T - Four Weeks! (and two more long runs), Kara

For me, not only am I counting down the weeks to our big marathon day, but I am also counting down the long runs until then. We have two more long run weekends, a "taper" day, and then it will be here!

This past weekend, I traveled to Nashville for the Country Music Half Marathon. This is part of the Rock and Roll Series and is one of the largest races in this area. There were approximately 30,000+ runners, the largest race I have ever been in.

The expo leading up to the race is amazing. It's a candy shop for runners. Items we have never seen before, or those we have only heard of or seen in magazines are hanging from a string in front of us. Shoes, clothes, jewelry, nutrition products, socks (socks are very important!), hydration products, etc. are all within an arms reach. It's so cool to have so many items available for purchase, and it's also so neat to have so many healthy active people in one place, for one reason.

I wasn't running this race to set a personal record, heck, I didn't even know I was going to this race until the Wednesday before, so I went into it with a group of friends to pace another teammate/friend. We went into it planning to set a goal time of 2:30 for our friend Lisa, and two and half excruciating hours later, we crossed the finish line with our goal time in sight.

In addition to the half marathon in Nashville on Saturday, I returned home to Jonesboro to complete my 20 mile run with Jennifer on Sunday. It's the most I have ever run at one time, and I was very nervous about completing this distance. No, it was not pretty... But I'm hoping that it was only so sloppy due to my 13 mile distance the day before. Jennifer and Jen led a great route, despite the rain...

I ran over 33 miles in 2 days. Ice, biofreeze, and Aleve, please!

Three more weekends, two more long runs. We can do this...

Lisa's Personal Pacers

Team 2:30

MJ, Lisa, Addy and I

4-30-11