PR | JennyJennRuns

Good morning downtown Nashville! I had a 4am alarm set..way too early to function!

Here’s the skyline as I crossed the pedestrian bridge to go to the starting line.

Waiting in my corral to start!!

The reason I included this photo is because of its randomness. The picture on the right was last year. I thought it was so cheerful to see a grown man wear a tutu during a marathon?!

I was probably at mile marker 12 when I see the same guy! No tutu this year, awe dang!

This guy around mile marker 23 was running with a flag?! I was struggling to run without a flag. I commend that young man! (And yes he passed me).

The last few miles were so tough. I was exhausted and the temperature was getting warmer. I stopped to walk multiple times!

Around mile 25, Austin texted me to see where I was because he stopped getting notifications on my crossing points.

When I was about to text back, he’s standing on the corner around 25.8 with flowers and a big smile!! I love you. I’m so proud of you. Left at the light and your to the finish. These words can make a girl so happy!! I guess he’s a keeper 😉

As soon as I crossed the finish line I see Steve and Shyla! We trained together with Fleet Feet and I couldn’t be more proud of these two!!

About that time I see another familiar face, Stephanie from work! She PR’ed the 1/2 marathon by almost 25 minutes!!

Here’s me with my finisher medal and the beautiful flowers from Austin!

And one in front of the giant Garmin guitar. Right before the picture, I was laying in the grass trying to pull up the compression sleeves.

Official race time! I finished 10 seconds faster than my watch.

As you can see by my times, I was way ahead of schedule the first half of the race, oops!

Per my Garmin, here are my splits:

8:36,8:30,8:43,9:09,8:42,8:38,9,8:46,8:51,9:08,8:48,9:23,9:08,9:17,9:40,9:24,10:12,11:11,11,10:11,10:29,11:08,12:53,12:18,11:05,13:03,5:32

Next time, I’ll remember to start slower and finish strong! I’ll be doing a post on the things I did differently from my first marathon and what I need to improve on for the next!

Post race I always want Mexican food. Rosepepper is what my heart desired!! I’ve never been but heard lots of good things about the restaurant.

In honor of the race, their sign was so fitting! Cabo tacos (fried fish tacos)!! Shut the front door these were ah-mazing! Maybe even the best fish tacos I’ve ever had?!

I received many congrats from complete strangers and fellow runners. You know you’ve accomplished so much but when people congratulate you, it makes the heart smile even more!

This was a tough course, it’s not for the faint of heart. I may do the full again one day..definitely sticking with the half next year! 2016 will be 5 years of running Country Music 🙂

AND, I can’t wait to run the St. Jude Memphis Marathon in December and as a St. Jude Hero! Registration opens May 1st, sign up fast though if you’re doing the 1/2!

Thank you again Nashville and Rock-n-Roll for a great race!

Yesterday I ran my 6th Half Marathon and PR’ed with an unofficial time of ..

I felt awesome during the race. The GU’s I took at miles 6 and 10 definitley helped (salted caramel is the bomb.com) My splits were..8:27, 8:41, 8:55, 9:09, 8:26, 8:33, 8:51, 8:29, 8:24, 8:35, 9:06, 8:26, 8:10

I think you can see where the hills were by my changes in pace.

I was starving by the time the race was over, we left before the awards ceremony. I had a feeling I was going to place top 3 in my age group (based on the people who registered on the website). I ended up finishing 1st in my age group! I was happy with a new PR but, a 1st place finish was icing on top of the cake!

This is a picture (courtsey of my cousin) of me NOT standing on the podium and here’s a picture of my prize that I received but was NOT there to receive.

Yay, a new coffee mug! I think I’m slowly becoming a coffee mug collector.

Don’t let his face fool you, he was super stoked to be at my race (haha insert sarcastic laughter) BUT really though. This guy has been to every single one of my races. I know he won’t always be able to make them in the future and it’s going to be hard. He doesn’t understand how much it means to me knowing he’s at the end waiting with a smile, kiss, and a ‘I’m proud of you honey.’ He really is the best. Waking up all of those early mornings, espcially since he is not a morning person!

After the race my feet and ankles were hurting. My body was telling me it’s time for new shoes. I’d been running in my Nike Free Runs since August (during marathon training) and I knew I’d put quite a few miles in the shoes. As a reward for my awesome day, I bought myself some new kicks!

My first pair of ‘real’ running shoes were Brooks and, I always revert to Brooks when I buy a new brand. I’ve tried Saucony and Nike’s. I can’t wait to see the places these shoes will take me!