Bill Phillip's | Transformation

Half-marathon complete!

Wow...I can hardly comprehend the wonderful accomplishment that Don, Clara, Sarah, Brad, Diane and I made this weekend!! We had goals...we trained to achieve those goals...and we accomplished those goals! So proud of all of us! And yes I am wearing my medal today. I earned it.  ;D  This summary might be a bit long-winded so just bear with me.

Friday:

I was so excited on friday to be picking up Diane at the airport. I texted Clara and she graciously hung around after her flight arrived so we could hang out a bit. I enjoyed spending time with Clara..she is a font of interesting information and just darn nice too. My sister, Christina, was with me as well. We visited and talked while we waited for Diane to come off the plane. We waited and waited and then out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed a star-jump. Only one person does star jumps..then she disappeared! Later we found out she was in the bathroom :D and met a very nice lady in there and was talking with her and taking more pictures. Thank goodness for Diane and her camera to document such wonderful moments.
Anyway, while we were waiting there was a family there from my sister's church waiting on their son to come home on leave from the military. Waiting to see his son for the first time as he was born after he left for duty. As Clara and I sat at a table and talked, I watched this family as they were reunited with their loved one. I teared up when he held his son for the first time. What a special moment I was blessed to witnes from a distance. As it turns out, Diane had met Tyler on the airplane and had let him use her phone to call his family. It was truly an amazing way to share in that families moment.

Corralling Diane is like herding cats. It ain't easy.  :o :D But we love her.  :-*  We finally all met up and decided to proceed over to the Nashville Convention center. After a parking lot fiasco we were finally able to park and join the throngs of people spilling into the Fitness expo. It was exciting to get my official number and the really cool tshirt and other goodies. I didn't bring our digital camera, just a cheap disposable one. But I was taking pictures with it in hopes of getting a few good ones. Diane has really good pictures from the weekend she'll be sharing with me this week. I enjoyed walking around the expo with Clara, Diane, and Christina.  I was very excited to stumble upon the Smucker's jelly tent. Fitness icon Denise Austin was there signing autographs and taking pictures. I was able to get my picture made with her. I was excited about that! She's been one of my favorite fitness icons for a long time. That was a real thrill.  We wandered around a bit more and I picked up some carb gu stuff along with a little belt thing to wear on race day to hold my phone and gu stuff. We wandered some more and then Diane and I ended up leaving a bit earlier than I wanted because Christina just couldn't keep up with the walking with some of her physical issues. So we booked it on home. 

Mom took to heart my request for a pre-race pasta party. Hmmummm...ain't nothing like Momma's cooking. I might have enjoyed that a weeee bit too much over the weekend.  :P

Saturday morning our alarm went off at 3:35am. Oy! I'd been awake since 1am so it really didn't matter. At that point I'd only had about 4 hours sleep in 2 days. But I was awake and ready to go. We got ready as quietly as we could so as not to disturb the rest of the sleeping family. I had my back brace and tote belt tucked discretely under my SuperWoman shirt! That was my tribute to Julie..wearing that shirt! As we prepare to leave Diane gives me a starjump on the trampoline. We get into the car and she's bubbling with energy and excitment as only Diane can...don's response was priceless...'save it' he grumbled. Ok..so he's not a morning person. It was funny.  :D

So it's about a 45 minute commute for us to Nashville to get to the parking lot to pick up the shuttle to the race. Wow..lots of cars and lots of people! Never did it occur to us to actually see what lot we had parked in. That would catch us later.  :-\

Arriving at Centinnel Park in Nashville. A beautiful place with a replica of the Parthanon. As we walked up to join the rest of the crowds Diane buried herself in a beautiful rose bush so I could get a couple of pictures of her. She loves roses and enjoys those as a sign from God. Thankfully she didn't end up with any scratches from that adventure.

We wandered around and thankfully were able to find the TNT area and we found Sarah/Brad/Clara there! Yeah!! We got a lovely group picture which I'm sure someone will post soon! I was very excited
to meetup with them as we had missed Sarah/Brad at the expo the day before. Sarah let me borrow some sunblock...thank goodness for that...I missed a couple of spots though and am extra crispy there.  :P  The port-o-potties were an adventure...I waited in line 40 minutes for my turn. Oy! Just hold your breath and drip dry(TMI)  :o

Finally tis time to head to our corrals! Officially we were in corral 32...back of the pack. As we approached the starting point...OMG there were so many people! It was amazing and exciting!!!!!  No way were we going to go all the way to the back. We jumped in at corral 27 I think and still it was an hour before we crossed the start line. Next time we'll know to jump in sooner.

So off we went...not one mile in Diane had to go to the restroom so we stopped at McDonalds...of course there was a big line there too...as we waited for what seemed like hours...we turned around to look at the back of the pack and a woman face-planted right behind us...hard...hit her face, crushed her glasses against her face and made a large gash on her cheek. Don rushed to assist her while I ran to get a cop. The cops arrived and called the medics. Diane finally came out of the bathroom(she ended up running into the mens room cause she couldn't hold it anymore :o) By the time we left as the woman was being attended too...we were barely in front of the cop cars that mark the END of the runners. That was NOT were I wanted to be.

So we walked and walked and walked. I really enjoyed the scenery. There were some very interesting things and people to look at along the way. Some of the most interesting things I saw as we walked...groups of walkers using hula hoops. I think it might have been a breast cancer awareness group. They were walking and hulahooping at the same time!! I was amazed by this. I can't walk and chew gum!  We saw another guy that was running and kicking a soccer ball along with him. Spectator wise we went through a nice historical looking neighborhood. The families were sitting outside lined up on the street. There was a gentleman that looked like(or perhaps he was) some sort of english aristocrat or thought he was royalty sitting in a very elegant chair being serve champagne by, I assume, his wife complete with silver ice bucket. That was very interesting.  We saw several people that were having to seek medical attention...either due to the heat, lack of training, or hydration is my guess. Unfortunately the most sad news is that one soldier actually died after completing the half-marathon. He collapsed at the finish line and never recovered. I feel for his family. He was 25.

So Ms. Diane...at each mile marker along the way she did star jumps for us and took our picture! If we came across any cheerleaders she ran up to them and got them to chant mine/Don's names as we went by. I liked that and thought it was nice. All the pictures really document the journey and I'm looking forward to seeing them all and sharing them with you. she had so much energy along the way that it was very exciting and bubbling over to us I think. She had extra energy beans with her which were quite useful as well. She encouraged us to stay hydrated and along the way she said prayers for me and gave me positive energy. I just love her and learn so much from her when I'm with her. You have to be open to life when you're with Diane...for she sees more than most people do..and to share some of her blessings is a blessing in itself.

About mile 5 or 6 Don started having trouble with his shoes. We stopped and he tried adjusting a few times but it didn't really seem to help. He toughed it out, but it did slow his pace a bit. He ended up with a nice bruise/callus looking thing on the bottom of one foot.  I was doing fine at that point. About mile 8 is where my legs started to protest a little bit.

My family called as they arrived at the finish line. They arrived early and since we left late they unfortunately ended up waiting much longer than I wanted them too. However it was so special and important to me for them to be there at the finish line. My Mom, sister, her two kids and Bethany were all waiting for us at mile 13.

Mile 13 - I was crying off/on the last mile..just with pride for myself and for Don. Gratitude for those that loved us enough to come walk with us and share that journey with us. No way was I going to cross that finish line without holding the hand of my number 1 supporter..Don.

As we rounded the corner at the stadium drive for mile 13 I could see my family. I started waving and they saw us! Bethany came running up to us and gave us her super-hugs! It was very emotional for me anyway. We got lots of good family pictures to share for that moment.

Don turns to me and says 'Let's finish this'...So, Don, Bethany and I joined hands and we walked that last .1 mile to the finish line. It was a wonderful family moment and one that will live on forever with some great pictures that Diane took of us. As we crossed the finish line we raised our arms in victory!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted my medal dangit...where were they?? At this late point in the race they were breaking things down and packing up..which I was mildly perturbed with..but we did find the medals and Diane and I got ours. Don was not allowed to have one since he didn't have a number. Well that just wasn't going to be...so Diane gave her medal to Don. It was a very moving moment I thought.

At some point Don and I hugged and it was a very special moment for us. I'm soooo proud of Don. He is wonderful father and husband just a wonderful man in general. I had worried about his knees and back and if he'd be able to complete the 13.1 miles..but he did it. It was a very emotional moment for us and I'm still just bursting with pride for him at this accomplishment.  :-*

He was there for me...as was diane...supporting me and loving me with every step.

[b]6 feet...with 1 heart...to finish the race[/b].

Post-race - Our legs were suffering pretty badly at that point not to mention don's feet. So we had to decide to head towards home rather than staying and waiting for the rest of the crew. They were going to the Demos's downtown. We headed to the Demos's in Lebanon where we could park literally in front of the door. I had promised myself a demos's meal and I wasn't going to miss it. I just couldn't make Don, or myself, go to the one downtown and hope we could find close parking. Anyway...the post race meal was delicious!!

I'm so blessed with a wonderful husband and supportive friends. I love you all and thank you for your support as I accomplished this goal. This was me removing one more item from my box of 'cant'. This is a goal I get to cross off my list of 100 goals I want to accomplish. This is a release of a self-limiting belief.

[b]This is believing in myself and not letting anything stop me. Thank you.[/b]

Stephanie