Race Report-St. Jude Memphis Half-Marathon
The St. Jude Memphis Marathon was Saturday, December 4. DH and I drove down on Friday afternoon. The weather reports were calling for a low of 42 on Friday night with a high temp on Saturday of 55 and a 20 percent chance of rain. Not bad considering last year it was 28 degrees the morning of the race.
We went to the race check-in, got our numbers and shopped at the expo. It was very well organized. We left and checked into our hotel then walked to a restaurant for dinner that was offering $5.99 all you can eat spaghetti for race-goers. It was delicious! After dinner we went back to the hotel and went to bed early. We woke the next morning to 57 degree temps! We couldn't believe it!
The hotel was only 2 blocks from the race start so we were able to stretch and get ready for the race in our rooms. That was nice. We kissed each other goodbye and went to our respective corrals. I wanted a time of 2:30 but didn't know if I could do it because of my tendonitis.
The race started between Autozone ball park and the Fedex Forum (home of the Grizzlies). The first few miles took us around town, down to the Mississippi River front and then up a hill to Beale Street. We ran down Beale Street then down to the St. Jude Hospital complex where we ran through families, supporters, and patients. It was very inspiring and made me proud to be a part of the effort.
Even though there was pain in every step, I was able to keep my pace perfectly until mile 6. The pain suddenly got worse and I was feeling tired. I had to stop running and walked for a bit and walked across the 10K split at 1:15. I was on schedule but didn't know if I could keep running. I did a gel and washed it down at the next water stop and got to feeling better. I put it behind me and took off again. Miles 9-10 wound past the zoo and through the park--mostly uphill when we came out on the home stretch. I had slowed down but had to keep running because stopping to walk made the tendonitis worse. At mile 12 I was at 2:30 and was so disappointed that I wasn't going to reach my goal but just wanted to get it over. The last half-mile is downhill and takes you straight into Autozone ball park where they announce your name as you come into the park to the finish line. I finished with a time of 1:43. Not what I wanted but I improved my first HM time by 10minutes. I was pleased.
DH was waiting on me at the finish line and we had our picture taken with Elvis. The temperature at the end of the race was 61 degrees---in December! There was a large group of us from our area that had raced and we spent the afternoon with them at the Peabody relaxing, sharing stories and watching the ducks! It was a great time and even though I could barely walk the next day, the tendonitis is better and healing.
