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.
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Kirkwood Track Club - 7th grade - Emily, Me, Grace and Susie |
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| 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.
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| Caitlin! Can't believe how fate just brings people together =) |
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.
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| OFFICIAL RACE PHOTO - 14 states down, 36 to go! #DREAMBIG |
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| 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!
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| Homecoming party |
14 states down, 36 more to go!
#DREAMBIG
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