St. Jude Half-Marathon Weekend 2014

When we got back from Josh's dad's house from Thanksgiving, it was time to focus on our upcoming St. Jude Half-Marthon in Memphis, TN. The tens of you that read this blog may remember that last year all the races were cancelled due to bad weather after we arrived in Memphis. I blogged about that here. Last year would have been my first half-marthon to ever run so I was very upset I didn't get to race. St. Jude was gracious enough to let us transfer our registration fee to another race, so Josh and I ended up running the Rock-n-Roll Half-Marathon in New Orleans in February of 2014. Here's the link to that post. Once that race was over, I felt happy to have a half-marathon under my belt, but it really wasn't the half-marathon I wanted. Running St. Jude was still a goal for me so when they opened up registration for the half-marathon Josh and I signed up within minutes of it going live. We were excited about getting another chance to run and raise money for this wonderful organization. We trained all during the summer and during the fall to prepare. Josh and I also chose to do the Heroes program which meant we each pledged to raise $500 for St. Jude. With the support or family, friends, and my kiddos at school we each reached our goal and raised over $1000 for St. Jude. It was so rewarding to know that we had helped even if it was just a small amount of money. Every little bit counts! 

We left for Memphis Friday morning and made it there without any problem. The weather was great and there was not a chance of it getting cancelled this time. Yay! We met Beth and Shane, friends of ours from college, at Olive Garden to carb load the night before the race and had a great time visiting with them. Then it was back to the hotel for us to get our stuff ready for the race the next day. I snapped this picture and posted it on Instagram before going to bed Friday night. I was really looking forward to the race the next day. 

We woke up early the next morning, dressed, grabbed a light breakfast on our way out of the hotel and headed to the starting line. It was overcast and kind of dreary, but otherwise a great day for running. Josh and I waited in the car as long as we could to avoid standing in the cold for so long before the race began and that worked out great. We walked right up to our corral and only had to stand around for about 30 minutes before each group started moving. 

Keeping our buns toasty in the truck before the race.

Out of the truck and in our corral just waiting for the race to begin.

We told Beth and Shane which corral we were in, but we never imagined that we'd actually find them on race day because of how many people were there to run. We were walking up to the starting line and looked to our left and there they were. It was so funny that we ended up right next to each other :)  We also saw our friends Beth and Beaux and wished them good luck since they were going to run the marathon together. I always joke that I run the half-marathon because I'm only half crazy. Running a marathon is just full blown crazy ;)

The race went really well. Memphis has A LOT more hills than Louisiana so the hills slowed me down some, but overall I think I handled the terrain really well. I got emotional several times at the amount of people who were there to cheer for all of us running the race each and every mile. When I ran the half-marathon in New Orleans the fans died out around mile 5, but all the St. Jude fans were there from the start until the very end. It was so amazing, especially at the end. There were people lined up and down the sides of the road cheering and yelling for you. They'd see your name on your bib and call out, "Let's go, Amanda! You got this!" I teared up big time right at the end because crossing that finish line was such a huge accomplishment for me. I had wanted to run the half-marathon for St. Jude for two years and I finally got the chance to do it. It's a race I will run every single year that I'm physically able to do so. I LOVED it from start to finish and I'm so proud that I got to be a small part of this amazing foundation. 

Half-marathon #2 complete!

Our friend Shane finished ahead of me and Josh so we met up with him at the finish line. He was waiting for his wife Beth and another pal of his to cross the finish line. We talked to him for a little bit about how his race had gone and then we took some pictures. I passed my phone to him for him to take a picture of me and Josh and saw him making this weird face. I realized he was taking a post race selfie. He's a nut. 

Shane and Josh

Another half-marathon that we completed together. Looking forward to more!

After we talked to Shane for a little bit longer we made our way through the food and beverage area (my favorite part of the entire day). We loaded up on post race food-pizza, Gatorade, chocolate milk, coffee, soup, fruit, power bars, doughnuts, and much more. This girl was in food heaven! My favorite was definitely the potato soup from McAllister's Deli. It was exactly what I needed after a rainy race. We grabbed our food, solar blankets, and coffee and walked back to the truck to thaw out our bones. We ended up watching the marathoners finish up their race and even saw our friends Beth and Beaux kicking tail :) Maybe one day Josh and I will join them...for now though I'll just enjoy the half-marathon. It was a great weekend and I'm already looking forward to next year's race! If you are interested in donating to St. Jude click here and it'll take you to their donation page. You can help make a difference in the lives of so many children :)