13.1 Music City Marathon

It was a very exciting day for me on Saturday, especially since this was my very first marathon ever. We stayed the night at the Embassy Suites on Friday night. It was late when we got there so once we parked & checked in we immediately tried to find somewhere to eat. We decided on Amerigos it was within walking distance of our hotel. We've never ate there before but both really enjoyed it.

Sat am we had the alarm set for 5:45 but I was awake around 5:00 because not only was I excited but I was anxious for the day. We were supposed to meet a crew at 6:45 at the Parthenon but goodness when we got there it was so many people there was no way I was going to find my people LOL I ended up calling Brenda & thankfully they were headed our way so we ended up getting a group pic.

Before heading out the door of the hotel

looking at over 30,000 people that were fixing to take off

Standing in the crowd of people that were waiting for our time to start

I was supposed to be in corral #14 but decided that I would jump in so I could go ahead & get started. It was the most incredible, wonderful & amazing day! I started at 7:17 am and once our corral took off it was so emotional. I took about the first 2 miles and just soaked it all in.

I thought the water stations were a mile apart so by the time I go to the 4th water station I was thinking I was way behind with my time. While going through a neighborhood I see mile marker 6 so I ask a young lady if this was really the 6th mile & she looked at me like I had lost my mind & said yes. I was like YES I've made it further than I thought LOL

I tried to text Michael every time I saw a mile marker so he would know how far I had gotten little did I know that he was trying to find the best spot to meet up with me to take a pic :) I didn't hear my phone ring but as soon as I saw he tried calling me I returned his call. He wanted to know how far I had made it & I said I just past mile marker 9, he said well look for me because I'm between 9 & 10. I kept looking and was so happy to see him standing way away from me. I held up my hand to wave & he waved back so I knew then I would get my "your doing great & keep it up" hug from him :)

He followed me for a while & took several pics but then said he had to hurry back to the hotel so he could take a shuttle to the finish line to wait on me :) I got to mile marker 10 and had to take a potty break not even thinking that it would mess with my time lol There were several camera people at mile 11 but then I never saw another marker sign so I had no idea how much further I had until I got to the bridge that we use to get to the Titans games then the run was on because I knew the home front was just minutes ahead.

The spectators are truly amazing everyone standing  on the sides of the road with signs, cow bells, drums, screaming & hollering "keep it up", "You are doing great" it really just keep the stamina going & know that you have people that don't even know you cheering you on. I seriously think everyone needs to experience this at least once.

Seeing the 13 mile marker was one of the greatest feelings that I've ever felt because it was just a feeling of satisfaction and knowing that while I'm 40 yrs old that I finally did something I've wanted to do for several years now. It was wonderful to know that all the training I did paid off because I wasn't nearly as tired or sore as I thought I might be :)

Just crossed the finish line & didn't even think about the medal because I wanted to see Michael :) I had to go back through & get it though, it's gorgeous & something I will always cherish!

Without Dave I would have never even been involved in a 1/2 marathon but with his encouragment I decided I could do it.

Here are my results :) Pretty thrilled that I finished in less than 3 hrs :)

St. Jude Country Music Marathon & 1/2 Marathon

– Half Marathon Results

April 28, 2012

Participant Detail

Finished In:

02:53:55

14850

Angela Newman

LEWISBURG, TN

Age: 40 | Gender: F

5 Km 35:11

10 Km 1:14:55

Pace 13:16

Chip Time 02:53:55

         

Donation for Christy's fund raiser

I was excited when Christy ask me to help with a donation for her fundraiser for Sixty Feet.  The pics aren't real great because I used the camera from work but I think you will get the idea :) There were 4 plain cupcakes with assorted "sprinkles", 4 sugar cookies with various colors of icing & the cupcake pan, the sprinkles fit nicely into a baby food jar & I covered the lid with fabric and that wonderful stuff called Mod Podge. I hope the little girl that gets these enjoys them as much as I enjoyed making them :)

Camping on Spring Break

The boys & Michael decided that spring break would be a great time to go camping at Fall Creek Falls, granted we tent camp so I just kept thinking about how cold it was going to be. I have to admit that even though I got cold on Thursday night, Friday & Saturday nights were wonderful.

We had a great time hiking, riding bikes, paddle boating with lots & lots of family time. We love our boys so much and we realize that while Levi is 17 and Triston is almost 15 there aren't going to be many more times that just the 4 of us are able to go on vacations.

We met a couple from Brentwood that were really nice, a guy named Frank was a couple of sites down from us and then we had "talk to himself guy" right beside us.

Triston was wonderful following me on his bike for 8 miles so I could still get my run in while we were there. Honestly when I finished I felt really good even though it was all up & down hills. It made me feel really good when Triston said "Mom, there is NO way that I could have ran like you did." Michael rode the bike a couple times around but didn't want to hurt himself so he stopped. It was a great opportunity for Levi to get some papers done for school that were due on Monday.

Friday went did some hiking then we went to the inn for all you can eat seafood buffet. They wouldn't allow me to get a veggie bar this time around though which kind of made me sick because there's no way I ate $21.95 worth of food but whatever, the veggies were still good.

Sat there were lots more people that filled up the campground so we rode around & looked at campers, hopefully there is one in our near future :) We did more hiking & paddle boats which included a race with Triston & I winning :) That night we went back up to the inn to listen to some story telling and some blue grass music, it was ok we'd preferred the music over the story telling.

We took our own fire wood but Levi took it upon himself to scavenge more for us :)

The boys tents all set up & they both did their own.

Michael finishing up our tent. I'm so proud of how he did,it had only been a week since his surgery.

Our "kitchen" area

Our "home" was at Section B #71

We did lots of sitting around the fire

The big falls had more coming out of it than it normally does.

Love these guys :)

Levi was all about posing for pics :) there are several of him doing just that.

Levi's first attempt at chopping wood, he did a great job. I forgot to take a pic of Triston chopping his though :(

The Cascade Falls were running full blast too and that water was so cold.

Michael took pics of Triston & me in the other paddle boat so I really need to get those from him.

The boys did a great job watching after Michael while we were hiking and also at the campsite, trying to keep him from picking up anything heavy. We had a great time but I was glad to be back in my bed Sunday night :)

Easter

We had a great Easter that included 2 church services. We went to our church for sunrise service at 6:00 am and throughly enjoyed it after service we went to the fellowship hall & ate breakfast.

We were home by 7:45 so I started cooking everything that we needed for the day. We then went to Levi's church for their skit & service. I was so proud of him & Ali as well as the other youth at Lifesong, they all did a great job on the skit.

We went to my grandmother's for lunch and had a great time as usual there.

My mom & dad

My wonderful grandmother!

Michael with one of my favorite aunts :) They are always playing "gotcha last" but since Michael just had surgery so he couldn't chase after her so she was thrilled to be able to get him lol

After we finished at Miss's we went home and got everything together & let Michael rest for about an hour then we went to Margaret & Leroy's for supper. We always have a great time with everyone there and this year was quite funny with the girl hunting eggs. Kymberli could have cared less about the eggs she just wanted to run. Lizzie was picking up each egg and shaking it then putting it in her basket. They had over 100 eggs to find so it took a while.

Kymberli swinging

Kymberli & Kyndall

All the kids playing basketball :)

My wonderful husband!

I love this pic of Nikki & Triston, she's trying to convince him to help hide eggs lol

Kimme hiding eggs for the kids

Triston and me, I even had heels on :)

Papa with Bentley, look at him holding up that head

Bubby is CRAZY! I'm sure Granny didn't see him or she would have made him get out lol

Kyndall trying to get Kymberli to put the eggs in her basket

Wild girl running around everywhere

Nikki & Bentley

Lizzie with her TT she loves him so much and was wanting him to chase her

He had to arrest her LOL