State #2, Minnesota: Twin Cities Marathon, October 4, 2009

Finish Time:  5:10:49

Weather:  Cloudy, High 54°F

Minnesota was my second state.  I picked the Twin Cities Marathon because it has a well-known reputation for being a well-done marathon.  It was also a super easy drive to get to the race and made for a relatively cheap trip.  Galen drove with me to the Twin Cities and played spectator along the course.  

I don't remember much about this marathon, except that I loved it.  Since my brother had lived in the Minneapolis area, I was familiar with several pre-race places to site see.  Once we arrived in the Twin Cities area, we headed to St. Paul for the race Expo.  The Expo doesn't stand out in my mind too much, but I did learn that, apparently, Caribou Coffee is the Starbucks of the Twin Cities.   I thought it was hilarious that the marathon guide included every Caribou Coffee location along the race rate.   I even met the Caribou mascot at the race Expo.   This is the first fluffy mascot I've met at a race.  Stay tuned for more in future posts.  (They aren't even all Disney.)

First official fuzzy mascot I encountered at a race expo.

After the Expo, we tracked down Peanuts statues in Landmark Plaza in St. Paul.   (Charles Schultz, the creator of the Peanuts, is from St. Paul.)  

Pre-race advice from Sally and Linus

Hanging with Charlie Brown and  Snoopy

After visiting St. Paul, we checked into our hotel in Minneapolis, and then went to visit the Walker Art Center to see the famous spoon and cherry sculpture.  We ate dinner at the Mall of America, but not without stopping for a ride on the Paul Bunyan log flume.  

As for the race, well, it's a good thing I posted a lengthy blog the day after the race because I don't remember a lot about the course:  

http://goingmileaftermile.blogspot.com/2009/10/twin-cities-marathon-triumph_7113.html

The course was fairly flat and gorgeous.  I didn't carry a camera on this course; however, Galen managed to catch me at several spots throughout the course.   Here's my famous fake running smile:

Cheeeeeese!

This course was my marathon PR for a few months. 

Celebrating my first marathon PR at the finish in St. Paul

It was also the last time I'd run for a few months.  I had such terrible shin splints after this race.    I ran the last few miles in absolute pain.   Galen captured that pain on my face at Mile 26.

When I returned to Kansas City, Eladio Valdez, my running coach, recommended I visit Dr. Toby Scott at Pro-Care Chiropractic.  That was my start of learning how to take better care of my body with stretching, foam rolling, and supplements.   I believe Dr. Scott didn't let me run again until December again that year.  Which was great, because it was perfect timing to start training for my third state.

Finisher's Medal:  Sweet and simple

2009 Twin Cities Marathon Finisher's Medal

Race poster:  This race poster has been hanging in my home office for years.   It captures the essence of the race quite well.

2009 Twin Cities Marathon Commemorative Poster

State #1: Tennessee, Country Music Marathon, April 25, 2009

Finish Time:  5:49:53
Weather:  Sunny, High 87°F

Here I embark on the mission of attempting to remember my marathons in all 50 states.  Disclaimer:  I'm sure some of these posts will be rushed.   They may have poor grammar or punctuation.  They may just be random thoughts strung together.  Some may simply be reposts of my original blog because, well, why not? There will be no high school English class judgment here.

When I decided to run the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, I can't say that running a marathon in all 50 states was my goal at the time.  I selected it because Galen's brother and sister-in-law live in the Nashville area and Galen used to live in Nashville, so it sounded like it would be a fun vacation to site-see and run the marathon.  Previously I had run the Kansas City Marathon (October 2006) and the Go! St. Louis Marathon (April 2007) so it just sounded fun to run in a destination I had never visited.

My intentions at the time were to write a blog after every marathon I completed so that I could remember it better.  Thankfully, to make this post a little bit easier, I did actually blog about the Country Music Marathon.   Before I reread that post, I tried to remember as much as I could about the race.

This was the first BIG marathon I had run.  I loved the Expo.  I bought my first "I Do 26.2" license plate holder from the Women's Running Magazine booth at that Expo.  It faded by 2012.  I'd get a new one at another Expo in 2012.

For those that know the origin of the marathon, it dates back to ancient Greece.  The race had a flavor of Greek history since it started adjacent to the fake Parthenon in Nashville. We will disregard that the ancient Greek that ran 26 miles dropped dead when he finished...

Hanging out on the  faux Parthenon the day after the marathon

I was really nervous going into this marathon because it had been 2 years since my prior marathon. I would say I was still pretty naïve about long distance running, and I also wasn't at the point in my running "career" where I preferred to run by myself.   Running 3 miles by myself was a long solo run.  When I think back on that day, there are four things I primarily remember:  it was hot, it was hilly, there was a snake on the course, and it took me forever to finish. 

A hot spring marathon is always tough after training in frigid winter months.  I do not do well in heat.  Heat to me while running is anything over 70 degrees.  The hills and the heat made for an incredibly long day.   The course was also nothing incredibly scenic. 

I found the old course map online:  

Part of the marathon course was on an asphalt bike trail along the Cumberland River.  Right in the middle of the trail a snake was curled up sunbathing.  This would, unfortunately, not be the last snake I'd encounter during an urban marathon.  This was in the days before everyone had an iPhone or a cell phone with a high quality camera, so I don't have a photo of the snake, or any photos of the race for that matter.  Here's the super cool cell phone I had during the race:  

Somewhere after Mile 13.1, volunteers told the runners we could continue with the race as long as we mostly walked.   Ice was brought out to many of the aid stations. I remember texting Galen at some point and telling him I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish the marathon since it was getting so toasty.    Galen ran the half marathon that day and met up with his brother, who had brought his bicycle in the back of his pickup truck so Galen could ride along the course and cheer me on.   I was pretty thankful for that company, except for when he kept taking my picture.  Each time I saw him raise the camera, I felt obligated to flash a fake smile and run: 

CHEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!

Random Celebrity on the Course:  One of the Biggest Loser contestants ran this marathon.  I recall seeing him on the course.   I think the story was that he was featured on The Biggest Loser as having run a marathon, but he didn't actually finish that marathon, so he ran this one to prove he could run a marathon.

Until I ran Red Rock Canyon in 2017, this marathon was my personal worst marathon time.  That's an impressive 8 years of digging deep to do anything to not take THAT long to run a marathon.  Since it took me so long to finish, there was no food left at the finish line when I finished.  Galen's brother, Bryan, gave me a banana he'd been toting around.  To this day, I am positive that's the best banana I have ever had.  Speaking of finishing, Galen's torso and bike photobombed my finish (look on the upper right side of the photo):

Finisher's Medal:  This was the 10th anniversary of the Country Music Marathon, as captured in the medal design.

2009 Country Music Marathon Finisher's Medal

Race Poster:  Since I have a thing for race posters, which as of 2018 are becoming quite rare, here's a shot of the race poster for the Country Music Marathon:

2009 Country Music Marathon Commemorative Race Poster

If you are curious to see what my original thoughts were shortly after this race, check out my original blog post here: 

http://goingmileaftermile.blogspot.com/2009/04/country-music-marathon_6389.html

The Tale of How I Managed to Conquer the 50 States

Nine years and 2 weeks is a long time.  Specifically the 3,299 days between April 25, 2009 and May 9, 2018.  Of those 3,299 days, I spent an approximate total of 10.5 days attempting to run a marathon in all 50 states (yes, even Hawaii and Alaska...).  As I found out, a lot can happen to a person in 3,299 days.  There's the good, there's the bad, and there's the in between.  

Many friends who've watched me knock out the states have suggested I document the heartbreaks, setbacks, and celebrations I encountered over the years.  I imagine recounting my races will take me several weeks or months as I feel inclined to write about them.  The first few states will be easy to recall, since I blogged about the races at the time.  Some were so amazing they are vivid in my memory; others were so boring (I’m talking to you Fargo and Lincoln) that I was just desperate to finish them and barely remember running them.  I remember the lows, and there were SO many lows, more than some of the highs.  Some of my memories will be more of the trip than the race itself, especially in the cases where the race was an inconvenient blip on a great vacation destiny.  It will be interesting to travel back in time to see what random tidbits I remember.  

It all started on April 25, 2009.  The day is long enough ago, that historic events don't stand out.  As far as momentous occasions, the only news of the day that I can find was that Heidi and Spencer from the MTV "reality" show The Hills were married.   Hmpf.  However, I do remember quite perfectly that in Nashville, Tennessee, it was close to a record-breaking 87 degrees that day, which begins the perfect start to the rocky adventure that became my journey to run a marathon in all 50 states.