen, Brandi and me. TEAM TENNESSEE!
The Metro let us off right at the race start. PERFECT. We had about an hour before race time, so I went over to the hotel of Deb, Dana and Jenny (aka college running girls) and met up with them for a few minutes before the race. A few minutes after meeting them, I got a text from my dear friend Cory from high school, who was also running with TNT in this race. She was somewhere at the start. I HAD to find her, even for a minute to just give her a hug and say Hi. Even though the announcer was telling everyone to head over to their corrals, I was literally running around the area where I thought Cory was, just yelling her name over and over. Eventually, we found each other, gave each other a quick hug, wished each other good luck and ran off to our corrals for the start. (Sidebar about Cory. Her amazing mother passed away from leukemia in 2011. Many of my favorite high school memories involve wonderful times at Cory's house and her mother always made us feel like we were part of her family. She was one of my main inspirations for getting involved with TNT.)
Oakton High School Cougars, y'all!
After leaving Cory, I tried to make my way to the 9:00-9:59 corral. Remember in my first post about this weekend when the check-in volunteer pretty much threatened me with disqualification if I didn't wear my corral wristband? Well, no one was checking them. Not only were they not checking them, they didn't even have the corrals separated. If fact, they were actually encouraging people to move forward. So people from the later corrals were standing right next to me. We were all jammed in there like sardines. And, of course, the Boston Marathon bombing was in the front of my mind (as I'm sure it was on everyone's). I was really ready for the race to start so I could get a little space.
Too. Many. People. In. Too. Close. Of. A. Space.
After a few words from Shalane Flanagan (who I didn't even know was there), the National Anthem and a moment of silence for Boston (you could have heard a pin drop), the race started. Ever tried to run with 15,000 people through the streets at one time? No? Well, don't. It was awful. Way, way, way too many people in too narrow of a road. WHY Nike didn't stagger the corrals, I have no idea. We were passing walkers in Mile 1. MILE 1! Totally unacceptable. I have to say that this was my biggest disappointment of the race. I saw several people just run into each other because they literally had no where else to go.
Letting 15,000 runners go at one time sure makes a pretty picture, though. Dangerous as hell, but a pretty picture.
Due to the mass start, I never really felt like I got into a rhythm with my running. I also knew that any chance I had at a PR was gone because I had to walk/jog too much in race traffic. So I decided to just relax and enjoy the race. It was, after all, a beautiful course in my favorite city. And I did enjoy it. For a while. But then it became quickly apparent that this must have been the first half (or race) for many people because the lack of race etiquette was staggering. Not ONLY did we have walkers jumping corrals and starting in the front, there were people STOPPING in the middle of the course to take a photo. Now, did I bring my camera? Yes. Did I move off of the course to take my photo so no one would run into me? YES! Because that's what you do!!
Me. In a photo. On the sidewalk. Not in the middle of a race course.
However, there were also some AMAZING aspects of the race. First off - running as a member of TNT was fantastic. Everyone was yelling "GO TEAM!" Everyone. There were TNT coaches along the entire race route. They would ask if I needed anything or just run with me a few minutes. I can't express how much this helps when you're tired and hurting.
Also - the race organizers hired some pretty cool talent to entertain along the race route. They were mainly drum lines, which was unique theme, but it worked. Around mile 3, we ran into a pretty long tunnel, and they had drummers at both ends of it playing the same groove. The echos of the drums followed you throughout the tunnel. It was pretty awesome. A Chinese drum line WITH Chinese dragons were there and as was a kick-ass, all-female drum line who just ROCKED it. I have to give a shout-out to the GMU pep band who was also along the course, and sounded so good I almost jumped up and started dancing with the conductor BEFORE I realized who there were (I'm a GMU alum).
There was an issue with rest areas. The water / Nuun stops were fine and spaced accordingly (I LOVED that they had Nuun out there), but like my last DC race, I had to wait about 20 minutes for a porta-john. Considering I wasn't planning on PRing, this wasn't a huge deal, but it's still kind of annoying. I mean, come on. You have 15,000 WOMEN out there. Get a few more porta-johns.
Of course, the best part about this race is the finish. Why, you ask? The Nike Women's races are famous for tuxedoed men handing out Tiffany necklaces instead of finisher's medals.
Because who doesn't love a man, in a tux, handing out little, blue Tiffany boxes?
And what was inside of the box?
My new bling!
All done!!
Being that this was a race for LLS, I did have several moments when I had to hold back tears. The worst was when I saw a little boy wearing a purple "survivor" shirt. His dad was holding a sign that was obviously written by the boy that said "You're running for me. Go Mom." Ugh. Just rip my heart out right there. I almost lost it. There were many poignant moments like that for me throughout the weekend. It really brought home why we were all out here. Sure, it's fun and who doesn't like Tiffany necklaces? But man, we raised $6 million dollars to fight cancer! I've never been a part of anything that huge. It's what this race was really all about.
Unfortunately, I discovered something after the race that has me (still) totally bummed. I somehow hurt my ankle. After getting home from a post-race brunch with my college runner girls, I looked at my ankle and saw this:
Yeah...so that's not right.
I have no idea how it happened, because it didn't hurt when I was running. I didn't twist it or anything. I "think" I tweaked it at my Thursday night workout and then running on it caused it to swell. It's now a week later, and the swelling has FINALLY gone done, but it's still a little sore when I rotate it. I haven't run for a week and made the decision to skip my morning run tomorrow. I'm supposed to race in two weeks at Memphis in May, but I'm not sure about that now. It'll probably be healed by then, but I won't be in any shape to compete. We'll just have to see how it goes.
Before I go - I need to say THANK YOU to everyone from TNT. Especially, the Knoxville TNT ladies for really looking after me - my awesome roommate Laurella, Julie, Gwen and Brandi. Thank you so much. And Thanks to Sammi from LLS for coordinating everything for me (and answering all of my crazy questions), to Coach Carey and Coach Jim for being there every Saturday no matter the weather, to my mentor Jeanne for her motivating e-mails, and to the Nashville TNT group for your support. Everyone has been just wonderful. And last but certainly not least, THANK YOU to everyone who donated to my campaign. I am humbled by your generosity. Thank you, everyone, for making my TNT experience so special. GO TEAM!!
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