DreamBig 2013 - #14 Kentucky

STATE #14 - Louisville, Kentucky
Kentucky Derby Festival Half Marathon
Finishers: 11,848

*On April 15, 2013, a tragic act of terrorism occurred that rocked the running world. Two bombs were planted at the finish line of the Boston Marathon that killed 3 civilians and injured hundreds more. At the time of the bombing, I was sitting in a hotel in Decatur, Illinois and I emotionally lost it. Runners - a group of historically goal driven, philanthropic, motivating people who do anything to meet their own goals and encourage others to do the same. And they decide to attack runners. I think what the terrorists didn't consider was this same group of runner who they decided to target, would only return and rally together stronger than before in order to illustrate that not even terrorism can bring us down. I posted a Facebook post the day of the race that got some attention that I have shared below:

April 23, 2013

The week after the Boston bombing, I decided it was time to go home for a while. And by home I mean St. Louis. I took the week off and went back to Kirkwood to train and get mentally ready for the race to come this upcoming weekend. With so many thoughts of "why?" still occupying my mind, I tried to channel the need to preserver with the running community into my daily training races.

On this special day, as I was running around the old high school, I stumbled upon the Kirkwood girls distance track team who happens to be coached by my high school cross country coaches, Coach Finnerty and Coach Harris. They were wrapping up their workout and invited me into the gym to do an ab workout and talk with the girls for a bit about my goal. It was heart warming to see their eyes light up when I told them about running all over the country and also when I told them -- I was never that great of a runner. They had a lot of questions to ask and it was a moment to remember just thinking of when I was in their shoes and now being on the other side of things. Definitely something I will remember and try and go back and share my story with the team when I'm home in the future. 

I also did some digging, which drives mom crazy, into all of the boxes in the basement to see what hidden treasures I can find. Here are a couple of really flattering photos from when I had a bullcut in 7th grade and had ruined my hair with sun in as well as some photos from high school cross country.

Kirkwood Track Club - 7th grade - Emily, Me, Grace and Susie

Crushin' people on the Jefferson Barracks finish line hill -  still do this...save all my energy for the finish (poor strategy FYI)

High School Cross Country - likely Sioux Passafe - Erin, Ann, Lindsey, Caitlin, Me, and Susie

April 26, 2013
So, after tearing mom's basement apart, we packed up the car on Friday morning and headed to Louisville, Kentucky. It's only a 4 hours drive from Saint Louis so I was happy mom was able to come along. This was her first half marathon of mine that she had attended so it was all very foreign to her. We arrived and checked into the Sheraton across the river in Indiana before heading over to the race expo to pick up my race packet. Most expos are about the same but this one definitely had a stronger feeling of community in the air with everyone rallying together in support after the recent tragedy in Boston. I picked up several #BOSTON STRONG wristbands and some blue and yellow ribbons to wear on my bib as well for the race. We continued to wind through all of the booths when I heard a voice that sounded familiar. Turns out it was one of my closest friends from childhood (I'm talking, we were even baptized together) and her husband, Austin, at one of the booths! I had no idea she would be there and it was such a treat to be able to catch up for a few minutes before heading on our way.

Caitlin! Can't believe how fate just brings people together =)

Mom and I wanted to drive the course before it go too dark and before we found a spot for dinner so we said so long to the Bristow's, who were heading out of town after the expo, and head on our way to do the race chores. 

Mom was hilarious while we were driving the course (and she continued to do this at the other 3-4 races she attended). So much live positive commentary while driving, 

"Oh Ashley, you can't do this" - "How much farther do we have to drive" "We are only at mile 3?!" "How do you do this!?"  "Are we getting closer?" "I'm tired just in the car!"

She is never anything short of entertaining. Once we were done driving the course we made our way to dinner right on the river where we got to watch the fireworks from the baseball game upstream. I ordered some pasta but was unable to eat much of it because my irrational nerves were already getting the best of me. I couldn't stop my brain from churning. I didn't want to be pessimistic and afraid but it was impossible not to think about what had happened not even 2 weeks prior. We took the food to go and head back to the hotel so we could get some sleep - and so I could plan mom's race day.

April 27, 2013
We woke up early -- lies. I don't think I slept. I had the news on for most of the morning and listened in as they talked about the "no bag policy" and safety precautions and amount of law enforcement on site.  And the forecast wasn't looking all that great as well. I ate a couple bites of a granola bar and woke mom up and headed to the garage we had planned for the race. 

It was barely raining so that was positive and the weather wasn't horrible brisk. Mom had her instructions for how she could see me at Mile 4 and Mile 11.5 with a coffee shop in between and then I would meet her at the finish. The star spangled banner was an emotional one for sure and a moment of silence as well, of course I was crying - that's a given. But at the same time it was empowering - I wanted to run for Boston. 

We set out and I mistakenly confused my adrenaline for speed and exhausted myself within the first 3 miles. With not much in the tank in terms of nutrition, I remember passing the 4 mile turn and looking at mom with an "I don't know about this" look. From that turn, we headed south for 3 miles towards Churchill Downs. I knew if I could get to Churchill that I would reenergize from the experience alone... but all I wanted was an orange slice.

Pray and you may receive -- no joke. About 3 minutes after starting my day dream about orange slices, a lady was just standing in the median of the road handing out little sandwich baggies of orange slices. For a moment I thought I was hallucinating but grabbed a bag with exhaustive gratitude and ate my orange slices like I had been deprived of Vitamin C since birth. Thank you random lady for saving me.

Rebooted, I continued on my way and soon saw Churchill in the distance. What a vision! We entered the arena through a tunnel that entered onto a dirt track. People ask me about this all the time, but we ran around the outside dirt track and had horses running on the inside grass track. I made a video at the time, but I need to hunt that down. The outside track was less than a mile and then as quickly as we had entered, we were exiting the track. Note to self: Must return for the Derby.

The last 4.5 miles took us back north towards downtown which included a mini tour of the University of Louisville. Up third we went until we just about reached the water. I saw mom and then the finish line memories started and I did my best to force them away and focus on finishing for Boston. It was a downhill finish so I made my kick across the finish line teary eyed and went to find mom.

OFFICIAL RACE PHOTO - 14 states down, 36 to go! #DREAMBIG

Space blanket doubles as tarp

We got my race photo and beat the rain just in time. I was able to get on an earlier flight back to Atlanta from Louisville and made it home in time to grab dinner with the roomie and friends!

Homecoming party

Great race and highly recommend it just for the Churchill experience. Thanks for coming mom!

14 states down, 36 more to go!
#DREAMBIG

DreamBig 2013 - #13 California

STATE #13 - San Francisco, California
Rock N Roll San Francisco
Finishers: 5,827

April 5, 2013
I arrived late into San Francisco and Cooper picked me up from the airport. This was a big race weekend for me because obviously it was my first race of 2013 and my first race after coming back from my tonsillectomy over Christmas. "You got your tonsils out - big deal" you may be thinking. But coming back from that throat surgery was actually more difficult than I thought it would be. From December 20, 2012 until New Year's Eve, I wasn't able to eat anything and I quickly lost about 15 pounds. For me, that means all of my muscle got eaten and I had to start over from the ground floor. I remember being out in Salt Lake City, UT with Cooper the first week of January and I was trying to run for like 5 minutes on the treadmill and I ended up in a fit of tears on the floor of the hotel gym so frustrated about being weak. But, I used that and this race as motivation to get back on track and to make this year another one for the books. So I trained - a lot. I got back on a strict running and workout regiment to regain strength and stamina and sure enough I was more than ready for race weekend. 

So back to San Francisco. I arrived and Cooper picked me up from the airport and we head to Oakland where he lived. It was the first Friday of the month and in his neighborhood they have something called "First Fridays" where they close down the street outside his apartment and basically have a little street festival with booths and food and music. We had a good time just browsing and getting a few things to eat before calling it a night.

April 6, 2013
We packed up our bags and made our way into the city for the next few days. If you haven't realized it now, I have bad race anxiety and so to defuse any race morning hiccups, I decided to book a hotel near the race start so we didn't have to worry about the commute into San Fransisco from Oakland in the morning. Call me silly, but the BART has strikes a lot. So we stayed down near Fisherman's Wharf close enough to the start line. During the day, we went on several adventures on the street car and bus to go to the race expo and just around town to sightsee. The absolute biggest perk of the day was going to the Cardinals game! 

It just so happened to be opening day for the Giants and because the Giants had won the World Series in 2012, they had a lot of fun opening ceremony events for Buster Povey (who we got a bobble head of) and it was just exciting to be around the game atmosphere of baseball again WITH the Cardbirds also in attendance. As always, I got nachos because nothing says Ashley is a fatty and loves Cardinals baseball better than ballpark nachos. The Cardinals won and we made our way back towards the hotel where we grabbed dinner near Pier 39 getting some seafood pasta -- and picking up some rations for the morning and heading back to the hotel for the night. 

April 7, 2013

The start of the race was about a mile from the hotel but not a bad walk and the weather wasn't all that bad. After some last minute snacking, we head out the door and made our way down to the start of the race which was out on one of the Piers - I think Pier 41. We had some time to kill so Cooper hung around with me while we waited for the sun to come up and watched the cool fog lift off the water. 

Game Time!

Waiting for the race to begin 

#1 Cheerleader

Waiting patiently - more than likely feeling horrid.

Once the race start got closer, Cooper went to get in position and I finished my mental prep on my own. Super excited to get the 2013 kicked off.

Start Line

When the race started, I remembered feeling good from the very beginning. For the first mile or so, I was running behind a bigger guy wearing a shirt that said "Security" on the back so I did my best to stay a few steps behind him in order to entertain myself and pretend he was my body guard. Once he slowed down, I had to say so long. I saw Cooper around Mile 1 and then he ran off to his next viewing area. It was a bit of a surprise because a lot of the first 4 miles were a winding mix of uphills and downhills along the coast on switchback roads. I did good on the climb and I must thank my training for that.

The biggest highlight of the race was obviously running over the Golden Gate bridge. Since the bridge itself is about 1.5 miles all the way across, it took up a large chunk of the race. Cooper saw me as I was about to head over the bridge and the next 30+ minutes I was just in awe. Once we got to the opposite side, we veered off the street and head down and under the bridge before looping our way up and heading back across. When I had hit Mile 7, my phone started to ring so I answered it to find Kali calling to ask when my race was -- um, right now. I am currently on the Golden Gate Bridge and I am feeling awesome. I really was! 

ProPic: By Cooper

We made our way over the bridge and back down to the coastal park where we somehow ended up on a sandy path -- did NOT see that coming. It slowed me down a little bit but nothing to worry about. The end of this race was one where you could see Ghirardelli Square from really far away but you still had a really long way to go. Corner after corner of coastline, I kept my pace and in odd, coincidental fashion "Eye of the Tiger" came on for my last few minutes of hustle to the finish line. 

I hadn't been concerned about setting a goal for my time but I crossed around 2:01 which of course made me start to wonder if getting under 2 hours was attainable in my future. 

I made my way through the snack line and into a field where I basically just had to stand and wait for Cooper to come find me. It's a hidden talent of his -- he can pick me out of any crowd (the hot pink shirt probably helped a little).

OFFICIAL RACE PIC - 13 states down, 37 more to go! #DREAMBIG

Once we reunited and I told him about my race, the next stop was icecream. Yes, it was 9:30 am and I wanted icecream -- that was the deal. We made our way to the Ghirardelli shop where most people were getting coffee so I could get my cone. 

9:30AM icecream cone

After checking out of the hotel and cleaning all of the sweat off, we made our way back down to the Pier where we had brunch at the Pier Market before doing some more San Francisco exploring (aka I spent a ton of money shopping).

Dream Big - but never forget about crayons

Loved this race and it will always be one of my more memorable moments from my goal.

13 states down, 37 more to go! 

#DREAMBIG